TIME FOR THEM TO GO
by Jim Oberg
As an American today, I find myself terribly ashamed of my
country. Daily, in new revelations about
the actions of my government, I learn about the unspeakable things being done
in my name. The America
I grew up loving, I must admit, has become the purveyor of terrible horrors
against the world and our own citizens, and is steadily depriving we, the
people, of our constitutional rights, our freedoms and our democratic
process.
How did my country become a torturer, and a defender of our
right to use torture in our âdefense’?
Why has my country claimed it to be our right to preemptively and
illegally invade and occupy another country, one that was no imminent threat to
us or to any other country, and killing thousands of innocents in the
process? When did my country become
unwilling to respond with aid and compassion when disaster strikes its own
citizens, as happened when Katrina struck with such fury? What has brought my country to establish a
network of secret prisons around the world, where unknown numbers may be held
without charge and with no way to monitor their treatment? Who authorized these
crimes and carries them out in my name when I never, ever would have provided
my assent for these horrific actions?
Across America,
we are now beginning to awaken to the tragedy that has befallen our beloved
country, a travesty brought upon us by an illegitimate, unaccountable regime
that has stolen elections and arrogantly claims a mandate to rule us with
absolute disdain for all dissent against their criminal agenda. Moving inexorably towards establishing a
fascist theocracy that will rule us for generations, they enact daily a program
that enriches the few at the expense of most in the world, and place their
cronies in positions of power in every institution established to protect us
from corporate and governmental abuses.
Their global domination project drains our treasury and undermines our
ability to meet the needs of our citizens, while putting future generations
into unimaginable debt. We are being
taken over a cliff to our material and moral doom by this regime, and many of
us are simply not going to take it any longer.
In January, George Bush will deliver his next State of the
Union address, and all across America, citizens who are part of a new movement
for change will gather to proclaim that we in fact face a state of emergency in
this country. We then will drown out his
speech with noise of all kinds, music and bells and car horns and our voices,
calling on everyone to wake up to the possibility of a new direction for our
country. This regime clearly does not
represent the majority of Americans, as recent polls show, with only 28%
believing we are being led in the right direction. It is time for us all to tell our leaders
that they must stop this madness that has overtaken our country.
It is time for them to go, we must say loudly, and to take
their failed program with them. We must
come to the streets in our millions to show them that their attempt to steal
our democracy has failed, and that we, the people, are now demanding that our
government again stand with us in responding to the real priorities we must
face together. We are entering a
challenging period ahead, with our oil running out and the impact of our
environmental abuse about to crash down upon us. The world can’t wait for this regime to
continue to destroy our country and our chance for a future that will permit us
to responsibly face these crises together.
Join with me, with your friends and your neighbors, and come
to the streets as Bush offers us more of their failed and destructive agenda,
and together let us demand loudly that BUSH, STEP DOWN, AND TAKE YOUR WHOLE
PROGRAM WITH YOU!
Jim Oberg is a retired Engineer who lives in Wilsonville,
OR, with his wife and two cats, and is
volunteering with the World Can’t Wait movement to help mobilize the response
to the abuses of this regime. He can be
reached at worldcantwait2005@yahoo.com.