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Add to FavoritesINAUGURAL DOUBLE
Fellow Americans!
As I stand on this august stage in the shadow of not just the Capitol but also of momentous history, each trice of its flow charged with expectation, expectation of our upliftment, yes our nation's redemption, you have, by your well begun is half done fares, already set the ball rolling in the right direction.
Change is on and your hands mould it even as I am the one privileged to handle the figures and shapes emerging from your great democracy's potter wheel, a symbol of washing off of our national blemish's last vestige, well taken not only here at home but all over the world.
What an augury as America transitions into 21st
century heats for civilization's next laurels!
My inaugural speech is your patience's sweet fruit, the first bite at it as it were after long years of waiting and bearing with adverse circumstance which saw our nation's honor suffer dents as it took to waging a war it shouldn't have in the first place, led by a President who became a liability for our nation than any credit.
We believe in the might of God, therefore must give in to the force of powers that lie beyond our ken. Thus, as I step on to time's new threshold leading you into future which dash shall again begin to accord with our founding fathers' exalted vision, let me right away get to enumeration of tasks that stare us in the face.
Just the presaging word though. As I sat musing over shaping this defining moment, I made the effort to pour over American history, European history and the history of ancient worlds.
The point is to draw on cumulative wisdom of all humanity in order to see how best American cause can be served in new world dispensation where America alone can not effectively give new age the desired shape.
Our human world is uniquely diverse, yet singularly unitary in that all humans are created equal, the principle we Americans take pride in reiterating time and again with legitimate right having reinvented it as old empires gave way.
So too are virtues like democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, fraternity, rule of law and citizen access to justice universal values practised in all societies in a measure commensurate with their culture and civilization, a nation's genius you see. That is the backdrop to my exposition of American world view, my spring of thought and action.
So!
First and foremost I shall attend to American security.
Lincoln, the Obama mascot, had two inaugurals, one as the nation got going with Civil War, the second as Civil War end began to show. We get to see two Lincolns, one a resister but of sharp principle, the second a triumphant leader of a reuniting Union. All through it has been an intra American affair, running rather insulated from outside influence.
America
tod ay is anything but insulated'. Nor is it entirely intra American matter, nor yet of Americans' own making. There is all the usual bombast on narrow nationalism, we are the best, we are the finest etc, about its mandatory international leadership, its thorn like pricking flop as a failed Super Power, not to mention its disrepute both among nations of world and people at large but equally at home where its mainstay- the corporate capitalist America stands exposed on its flanks, a sickly tissue of bottomless corruption, greed, trickery, crookedness, everything that you could associate with an evil state than with one which rests on foundations of right, truth and all such universal and civilizing values.
Americans of course still see things with Super Power eyes. That has been the custom all along, from Roman Empire on to British Empire, why, America's own ignominy in Vietnam and the ongoing one in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Fellow Americans! I am Obama. And I am different. Sure, Lincoln is my role model, but as you know we don't live in 19th century as Lincoln
did. It is advancing 21st instead, and our America, however powerful, lies mauled, in inextricable knots of its own making short sighted Bush machination than far sighted visionary go at America and wider world.
Democracy, freedom, liberty, equality, First Amendment is all right as profound profession. It though mandates equal practice after charity begins at home truism. There, in that particular regard America
has mighty faulted.
As I stand today speaking to you, I must summon all honesty that is in me, all truthfulness I can command, all earnestness of purpose at my disposal, and above all, the weighty trust for change that you have put in my hands, and as I just took the oath of office in celebration of next round of America's great democracy, I consider it my foremost duty to first review America, draw conclusion and formulate policy for future, immediate as the next, the distant as of our future generations.
Septembe r 9 of the year 2001 was indeed a watershed turn of American history. We were attacked at home and we stood foxed. Therefore, first and foremost, I shall attend to the main task of our nation: American Security. We have seen the limits of American Super Power these past eight years. That accrued from certain fault lines of hubris which appeared in our otherwise impeccable foundation, on our own complacency's count and in no less measure from unreasonable truculence in unreined panache where cool reason should have weighed.
America
belie ves in basic human values, its nationhood derives from that Jefferson word on equality of all human beings, not only of Americans however specific may be that distinction in American context. Therefore, as I handle American policy, inside America as outside of it, I will rigorously adhere to the dictum: all humans are born equal.
