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Great news! We don't need a revolution in America. We already had one, thank you. Those very enlightened documents, the Declaration of Independence and the Bill of Rights, safeguard our right to freely exercise our will -- or, our won't -- in any way that makes us happy yet tramples no one else's freedom.
How the Body Politic Became a Couch Potato
Unfortunately, while we the people were busy doing other things like tending to our families and our gardens and making a living, we began to neglect our body politic. And you know what happens when you don't exercise your rights. The body politic becomes a 90-pound weakling, a pushover for anyone with a pushy agenda who just happens to have tons of money, a monopoly over the media, and plenty of followers to follow in lockstep. And before you know it, what once were citizens have become subjects.
Why Our Skeptic System Isn't Working
Meanwhile, the Irony Curtain has descended, as Americans have become walled off from the information they need to make wiser political choices. Instead, the mass media has inundated the body politic with so much toxic B.S., that our skeptic system has overflowed, and people end up swallowing huge ironies whole. How else would people allow the most unconstitutional and unAmerican document ever conceived to be called the "Patriot Act"? How else would people accept that the best way to protect our liberties is to . . . take them away?
A Cure for Impotence?
In 2002, those seeking an alternative looked to the Democratic Party, but alas. Ever since that electile dysfunction they suffered in Florida, those Democrats just can't seem to get an election, can they? But their impotence doesn't have to be our impotence. And if we the people revitalize not just the Democratic Party, but all parties in the body politic, the current regime will have stiff opposition in 2004.
Time for an American Evolution
The job of running the country is too big for one person, and even too big for a small, secretive cadre. So I say, we are elected. Lincoln spoke of government of the people, by the people and for the people. People -- hey, that's us! More than two centuries ago, our Founding Fathers put forth an unprecedented, revolutionary notion: Each of us is endowed by our Creator with inalienable rights . . . that we are essentially sovereign citizens choosing to align in government for our collective good. In other words, the government is meant to do our bidding, not the bidding of the highest bidder. So now, we the people must elect ourselves to become the empowered, enlightened citizens our Founding Fathers intended. Why now? Because it is too late to do it sooner!
Finally: The Body Politic Gets a Healthy Election on Election Day.
I have a dream. All over America, cells in the body politic are awakening, even those who slept through the last alarm. They are marching, joyfully declaring their independence, interdependence and innerdependence. The American Evolution has begun.
I see millions of self-elected citizens going on a fair and balanced Fox hunt, finally cornering the slippery, sly critter, shining the light of truth, and exposing weapons of mass deception.
I see the Boston TV Party, where millions toss their televisions and choose to tell a healing vision instead. After all, who needs mass media when the masses are the media?
One by one, I see hordes of American Evolutionaries taking up arms -- and hugging a Republican. Or a Democrat. Or a Green, or a Libertarian . . . just as long as you're hugging a party from some other party. How else will we become a one party system, where it's one big party, and everyone is invited?
On November 2nd, I see millions of empowered citizens cruising to the polling places, and I see the headlines on November 3rd: "The American Evolution Has Begun . . . The First Big Shot Has Been Fired!"
Now we all know which Big Shot needs to be fired first. But that is just the beginning. I see an evolutionary wave activating the body politic, until we've fired every other big shot who thinks that he or she is such a big shot, that they're above the law.
Time to Give the Body Politic a Good De-Tex
Now there are those who say there is virtually no difference between Kerry and Bush. If you believe that, you probably also believe there is no difference between verbal sexual harassment and rape.
There is a huge elephant standing on our neck, choking off the air passages for the body politic. Government of the people, by the people, for the people has not yet perished from the earth. But it is on life support. First, let's get the beast off of our neck. Then let's take that other party -- the braying donkey -- and turn it into a workhorse pack animal that supports true justice and the rights of people. And don't expect that stubborn beast to move itself. So, American Evolutionaries, I say . . . time to haul ass! Because we're in for the long haul, not just the short overhaul.
The American Evolution happens as each individual self in the body politic elects to elect themselves one by one. All of these strong, independent little elections standing side by side, I tell you, it's like Viagra for the body politic. And now that the body politic is getting some backbone -- not to mention frontbone -- the heart too must evolve. The body politic has been disheartened because the spirit politic has been dispirited -- and now must be re-inspired.
We DO need a Higher Power, and the power of loving goodness is good enough for me. Very few people can say they've seen the face of God face to face, but each and every one of us has seen goodness, and goodness knows, we know what goodness feels like. Goodness feels good. I believe in Good. So how about this as the motto for the American Evolution:
"One Nation, Under Good."
And we need other people. What good is good if there are no good people to share it with? As we Right-to-Laugh FUNdamentalists like to say, "All for fun . . . and fun for all!" So let us renew our vows to be true to our freedom, our community, and the power of love we feel inside us and express outside us. It's time to re-declare our Independence. . . . our Interdependence. . . . and our Innerdependence . . . . . . and may it all happen before we're all in Depends!
Oh, and one more thing. As we all know I never make predictions because I don't want to jeopardize my non-prophet status. But because of the extraordinary circumstances, I am going out on a limb on this one: I predict that any vote for a third party Presidential candidate this November will be a vote for George Bush. As the President himself has said, "You're either with me, or against me." I suggest we take him seriously!
Finally, remember what Confucius could have said, should have said, and probably did say: "Those who fail to choose the lesser of two evils will end up with . . . the greater evil."
Copyright © 2004 by Steve Bhaerman. All rights reserved. Swami's brand new book, Swami for Precedent: A 7-Step Plan to Heal the Body Politic and Cure Electile Dysfunction is available June 15th. To find out more, visit Swami online http://www.wakeuplaughing.com.
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