{"id":1500,"date":"2016-03-31T15:50:42","date_gmt":"2016-03-31T22:50:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cameronburgess.com\/?p=1500"},"modified":"2016-03-31T15:50:42","modified_gmt":"2016-03-31T22:50:42","slug":"open-letter-america","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cameronburgess.com\/open-letter-america\/","title":{"rendered":"An Open Letter to America"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dear America,<\/p>\n

We need to talk. Actually, I need to talk. And I\u2019d like you to show me how great you already<\/em> are by sitting down, resisting the urge to interrupt and listening\u00a0<\/em>– I mean really<\/em> listening. Listen like your life depends on it. Because even if you think it doesn\u2019t, mine does\u200a\u2014\u200aand I\u2019m pretty sure I\u2019m not alone.<\/p>\n

I already know you may not like everything I have to say. And that\u2019s ok. In fact, by the time I\u2019m done you may not even like me. And that\u2019s ok too. Of course, what I\u2019d really<\/em> like is if we could keep being friends\u00a0\u2026 because I love you\u200a\u2014\u200aalways have, always will.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Yet as much as I love you\u200a\u2014\u200aas much as I\u2019m committed to patience and compassion and forgiveness, as much as I\u2019m always going to be willing to give you another chance, I can also no longer sit and silently suffer at your hands, whether you ever intended to hurt me or not.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"JD\"<\/p>\n

There was a time, not so long ago in fact, when you were the envy of the world. You were relentlessly upbeat and charismatic and sexy and, well, hopeful<\/em>. You were tolerant, and generous, and open. And unabashedly brilliant! You modernized and systematized public education, institutionalised human sovereignty and celebrated and protected the individual. You made music that made me feel<\/em>\u200a\u2014\u200ajazz, blues and rock and roll. You gave me automobiles and aeroplanes and submarines\u00a0\u2026 And the Hubble Telescope so that I could see the universe, and rockets and satellites and spacestations so that I could explore it! You united humanity with the telephone, and television and the internet.<\/p>\n

America!<\/em> I once breathed. Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave.<\/em> And you were.<\/p>\n

So I brought you my tired, my poor, my \u2018huddled masses yearning to breathe free\u2019, because I knew that with you, if nowhere else, my dreams might come true. I knew that no matter what cruelty had afflicted me, my family would be safe here, my children would have a future, and so I came. Because, for so long, you were a beacon, illuminating the possibility of a better world. Not just for me, but for everyone.<\/p>\n

But somewhere between then and now, you changed. You became mean. You became a bully. You became a narcissistic sociopath more interested in taking than in giving, more interested in talking, than in listening, more interested in controlling than empowering.<\/p>\n

You lost your way\u200a\u2014\u200aand, inevitably, you lost my respect along with it.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"

US Military Bases Worldwide<\/p><\/div>\n

We are bound, you and I, forever. But you\u2019re bigger than me, and louder, and richer, and much, much stronger. And while I know that, most of the time, you seem to have mostly good intentions, they don\u2019t always play out so well, do they? And because you are so \u2018big\u2019, because you take up so much more space in the room than me, you sometimes suck out all the oxygen. So that even when you have mocked or appropriated my culture, villifed my religion, murdered my people (or armed those who do), hijacked my economy, manipulated my government, stolen my natural resources, poisoned my water and polluted my sky, even if you were willing to hear me, you can\u2019t. Because I can\u2019t breathe, let alone speak. \u2018In space (you told me), nobody can hear you scream\u2019.<\/p>\n

And it\u2019s true. Either that, or you\u2019ve heard me, and you just don\u2019t care.<\/p>\n

I know, I know\u200a\u2014\u200ait\u2019s all about your \u2018freedom\u2019, right? Freedom and The Benjamins. I\u2019m just not sure we entirely agree on what Freedom means (nor on what wealth means, come to think of it).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So I\u2019m going to tell you what it means for me.<\/p>\n

It means I have sovereignty<\/em>. It means I have agency<\/em>. It means I get to make my own way in the world, in whatever way brings me the most joy and fulfilment as long as it doesn\u2019t infringe upon the wellbeing<\/em> of others.<\/p>\n

Notice I said \u2018wellbeing\u2019 and not \u2018freedom\u2019? That\u2019s because while you\u2019ve sanctified \u2018freedom\u2019 above faith, hope, charity, fortitude, justice, prudence and temperance, you\u2019ve done so at the expense of wellbeing<\/em>\u200a\u2014\u200amine and<\/em> yours.<\/p>\n

