America

Jake is not his true name. Jake works where I do. We spend 8 hours a day in close proximity to one another. I think we are about the same age -- in our fifties. We talk about work. We talk about old movies and game shows like Hollywood Squares. We talk about how it used to be, to never lock your car or even your front door at night, back when we were kids. We talk about how much has been lost.

But yesterday something happened. Yesterday I found out that "Jake" has never registered to vote. Not once in his entire life as a middle class American man has he ever registered to vote.

It stunned me.

He said, "Well, have you been happy with the elected officials we've had over the past few years?"

I honestly couldn't say that I have been, but at least I participate in the process.

I understood what he was saying...that it doesn't make any difference. The people that "the powers that be" want in office will get in office, and it doesn't matter what We the People do.

I pointed out that I had voted in every presidential election since before Reagan. (I think my first election was Jimmy Carter/Gerald Ford.) And Jake nodded in fond remembrance. "I think I had more money to spend under Reagan."

Is that all people care about? Their pocketbook?

Is it all in vain?

Is all the blood, sweat and tears that went into forming and building this nation in vain? Have Americans forgotten their heritage? Have we forgotten who we are?

When my children were young, I took each and every one of them in the voting booth with me, to show them how it works. Since then, the three that are old enough to vote have registered, and I know at least two have voted in presidential elections. But maybe I am in the minority. Maybe most Americans only care about something when it affects them personally.

Like in their wallet.

I remember when Bill Clinton won his 2nd term in office. NPR did a "man-on-the-street" interview near a rally, and asked such people as hot dog vendors and office workers if the knowledge of Clinton's indiscretions and possible lying would invalidate him as a candidate in their eyes. They said no. Most just said, "Well, the economy is good!"

When Clinton won that election, I knew in my spirit that America had turned a corner and we would be judged. The quality of a man's heart did not matter...only the contents of our own wallet. I knew then there was no turning back. God was through with us.

Jake is thinking of moving to Canada. Because, he says, they have free health care and that's something to think about when you retire.

I think to many Americans, there is no longer anything special about being an American. Oh, sure, they tear up when they watch a commercial on TV with some country singer belting out a song about how good it is to be in the good old U. S. of A., with big old trucks romping in the background and a baby waving a little flag. But do they really think about what it means to be an American? Of the lives that were lost and the blood that was shed to make this the freest country on the face of the earth?

And we are letting it all slip away...because we don't care anymore.

I am so grieved. All the ranting and raving about the failings of our government does no good. Americans have given up on America. Just lie down. Let the vultures pick our bones.