Does Anything Make Any Sense Anymore? (Part 3)
The following questions are questions that need answering. Are there answers to
them? We must remain optimistic and vigilant if there are to be. These are just a few
topics. There are many more, some more important and some less, based on a
person’s beliefs and attitudes. I present them, as a reference and a starting point for
discussion
Has our government yet realized that poverty begets crime? Why haven’t they
concluded that society flourishes when all people are treated equally? Why are the
poorest and most destitute in society mostly minorities? If we are our ‘brother’s
keeper,’ then shouldn’t our government be doing something more proactive and
productive than just doling out patronizing entitlements? Creating jobs for people is
a win-win-situation, isn’t it?
If the gaming industry preys on the people who are desperate, then why are more
and more states changing their laws to accept gambling? Did this all start with the
lotteries so our state governments could make more money to cover up their
mismanagement of funds? How much more gaming will it take to separate the
classes even further? And if gambling is a terrible addiction, why does our
government condone it?
If drugs are illegal, and people go to jail for either possessing or selling them, then
why is tobacco a legal crop when it is a highly addictive and destructible drug that
costs the government so much money in health care and kills millions of people?
Why is alcohol legal when so many people die from its addictive powers, so many
innocent people are killed on the roads? Even more insane is why are bars and
restaurants allowed to serve liquor when so many of its patrons leave intoxicated
and drive home?
It is illegal to kill, so why is our government not following the law when it comes to
the death penalty? Shouldn’t our government be held up to the same standards as
the people it represents? Wouldn’t being caged like an animal for the rest of your
life, in the most frightening of conditions, be more hellacious than the easy way out
of dying? Wouldn’t it cost the government a lot less than it would in death penalty
appeals, which most of these convicted criminals cannot afford, causing the
innocent their life? Should Stanley ‘Tookie’ Williams have been executed by
Governor Schwarzenegger when there wasn’t irrefutable proof he was guilty? After
sixteen years of writing about the evils of gangs, teaching children to do the right
thing, saving countless lives in the process, and being nominated for the Nobel
Prize in Peace, shouldn’t his life have been spared? With more than 1000 people
murdered by the United States in the last 29 years, what does it say about Texas
which has killed more than one-third of them (355)? And what does it say about our
president, when in his five years as governor of Texas he executed 131 of those
people, or, on average, one person every other week? What does revenge offer
except pain and suffering for so many other families? Is the death penalty a
deterrent? If you believe it is, then why has every reputable academic study proven
that the death penalty does not provide any deterrent value? Do Americans realize
that murder rates in death penalty states are higher than they are in states without
the death penalty? And what about the 119 people who were on death row that have
since been exonerated because it was finally proven they were innocent, not to
mention the 23 cases where innocent people were executed since 1900? Do
Americans know that our country has the distinction of joining China, Iraq, Iran, and
Saudi Arabia as the only nations that execute their citizens? How then can two-
thirds of Americans support the death penalty, when the rest of the free world
considers it barbaric, inhumane, and uncivilized? How many other people will be
murdered for a crime they never committed if America continues this reign of
terror?
If right-to-life advocates condemn the killing of an unborn fetus, then why do they
blow up abortion clinics, killing so many people? Isn’t this contradictory? If pro-
choicers believe abortion is not killing, then why can’t they decide on this in the first
trimester? As this question has never been answered, isn’t compromise better than
decades of debate, division, and death?
Whatever happened to freedom? Is it legal for our president to be spying on
Americans in our own country without us knowing about it? Is it legal for our
president to have secret detention camps in Eastern Europe where prisoners (or
those we think may be terrorists) are sent to be interrogated through whatever
means (torture?) possible? How many years must the detainees be held at
Guantanamo Bay without being charged with a crime? How can any country respect
us, or believe in our system, or want to be our ally, or embrace democracy, when
the American way of living is being bastardized by our present political leadership?
What has America turned into these last five years? And how do we become the
country we once were, a free country, which most of the world depended upon,
admired, and respected?
To survive in the best of all possible worlds we must all work together as one family.
If we want to change and be a better people, a far better world, we must first be
willing to change and act upon it. If you have questions or topics that you feel
should be addressed, please email the author, Bruce Schwartz, at
www.parkavenuepress@hotmail.com. The publisher has the discretion whether to
print your comments
[Bruce Schwartz is the author of the #1 bestselling novel THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
(http://www.thetwentyfirstcentury.com), which deals with race relations and a government
conspiracy in America a week before the presidential election. He is presently working
on the movie version of his novel.]