By the same token, all nations embodying diverse human populations are equal too. There shall be no American right more equal than, say, Fiji's. Hence there shall be no foreign invasions under my watch, let alone occupation. That is the rule. What happens inside of a nation is its internal matter for its citizens to resolve with their own skills and abilities in the best traditions of democracy that they can marshal or in their absence create the same. It shall henceforth lie with America's adversaries of which I wish none, to make room for any exception that may ensue. Entire world may take notice of this declaration. Right of self defense is sacrosanct, again an equal right for all countries.
Given that change in perspective, my policy shall focus on America, its internal problems.
Why should American society continue to have in its ranks inequality?
Why must poverty so afflict American society when it is the most advanced in the world?
Why unabated crime? Why must Americans continue to have more prisons than schools? As were it some Dante hells!
Why must corrupted vested interests walk Congress corridors and pester peoples' representatives, carpetbagging?
Why must America
continue to be no.1 polluter of planet? Why the violence, perennial shooting, robbery, trafficking, prostitution, yes interminable crime?
America
is weighed down with problems. I must set the house in order before I set out on messianic missions abroad. So may God me help.
The senselessness of laisser faire capitalism or then Reaganism stands exposed even as we firefight to douse its flames such searing our lives. My administration will proactively guide economy and every buck must be accounted for including the one that stops at me. Strictly seen, corporations have no right to public monies- they have had full go at their laisser fairism- after all they have messed up their portfolios. The CEOs ought to be hanged for failure. However, emergency forces upon us reflection, demands of us compromise for nation's greater good, to salvage it from bad hands. We go into it by large inputs of capital but with the rider that every cent is returned in accordance with money matters and with the reservation that corporations show they have learned their lessons on corporate responsibility to society at large. Corporations are part of America. They are not whole of America. American people are whole of America!
Science and technology is doubtless all of big dazzle. But I have come to realize it is also basically a polluting tool in human hands. Even seemingly as innocuous a thing as web surfing is fraught with pollution dangers not to mention American obsession with gas guzzlers and those darned Gizmos. This monster must not take charge of our lives. The fun must stop. We must change our life style, however hard it is. Planet health supersedes our lesser wasteful interests. Environment protection through introduction of Environmental Technologies is the new mantra America must learn to chant.
Yes, freedom says you can do as you please, have as many cars as you want, but then price for liberty is eternal vigilance, isn't it? What good are rights without duties? It is every citizen's duty to rise to the occasion and help undo the damage done to environment by our profligate life style. Einstein himself is on record regretting only changing man's power, not his mind. That failing has led to so much woe that I feel it my duty to point out our national deficiency. Moreover to urge us all to heed the wise words of the modern day saints. Americans will do themselves a big favor to turn a page or two into lives and works of wise men who have been before us and return informed, educated. American ignorance is legendry if American advancement is world's envy. The two must match positively and not dissipate in dissonance. Oh!
For goodness' sake.
Here then, to take with our 1st step on this long new journey, my solemn pledge to you: my administration will translate into palpable action the spirit of American constitution. Equality, liberty, freedom, justice must begin to show from day one. The outrageous income disparity levels have no room on board. While corporations function on their own reason, they must incorporate in their charter, voluntarily, service to society as the larger principle, not profiteering per se, for, give in, pure capitalism is anti human. It doesn't conform to the spirit of modern age. It is up to us to discover or invent new ways of living that are soft on planet, reverse pollution. Animals don't pollute planet, why must we?
A new wind must begin to blow across continent, the wind that heralds not only change but also fills up the sails of fulfillment of that dream which the great Martin Luther King conceived during Civil Rights March right there by Lincoln Memorial where I also have sought my inspiration. It proceeds hence time such that by 100th day of my Presidency as families sit down for supper they do so in the knowledge that all tables have food on them, moreover enough new food for thought in hosts' and guests' minds that Americans now talk of new tasks of their nation in the new century, not only this banal terrorism.
The world is full of perils. As Mahatma Gandhi showed, change begins with oneself. Well! Charity begins at home. I will rigorously adhere to that example. So can every one in their station of life. For example, under my watch America
will not go about throwing its weight needlessly. No! Nations must learn to solve their own problems in accordance with their genius. World peace must be, at long last. Just as terrorism is bad, has no place in a civilized world, so too injustice is bad, has no room in a civilized world. Both must be undone simultaneously for our initiative and effort to be effective. Inequality and injustice breed resentment, that gathers up force then to erupt as volcanoes. Wisdom lies in prevention than cure, always.
