The Red Neck Sage has emerged from the depths of delivering vocal abuse to friends and family and sending endless diatribes in email in response to the many received. The world will not be the same tomorrow as it is not the same as it was two weeks ago. I dedicate the Maiden Voyage of the RNS to the Egyptians and their struggle to “take back their country”. Does that ring a bell from the endless chants in this country calling for a change in direction? There is beauty here, there are politics here, there are wealthy stakeholders here with long term investments at stake and there are common people here. As President Obama faces off with the US Chamber of Commerce and the illusive, but all important “private sector” to take another stab at remedies to the economic pains troubling us in our own backyard is it possible to reflect upon those sacred principles that are now a mantra in our daily mediasphere? These principles are being applied by our sisters and brothers as we watch and listen.
Is it possible for us to connect to our Egyptian sisters and brothers without going through the US Embassy, the President, the Congress or any other gatekeeper? I believe the answer is yes and it is time to reach out to those in a country to which we have supplied billions in support over decades to buy stability in support of our pristine and sacred democracy. As smart as our politicians are they still seem to miss things. I call this “Altitude Sickness”. The higher up you go and the longer you stay the more removed you become from the reality on the ground.
We are all guilty in the US. Attempts to blame our politicians for our middle east policy over the last 30 years is an abdication of individual responsibility. I here rhetoric day in and day out preaching freedom and liberty here at home with limited government as we seem to find ourselves in some sort of reawakening to the scriptures written by the founding fathers and the principles of the constitution to guide our direction in 2011. What about our sisters and brothers in Egypt? How do they fit into this equation? Are they a geopolitical pawn to be manipulated according to our national interest or is there something higher at work?
I am compelled to dedicate the first Red Neck Sage blog posting on behalf of the Egyptian people and their call for change in their country according to the principles to which we preach in this country. The Cold War took us to unique places in our geopolitical landscape as the US emerged as the super power in the world. It only takes one game of Parker Brother’s Risk to grasp the geopolitical significance of the Middle East especially with the added dimension of oil reserves. And there within lies the rub. As Americans who support liberty and freedom we also support dictatorships to secure our liberty and freedom on the backs of our fellow man?
I call this the “Democracy Paradox”. At the end of the day the real success of America is its economy. After all we are all too willing to accept that we defeated the Soviet Union by spending on defense and driving their economy into the ground not a nuclear strike. Of course the expenditures for nukes were a part of the US economic equation enriching the military industrial complex, but we can all take lessons from the “collapse” of the Soviet Union. Imperialism seems to be woven into our human fabric and it rises and falls for a particular nation. The beauty of modern day America is that for decades it has justified imperialistic activities with foreign countries for reasons of national security and democracy all the way to today. The number of Americans that feel no concern about this past behavior in some patriotic fervor that Americans are weak if they apologize concerns the Red Neck Sage. Let’s fight the war on Iraq’s soil so we don’t have to fight it here.
Isn’t there something strange about that. I’m sure that we have a select group of interests that are managing our way through our international relationships. Which gets me back to Egypt and what is going on there. I dedicate my first blog posting to the people of Egypt and their struggle to really take back their country in a message to our own people and shine light on the H word. Yes hypocrisy. The nasty news for the US is that the Egyptians are taking their country back from us. Enriching the dictator and military of a strategic foreign country as means for securing Americans is a nasty business. It violates all the fundamental principles in which we believe and yet we are such true believers.
The trouble with democracy is that it is inherently uncertain. It is the stone of uncertainty on which we must plant our foot if we are to move forward. As much as we trust democracy we do not trust it and at the end of the day it seems it is all measured by our economy. This is the true measure of success no matter the social organizational model. Then there is that nagging problem of parity within your social organizational model. If there is one thing that my father detested while he was alive it was that someone might receive something they did not deserve from the government. His focus was primarily on the poor and the welfare system as it evolved from the AFDC. All the while his pockets were not being picked by the poor.
Do any other behaviors ring true in recent events as governments seek to pay off the population to avoid revolt? It is an interesting thing to watch as the stratosphere attempts to reconnect with the ground overnight after decades of separation in the countries we claim to be our friends.
It is time to bypass our politicians, diplomats and unleash our support for our Egyptian sisters and brothers. It is time for them to embrace us directly as well. We now have the medium and we should combat the environment of fear. The bad guys we fear are the bad guys they fear. Let us as Americans show our strength in supporting an emerging democracy directly or let us take our place as hypocrites. The Red Neck Sage will be looking for ways to reach out to our sisters and brothers in practice of that which we preach.