Woe is me!

Q: What is more obscene than a SUV?
A: A SUV being driven by someone talking on the phone!

I can't help it. I'm becoming increasingly ashamed to be an American. I am well aware of the "love it or leave it" sentiment, and I am daily giving more serious thought to leaving. It's the escapist aspect that bothers me most, but I am failing to see any way that I can personally stop the greedy lust that is accelerating the decline and deterioration of what was once (even in my living memory) the greatest nation on the face of the earth.

Obviously, I am still incensed by George W. Bush's hypocritical announcement that America is addicted to oil. The fanatical Right of which he is a part has thrown billions of dollars down the rat holes of "war" on drugs and terrorism, but has done no more than pay lip service to our disgusting consumption of petroleum. My uncle, who farmed some 10,000 acres in eastern Colorado, needed trucks, tractors and heavy equipment to raise crops that fed us all. But the soccer mom rolling along in her Cadillac Escalade just because she can destroy any tin-can-Toyota that gets in her way is the fossil-fuel-junkie that George is oblivious to.

We proclaim to the world that we are a Christian nation, but in truth we are Consumers worshipping at the altar of greed and power. It is so painfully obvious that the people of Africa would be the focus of neo-conservative attention if they but had the oil we crave. Alas, they suffer despots and dictators without U.S. attention because we are too busy contriving weapons of mass destruction as an excuse to invade the countries that have the fix for our addiction. The most pitiful and offensive thing is this: it's just the way we want it! Tell me anything and I'll believe it, just as long as I can dominate the highway with my gas guzzling Hummer.

What I don't understand is why more of us aren't standing up to this obscene hypocrisy that will eventually be the demise of all that we love and honor. Diogenes the Cynic was looking for an honest man three centuries before the birth of Christ, and were he alive today he would still be looking. In spite of the corruption and scandal that is being revealed on a daily basis, we will return the same politicians to Washington, D.C. save the few inept souls that find their way into disgrace and/or prison.

There are opportunities to make a difference. We can, if we choose, change things for the better. For example: we can sign the Pledge to MOVE AMERICAN BEYOND OIL at http://www.nrdcactionfund.org/beyondoil/action.asp?step=2&item=53292
It's not a big thing, but rather one small step toward restoring the sense of integrity that will allow us to sleep at night, and to tell our children with a straight face that there is still something noble about being an American.

Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips: for mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts. (Isaiah 6:5)