How do I know?<\/p>\n

Because I turn on the television. Because I turn on the radio. Because I read the newspaper. Because I jump online. Because I see how you\u2019ve deified, packaged and exported the religion of personal<\/em> freedom to almost every country on earth, and along the way have robbed us of our willingness to free the entire human race from the shackles of slavery.<\/p>\n

And while there\u2019s so much you\u2019ve done to make the world better, millions of us, billions even, are engaged in the greatest social, cultural, political, economic and environmental crisis management exercise of all time. It\u2019s so big that we don\u2019t even really know if its solvable. Do you get that? And while it\u2019s unfair to blame it all on you, it would be intellectually dishonest to suggest that you, the most influential nation on earth, don\u2019t have a significant amount of responsibility for it.<\/p>\n

\"americans\"<\/p>\n

Frankly, I\u2019m tired of cleaning up after you. Get your act together. Stop behaving like a two year old. Stop stamping your feet like a petulant child thinking that you should always be able to have what you want. You can\u2019t. Grow up. It\u2019s not all about you.<\/p>\n

There are 7 billion more of us who share the world with you, and while we\u2019re grateful for all you have done for us over the years, right now, we\u2019re a little tired of your crap.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Right now, you are in the middle of deciding who you will vote for as your next President. And right now it appears as if the choice is between a shameless liar, misogynist, racist and xenophobe\u200a\u2014\u200aone who exhibits at least six of the seven deadly sins (if you believe in such things), and a career politician who has not only been on the wrong side of almost every major policy decision enacted during her time in office, but has made gender<\/em> a cornerstone of her campaign, turning back the clock on feminism about fifty years in the process. Yes. That\u2019s right. I\u2019m a man calling bullshit on proto-feminism and it\u2019s seeming legion of adherents. There\u2019s something truly nauseating about \u2018I\u2019m With Her\u2019\u200a\u2014\u200aas if Obama\u2019s 2012 campaign slogan should have been \u2018Once You\u2019ve Had Black, You Can\u2019t Go Back!\u2019<\/p>\n

And should these two tribes go to war in November, the polls are pointing to the distinct possibility that you\u2019ll have a demagogue as your next President.<\/p>\n

And that, more than any other lunacy you have foisted upon the world since you gifted us with the miracle of nuclear war, terrifies us. And frankly, I don\u2019t understand why it doesn\u2019t terrify you also. Or if it does, why you\u2019re not doing more to prevent it.<\/p>\n

\"goodmen\"<\/p>\n

So what do we do? I don\u2019t in believe bringing a problem without a solution. I don\u2019t think it\u2019s fair. And it certainly isn\u2019t loving to tell you that we\u2019re family, and to abandon you to your fate. This really is about \u2018we\u2019\u200a\u2014\u200anot \u2018you\u2019, not \u2018me\u2019. Our fates are inextricably bound, as I said. And just as you have offered support for me in my time of greatest need, so now I\u2019m offering mine.<\/p>\n

The time is past for posturing, proselytising and partisanship. It\u2019s time for pragmatism.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It\u2019s time to make some hard decisions. It\u2019s time to grow up already, to engage that three pound logic engine between your ears and stop treating this presidential nominee process like it\u2019s a goddamn turkey raffle. It\u2019s not.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s time to deconstruct the myth of the warrior king and recognise that, while your President is<\/em> your Commander in Chief, they do not govern alone. Of course, if you are<\/em> voting on the basis of what might happen in those rare and truly awful moments when ultimate power rests with an individual, what do you think is likely to happen if your Commander in Chief is either a latent sociopath, or a hawkish former secretary of state who\u2019s supported every interventionist regime-change war your country has become embroiled in of late?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s pretty simple\u200a\u2014\u200asomewhere in the world, some of those 7 billion people you speak of as your brothers and sisters are going to be manipulated, maimed or murdered. And if that happens, it will be your fault. And at that point, your prayers and platitudes and prurient proliferation of pennies isn\u2019t going to change anything.<\/p>\n

Effective change isn\u2019t about fixing things once they\u2019re broken, it\u2019s about ensuring they never break in the first place.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"redblue\"<\/p>\n

Whatever else you might believe, whatever economic or political theories you hold, whatever color you have a slavish devotion to\u200a\u2014\u200ablue, red or purple\u200a\u2014\u200athere are certain attributes we\u2019re sure you believe should be present in a President\u200a\u2014\u200aIntegrity, Compassion, Wisdom, Servant-Leadership, Truthfulness.<\/p>\n