Voluntary Slavery

 According to the Canadian Press, “The U.S. Senate rejected the US$14 billion rescue bill endorsed by President George Bush and congressional Democrats. The Bush administration says it will step in with its own bailout of the so-called Detroit Three car makers, expected next week.”

I’m not sure when I became opinionated and I know this sounds negative, which is contrary to my natural optimistic disposition, but I can’t help but wonder if Bush isn’t throwing gasoline on a fire that’s already out of control.

I mean, come on. Who’s kidding who? When the top three executives flew to the white house in their private jets to solicit money for companies on the brink of disaster, they showed their true financial natures. They’re extravagant. Is it any wonder why their companies are in financial danger?

I’ve worked in many companies that have had to downsize and restructure due to the economy. I’ve even lost my job a few times. Heck, ADT underwent such drastic downsizing that they fired all their presidents and restructured from the bottom up. If they can do it, why can’t the auto industry?

Yes, I know, the auto industry is much larger than a home securities company and many of you will say I’ve made an unfair association. 

True. I have. But the message remains strong. When crisis hits, changes must be made. You can’t keep doing the same thing while expecting different results.

Presently the auto kings are asking that their employees to take less pay and a severance in their pensions. They’re also asking the government to act on behalf of the tax payers to help bail them out. Oh, and by the way, there are no negotiations here. 

We live in a democratic society who’s leader we’ve entrusted to make all our decisions, even if it kills us.

Thank god for the senate. Did I forget to mention it’s these same taxpayers who are now responsible for cleaning the ***** from the golden streets of the ivory bank towers? Come on Bush, seriously, what are you thinking? 

Oh, I understand all right. If you don’t bail the banks or the auto industry people will lose their jobs, their houses, and maybe even their lives. The economy will worsen. Heck, it might even collapse. 

Now where do you suppose that will put the powerhouse of the world in the larger scheme of things? I’m not especially psychic and am most definitely NOT religious. Though I have read the bible and right now all I’m seeing and hearing is, “Babylon has fallen.”

Asking American citizens to agree with the automotive bail out is like putting another twenty pounds on the back of the slave who is already carrying 100 pounds from his previous slave master, and you turn around and tell him it’s for his own good. Yet it’s the slave who bears the burden, not the master.  

Yet I’m sure many Americans support Bush’s ideas. And that’s what makes this critical situation so fascinating. I want to be hopeful and optimistic, I really do. Yet I simply refuse to do so at the cost of living in false images and philosophies. 

I am one of you and speak with the utmost of sincerity when I say my heart goes out to those slaves who have voluntarily bonded themselves to extravagant lifestyles beyond their financial means. Divided by imaginary lines, we are one nation of free people who have bonded themselves to false images and false philosophies. 

But maybe I’m just being cynical. Maybe it’s my perceptions that are out of whack. 

Still, something in my gut tells me my perceptions are true and that reality is as clear as the nose on my face.

I sympathize with job loss, economic despair, personal loss, bankruptcy, involuntary change, and resistance. I sympathize with fear, worry, stress, and anger of things you have little to no control over. I do. I’ve experienced and continue to experience all of these and more. But seriously folks, when a ship’s hull is severely cracked, such as the Titanic’s was after it hit the iceberg, sometimes all you can do is bail. Lives will be lost. Some will kill to survive. Many will mourn. And some of those who live will tell the tale. It’s not pretty, but it’s reality. 

That which does not kill you, makes you stronger.