Well last night I promised that I would talk more about where I think our country is headed. This troubles me a great deal. I have only been on this planet a short 26 years, and I have not seen with my own eyes the things that many before me have seen.

I know this country has been through tough times before. But the difference I see, is our country was still building to the super power that we are today. I guess I see it as a peak, we have reached the threshold, and I look at the world and I see China and India growing and becoming a significant socio-economic force in the world. And the European Union, which could or could not be a strong world presence as well. It says to me that our days as the lone super power in the world are numbered.

One of the signs that I think indicate, to me at least, that we have reached the pinnacle, is when the world calls the US a "hyper-power", meaning we have surpassed being a super power and now our arrogance has drawn the ire of many nations. This is not how I want my country to be viewed in the world.

Another sign, when we start to become the filth that we are fighting. One of the most distressing things to me about the last four years, is the admission that torture has taken place in our name. I don't care what excuses or rationales are given for this abortion of due process, this is WRONG. And the fact that this is done in my name, in our fine country's name, upon the blood of our founders, and all those who have given their lives for this great country, makes me disgusted, and heartbroken.

Heartbroken that many in this country seem to think it is ok, it is a means to an end, that it is fruitful. It is NOT. Torture is torture, you can't claim that it is ok as long as we are not killing the person. You can't say it is ok because these are all terrorists. It never occurs to these people that there is a possibility that some of the people we have tortured are innocent. It never occurs to these people that WE could be mistaken?

I see a country that, especially in the last 10 years or so, has moved politically to the right. That has methodically labored to remove protections in our society. Protections for the poor, the weak, the unfortunate against the rich, the strong, the fortunate, the dare I say, bourgeois. Protections for the environment against the polluters. Protections of privacy for all. Protections for the right to due process. Yes I have seen a dismantling off all the things that government is actually good for. For protecting its citizens from the powerful, the powerful who are naturally prone to greed, prone to ever more power-hunger.

These free market ideologues, believe that there should be no government interference in the free market what so ever. That the market will naturally dictate the direction things will go. I say this is just not so, and it has been proven in the past. Capitalism is an experiment, and so far it has been largely successful, but it has also been paired with governmental regulations, and restrictions to fetter its true unbridled desires. But if this dismantling of government protections continues I believe the system that we will be left with will ultimately fail.

I do not like having this view, and there are many things between now and then that I think can change that trajectory, but the possibility lingers in the dark corners of my mind, and in the dark corners of the minds of many others as well I am sure.

So no my dear readers, and my political adversaries, I am NOT a communist, but I do believe that we ought to have a level playing field if this experiment in capitalism is to succeed in the long run. To be a sustaining force of support for ALL of its citizens.

I want my fellow citizens to wake up and see that the ways of conservatism, are not the ways to a sustainable future. The answer is NOT that we need an extremely small and neutered government. We can be free and still have the support of our government. As I THOUGHT the devastation and the aftermath of Katrina illuminated exclusively, there are times when we need our government to be a nimble and resourceful entity to save us in times of great tragedy of great need.

This is why society exists, because we as rational humans recognize that we cannot survive alone, we need the help of others, constantly. No matter how manly you may think you are, with your guns, and your garden.

And we DON'T need government to regulate our morality, to tell us how to live. We need them to regulate big business, and the economy so that we have the freedom to decide how we want to live. That is the ultimate freedom.

So let me try to answer my question, finally. I think we are headed in the wrong direction. I value our freedoms, and this is not an either or proposition. We can have freedom for all people and have rules to protect and level the field for each of us in this inherently flawed system. The answer is not to rig the system further for the benefit of abstract constructions such as the CORPORATION, but to fix the system so that real live human beings are TRULY equal.