I am not a great intellectual, put on this earth to ponder the great policy intiatives that our debated in state capitols and in Washington DC by our elected officials. I am not an advocate for causes, either great or lost. I am not a mover or a shaker. No one cares what my opinions are about the issues of the day. And yet I just have to take a moment to express how I feel today. Because I’m furious.

I am a simple woman. I love two things: my cats and Rosanne Cash. Not necessarily in that order, and not necessarily with the same intensity. (But don’t let my cats know–they can get fiercely jealous.) Oh, and I love one other thing: The Illusion of America.

Even though I’m cynical, more bitter than your average bear, and determined not to have my emotions manipulated by pure propaganda, I can’t help but confess that I’m a sucker for the American Dream.

Oh, sure, economically the middle class is collapsing, that much is true, as we are losing millions of decent, dependable, good-paying jobs every year. Millions of us find ourselves newly constrained by the rusted shackles poverty every passing year in this millenium as we continue to slide down the economic ladder. We not only watch our own dreams for retirement die, but those of our children as well, as it dawns us that most of what we want for them–a good education, a nice job, a solid home in a secure neighbor–is out of reach.

But, even as I see with these jaded eyes that bleak future before us, I cling tightly to the belief that America represents something Important. The things we Value, generations before us fought valiantly for. They are supposed to be mean something. Our values are supposed to be more than just empty rhetoric muttered mechanically by corrupt politicians for cheap applause.

We are supposed to Respect Human Dignity. But, we don’t. We imprison men without trial, without rights, in harsh conditions with no intention of releasing them in some sort of Kafka performance piece in Cuba. We will keep these men in prison all of their lives, even though they are innocent of any crime. We will keep these men alive to endure their inhuman, undeserved prison sentences by forcefully shoving tubes down their throat and pouring nutrients into their bodies so that they cannot die of starvation as more than half of them are attempting to do.

We are supposed to Respect the Rules of War. But, we don’t. We launch devastating bombs in areas that are not even legitimate war zones, and we kill thousands of innocent people a year in an effort to eliminate our “enemies.” Who are these enemies? We the People don’t need to know that. Who are the people that we are killing? We don’t need to know that, either–the childen, the women, the wedding parties. If they died by a bomb that we launched, then they were guilty of something.

We are supposed to Respect the Rights of Our Citizens. But, we don’t. We search them unnecessarily, coldly, callously, heartlessly, from the cop on the street to the Attorney General of the United States. All in the name of “rooting out evildoers.” We scoop up phone records of everyone and sift through it laboriously, as if we have a right to do so, looking for clues, hints, that some of us are doing something, somewhere, contrary to the laws of this land. If the things our government are doing had been reported as having been done by the Chinese instead, we would have sanctimoniously pointed a finger at their oppressive Communist government and crowed, “Ah ha! THAT is what a police state looks like! Only a government afraid of its own people would go to such links to spy on the innocent. We do not have that problem here in America. Here we are Free.”

Once these outrages are revealed, are our leaders ashamed? Embarrassed? Fearful of an angry public? No. They brazenly assert to any journalist that sticks a microphone in their face that “this has been going on for years.” (Dianne Feinstein, (D), CA) “I’m glad this is happening.” (Lindsay Graham, Senator, (R), SC) “This has helped us catch countless bad guys.” (Saxby Chambliss, Senator, (R), GA) (Countless, I imagine, in the sense that it is impossible to count a thing that does not have a quantity.) And, most chillingly: “This is what protecting America looks like.” That last quote was also from Senator Feinstein, a supposedly liberal senator from the supposedly liberal state of California. Oh, really, Senator? THIS is what protecting America looks like? Because I thought that THIS is what destroying America’s values and liberties looks like. I thought that this is what pissing on the Constitution looks like. I thought this is what government overreach looks like. But, you say this is what protecting America looks like. Must be my mistake, then. Please let me get back to looking at funny pictures of dogs on Reddit & reading snarky tweets about fascism on Twitter while you continue “protecting” us. Sorry to get my panties in a bunch.

With this latest revelation of the NSA phone records scandal, as well as the way the White House has subpoened records from the Associated Press to root out a whistleblower who, they say–and why should we ever doubt the sincerity and truthfulness of the United States Government?–compromised national security by leaking information to the press, in addition to the way the White House is persecuting a Fox News reporter for the work he did, it is becoming increasingly difficult to sit by and watch our violent, overly-secretive, abusive, unrestrained government continue to act unilaterally at home and abroad in all of our names.

I am, in a word, furious.

That’s all I wanted to say. Thank you for reading. (Unless you’re an NSA agent and, let’s be honest, you probably are. In which case you can go fuck yourself.) I’m going to the dream I have of America, where none of my cats throw up on the carpet, and they gladly share quality lap time instead of trying to claw each other’s eyes out because I let one sit in my lap and another wants–*meow!* *hiss!* *spit!*–

Sigh.

Ahem.

The dream I have of America where all my cats and I live in harmony, listening to Rosanne Cash music, dreaming of a better America.