Wake up America
America needs to stop, take a deep breath, and look at what is going on around them. Last night I scanned tonight’s TV programming and couldn’t figure out if the “American Idol” listing referred to the show or the inauguration. Let me put this bluntly: Celebrity worship will be the downfall of this nation.
As I said during the election, Obama himself does not concern me. He is a run of the mill politician with skeletons in his closet not unlike the many others that fill state and federal government positions. Sure, it is historic that he will be the first black president. I hope this is a positive move to end racial tensions in this country. However, what I find to be flat out scary and dangerous for this country is the amount of celebrity worship that surrounds the man. This year, the inauguration is not just the swearing in of a new president, it is the equivalent of a Hollywood spectacle. Americans by the millions are putting blind faith and adoration into a man that most do not even fully understand the direction he will actually lead the nation in.
The accumulation of celebrity worship gives one man a blank check for power that could very well threaten the foundation of this country. Our founding fathers built a nation that was separate from the kings and queens of the old world. They created a government of the people with checks and balances that restricted one person from gaining too much power over the nation. I’m sure they would be rolling over in their graves to see the spectacle that is unfolding right now. The laws that they created are only as good as the will of the people to follow them. When one man is idolized to such a degree, laws can easily be ignored and bypassed to empower his visions. As a nation, our current actions are dancing a fine line between celebration of a historic event and blindly granting undue power to one branch of government.
If you think celebrity worship is not out of control in this country, simply look at the “certain” pick of Caroline Kennedy as the replacement for Hillary’s Senate seat. There is no logical reason to pick her outside of the idolization of her namesake. She has absolutely no experience to lend to a Senate position and, to top it off, her public speaking ability is atrocious. If partisan politics are coming into play, then there are tons of more qualified Democrats for the position. If you are looking for unqualified candidates, why not pick from any of the millions of New York citizens? Alas, it boils down to the celebrity worship of one of America’s “royal” families. We are more interested in a fairy tale story than actually running a country.
It’s high time for America to wake up and take a look at where this county is going. This is not sitcom where all our problems will be resolved at the end of a presidential term. We don’t need Hollywood running our government and we shouldn’t be worshiping and idolizing the stars of the show.
One of the problems we are facing, is that many Americans aren’t even aware of the blank check of power that they are writing. They don’t even know the danger signs to look out for when this power starts to become abused. Here are a just few items than every citizen should keep an eye out for as the new administration take power. They should be read as danger signs to varying degrees.
- Handing over the remaining bailout money to President to spend as “stimulus” for the economy. This money should be controlled by congress and not used as “paybacks” to those who got the president elected.
- Federalization of the banking system. There has been rumblings of this. This was also one of the first things Hugo Chavez did when coming to power.
- The formation a presidential lobbying group used to pressure members of congress.
- Any laws being proposed or passed that would effect the 22nd Amendment.
