A Letter to America . . . by Margaret Atwood . . .

[OneBlueSky]

from 2003, but even more relevant today . . .

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0404-07.htm

snip

You're gutting the Constitution. Already your home can be entered without your knowledge or permission, you can be snatched away and incarcerated without cause, your mail can be spied on, your private records searched. Why isn't this a recipe for widespread business theft, political intimidation, and fraud? I know you've been told all this is for your own safety and protection, but think about it for a minute. Anyway, when did you get so scared? You didn't used to be easily frightened.

You're running up a record level of debt. Keep spending at this rate and pretty soon you won't be able to afford any big military adventures. Either that or you'll go the way of the USSR: lots of tanks, but no air conditioning. That will make folks very cross. They'll be even crosser when they can't take a shower because your short-sighted bulldozing of environmental protections has dirtied most of the water and dried up the rest. Then things will get hot and dirty indeed.

You're torching the American economy. How soon before the answer to that will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people produce, at gunboat-diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside your country? Will the biggest business sector in the United States be the prison system? Let's hope not.

If you proceed much further down the slippery slope, people around the world will stop admiring the good things about you. They'll decide that your city upon the hill is a slum and your democracy is a sham, and therefore you have no business trying to impose your sullied vision on them. They'll think you've abandoned the rule of law. They'll think you've fouled your own nest.

- more . . .

http://www.commondreams.org/views03/0404-07.htm

[havocmom]

1. Nominated for Greatest Page

Thanks for post and link. Ms Atwood is a very keen observer and can follow trends to their logical end. The Handmaid's Tale is frightening and way to spot on.

[carnie_sf]

2. That would be the right wing dream

[realFedUp]

3. good essay...

snip
The British used to have a myth about King Arthur. He wasn't dead, but sleeping in a cave, it was said; in the country's hour of greatest peril, he would return. You, too, have great spirits of the past you may call upon: men and women of courage, of conscience, of prescience. Summon them now, to stand with you, to inspire you, to defend the best in you. You need them.

[Doctor_J]

4. One correction

people around the world have already stopped admiring us. We are in for a nasty century, thanks to the BFEE and those who voted for them.

[LynnTheDem]

14. Atwood wrote this back in 2003. No correction needed; she was dead on.

Unfortunately for us & the world.

[omega minimo]

5. Note 2 Self: Don't buy cheap crap made by offshored, outsourced serf labor

"How soon before the answer to that will be, not to produce anything yourselves, but to grab stuff other people produce, at gunboat-diplomacy prices? Is the world going to consist of a few megarich King Midases, with the rest being serfs, both inside and outside your country? "

Exploitation of resources and people, for the benefit of the American consumer class, is a closed circle. Mercans have to connect the dots sooner or later. Even those who don't believe that blood is being shed for oil.

They want to trust their leaders, think themselves "special" and somehow, somehow still believe that American corporate sharks care whether they survive or not.

Of course it's not easy to make those choices, when it comes to buying things you need, considering what's available... so if there is a range of choices, options and consequences, choose the ones with the least contribution to supporting the corporate regime.

[bullimiami]

6. she is so right.....

he thinks, sitting in a chair munching on his chickienobs and a bucket o' nubbins.

[JitterbugPerfume]

7. since reading A HAndmaids Tale

several years ago , I read eveything I can get my hands on by Atwood She is one of the most insightful authors around---anywhere

[laura888]

12. amen to that! n/t

[TyeDye75]

13. Agreed

if ever there was a text that could galvanize the pro choice movement, its the Handmaids tale.

When I had to write about her in an A level essay a few years ago, I lambasted her as a feminist rip off of George Orwell......(I was stupid)

Now after the events of recent years I think her vision of the future may be closer to the mark and more terrifying than that of 1984.

This essay is very good too.... I think I may try to read a lot more of her work.

[omega minimo]

8. Right, there's a range of choices that can empower one

and/or disempower the other.

Choices worth making, even if they are symbolic, like voting.

[Bryn]

9. Heartbreaking Wonderful!!

Thank you so much for posting that.

:kick:

[BrklynLiberal]

10. Thanks for posting.

[robink]

11. For letters to America every day....

I am trying to spread the word about WatchingAmerica.com, which presents articles about the U.S. written by the rest of the world...

It seems every day the world is writing US letters...

Just sometimes, they see US more clearly than we do.

www.WatchingAmerica.com , for those interested.