The present State of the Union of the United States of America, in summary:
Our union is broken. Our elected leaders defy their duty to represent Americans and our interests, protect human/sex traffickers, arm & support Israel’s genocide, draft and execute kill lists, bomb foreign targets and kidnap foreign heads of state unilaterally, and wield unconstitutional fascist military forces to oppress, kidnap and execute immigrants & dissenters domestically.
Thus, on merely the points listed above, the present state of the union is entirely untenable, and is subject to fully fracture and disintegrate while our executive, legislative and judicial systems and representatives continue to fail us.
Meanwhile, Americans desperately NEED not just affordable food, housing, healthcare & education, we NEED each of those guaranteed as human rights.
We NEED to drastically reduce our military industrial complex and surveillance state apparatus, which both work mostly in secrecy and with such vast sums of wealth that are incompatible with a fair and open democracy, and often in opposition to the interests of everyday Americans and for the the gross enrichment of the billionaire class.
Furthermore, the surveillance state is routinely weaponized against whistleblowers, ordinary people practicing dissent, and other political targets. Nearly the entirety of the US’ corporate technology industry is further weaponized for data collection, censorship, surveillance, and political control. This status quo must be ended.
We NEED to ABOLISH & PROSECUTE ICE, to defund and disassociate from Israel and its ongoing genocide, and to quit starting and/or threatening wars seemingly every other week. A functioning free and open democracy has no business conducting itself in these manners.
We NEED a free press, freedom of speech, freedom to document abuses of power, and freedom to politically oppose elected leaders. These rights are continuously eroded, yet they are fundamental to any functioning democracy.
We NEED to drastically overhaul our justice system, abolish for-profit prisons and the use of the equivalent of slave labor of prisoners. We NEED to outlaw and dismantle concentration camp-style detention centers, including but not limited to domestic ICE detention sites, Guantanamo Bay, and any other such detention camps here or abroad. We NEED human rights enforced for all detainees, including clean facilities, legal representation, quality food and healthcare, humane treatment, and fair wages for any labor produced.
American democracy, as a country with beautiful diversity of peoples, religions, and cultures, cannot be expected to endure, much less prosper, unless its people and our representatives begin to stand in fellowship against the existing status quo.
We must DEMAND & EXPECT drastic systemic change.
Furthermore, we must concede that it is no longer enough to vote.
Americans know, from experience, that our votes mean little to those who represent us in our halls of power, because we cannot buy them at the level that corporate & foreign interests do.
This disenfranchisement must lead us in one direction: to join hands in service to each other and for a future where all can be equal.
We must also recognize the inherent lie in the Declaration of Independence, that “all men are created equal.”
It should come as no surprise that we do not all have the same upbringing, physical & mental abilities, food stability, housing, education, healthcare, and economic opportunity, nor do we have equal representation in the democracy we inherited.
WE ARE NOT YET EQUAL, THUS WE MUST WORK TO CORRECT INEQUALITY AND SYSTEMICALLY PROTECT HUMAN RIGHTS FOR ALL.
It is no longer enough to stand only against kings, against the Epstein class, against the US & Israel’s genocide of Palestinians, against billionaires’ takeover of our economy and government, against war, against surveillance, against AI, against data centers creating unlivable conditions, against the corruption and consolidation of capital in our elections and economy, against the fascist ICE occupations, against the refusal of our representatives to represent us, or against a justice system which extends justice only for some.
It is no longer enough to stand only for any singular identity politics.
We must join in a continued practice of civil service to & for each other, to treat & lift each other up as equals. To work in service to the immigrant, the poor, the disabled, and the oppressed.
A practice of sustained service of unity is the only path for us to endure as a union. In service of peace, equal enrichment, and equal representation is the only path for us to endure as a nation.
We must stand and work together DAILY to expose injustices tirelessly, to stand for the oppressed, to work for healthcare, food, housing, and education to be guaranteed as human rights. To stand for the oppressed, no matter their visa status, color, religion, sexuality, physical ability, or criminal background.
We must resist the constantly alleged threats of foreign menace that our elected leaders use to weaponize our political discourse and military forces against other nations and peoples and against each other domestically.
We must demand and expect human rights for all, or none of us will have them. We are only a prosperous nation if our prosperity is shared in unity, with “liberty and justice for all.”
We, the people, may stand together and thrive, or stand aside and watch it fall. Let’s aim for the former, despite the seeming inevitability of the latter.
WASTIA // ECHO