The American Worship of Empire

by Phillip Faruggio / December 9th, 2012

My dear activist friend Edward Dunphy likes to use the expression ‘The Christian Right is NEITHER” whenever he debates those folks. Amazing, how we are living in a time when, as with the Inquisition, God is placed on a pedestal of violence and terror…. all in the name of Peace! Let me also say that this type of mindset transcends politics. After all, we know about the one party that carries Jesus around in its pocket like some good luck charm. The Republicans who subscribe to Christianity actually think that the man called the Prince of Peace would condone all that they stand for. Duh, like the worship of greed at the expense of 99.5% of us. Yet, when it comes to other foreign policy issues, both of those political parties think they own the cross and the memory of the Christ. Mr. Obama and his party of hypocrites keep on funding the Military Industrial Complex to the tune of over 50% of our federal tax dollars. Walking lockstep with the Republicans, they continue to maintain over 800 bases worldwide, with over hundreds of thousands of our young military personnel occupying two countries that we have no right being in. Now, when Mr. Obama and his other Christian cohorts leave church each Sunday, do they really think that Jesus would agree with the savage drone attacks?  I guess that is what the media likes to call bipartisanship. 

Why do you think our country even invaded Iraq in the first place? Do you really think if Iraq had coconut oil under the ground that we would even be there? At all? No, like all empires, our American one is on its last legs. Remember the final scene from The Wild Bunch, when William Holden and Ernest Borgnine and a handful of their crew were surrounded by hundreds of Mexican outlaws? They dug in and slugged it out to the very end. So it is with my dear country, which has been sold and bastardized to the highest bidders of wealth and power. When the CEO of CVS Pharmacies earns in excess of $40 million per, and my neighbors have trouble paying for medicine from that store… why? Why do we, the good people, continue to honor and put on pedestals the few who are laughing at us from the comfort of gated communities patrolled by armed men? When they drive around, they are chauffeured by armed men.  Check out the Denzel Washington movie Man on Fire? That is how America is becoming, as unemployment and depression (both financial and emotional) are driving many to do terrible acts.

Did you know it costs you, the American taxpayer, over one million dollars per year to keep ONE soldier in Afghanistan? Did you know that one of our far too many mega bombs costs you approximately one million dollars? Here we are, not being able to afford Medicare for all Americans because the Military Industrial Complex OWNS the Congress and the Presidency. It always has for as long as this writer can remember. Yet, when you raise these points with most elected officials, even on a local level, they refuse to do or say anything in public! City Councils across America are being asked to adopt resolutions to send to Washington, to not only Mr. Obama, but their congressional reps as well. These resolutions demand that overall military spending be cut by 25%, sending the savings back to our states and cities to forgo the budget cuts. Yet, most of those we place through the ballot box into positions of leadership do and say absolutely nothing about the real cause of our financial and moral dilemmas. Silence gives license to tyranny!  Follow da money!!

Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and Smirking Chimp sites), an environmental products sales rep and an activist. Since 2010, Philip is a spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Phillip can be reached at: paf1222@bellsouth.net. Read other articles by Phillip.

This article was posted on Sunday, December 9th, 2012 at 8:00am and is filed under Activism, Capitalism, Corporate Globalization, Democrats, Drones, Economy/Economics, Empire, Military/Militarism, Obama, Religion, Right Wing Jerks.