In the latest Middle East
war round, we have now seen children fall to war machine. This is utterly unpardonable, unacceptable. It is also so ironical that folks who have suffered upon themselves Holocaust do the same to helpless children. That should ring alarm bells by Jews. What are they doing?
Besides, it brings no one even an inch nearer to peace. Instead it ferments more of resentment, more of terrorism. Israel must return Palestine
lands without any more delay, Palestinians must accept to live with Israel in peace after they have got their state. Heaven will not descend on this bit of complicated geography but that is no reason to make it a living hell with our own hands in this informed age. I am not a party to this unbearable outrage. No more of it. Additionally, Jews must too begin to think why is it that they were always driven out of every land. Why? Were they perhaps also at fault? To err is human.
Fellow Americans! You saw me swear by the Bible. We have faith in God., we do. In any case there is a power that stands above the ours. Atheists may take note of that. Bible has abundant rich thought practice of which can bring light into our lives. Like Bible there are other books of knowledge on art of living, on purpose of life. To each his own. Follow what you may in expression of your privileged freedom. I shall certainly strive to always keep in mind the stores of knowledge available from experiences of humanity gone before us and use a leaf or two by need if that could advance the cause of our nation's well being.
Thus, as this Inauguration ceremony winds down and your step seeks to return, go doubly assured you have now a President who is awake to your pulse as to the historicity of next tasks.
SO AM I, Obama!
Well, yes!
I am different
So is for once
The time's lay
In spite of Neocon dismay.
Here is no acquiescence
Nor palliation the rule
It is hard go
From strength of truth
Truth alone prevails
Had once picked from tales
Veda says too
Satyamev jayati!
Heresy!
Heresy is here home
Wannabe so
Good, all it takes
Is courage, some conviction
Some Jefferson
rebellion in tow
Nonchalance towards world
Dreaming of a different sowing
Of seminal seeds, different setting
Different wetting
For, these are different crops
For much the same ambiance
But those of nation's real props.
Products of mind
About life's wind
Gleamed from dissent
Not willed to fall in line
But to plough eigen furrows
Break the rotten rule
Forge one new, the tool
To bring about change.
I told you
I am different
Of a different lay
If you want to play
Then come on!
Courage in hand
Truth in heart
Mind on much the same drone.
So am I
O bad's troubled folks!
Your own good's Obama clone!
I hope we meet in four years time to celebrate our success as inaugurate the next challenge, never having to look back, and look instead upon future, if our feet yet rest on firm ground of a changed American world just as our founding fathers had envisioned it- for the better of course, an unshakable citadel of freedom, democracy and equality.
God bless America!
Learn more about this author, Satish Shukla.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.
Yes
Indeed, there is a unique American mission in the world today. I will call it Project Apocalypse; the unique and controversial agenda to make America and then world a fascist fantasy land. Fascism can be defined as a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism, regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive nationalism and often racism.
The injustices of American power, let me count the ways...Slavery started with Babylon, the initial civilization, then went on to Egypt and then Israel. Imperialistic colonization soon followed. Fast forward a millennium and there we find the industrial revolution's inception and the inhumane working conditions. Then, Susan B. Anthony along with many other women fight for their right to vote.
Finally, in the 1920's the constitution is amended. But, there are still Jim Crow laws and the oppression of African-Americans and immigrants alike. Martin Luther King shines his light in the face of White America, fighting for equal rights for all. He is promptly assassinated and America's collective psyche is bruised.
It is now 2008. The overt oppression of humans is condemned, so our Rulers turn to covert means. We are told that anyone with determination can realize the grand American Dream...At least that is what any blue blooded capitalist will tell you. For their sake I will grant that obscenity as truth and forget about the million of children impoverished, hungry and sick.
We'll say those without monetary means and possessions have opportunities to happiness, security and personal freedom equal to those who oppress and possess. The children living in the ghettos surrounds by guns and drugs have the same opportunity to the American Dream as the kids in the suburbs living lavishly, eating off silver spoons and attending private schools!
Our Rulers grind this mentality into our heads like the dictators they are. I will grant them this unsympathetic and unfounded conclusion. After all, it is written in our constitution that we have the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. Now, in our little fairy tale, all are free from being someone else's property, we all work in reasonable conditions with reasonable reimbursement for our labor, and we all have the right to vote.
Our country is the land of the free, the home of the brave, as close to perfection as any country in the world. The first wave of suppression is over. The second, third and fourth wave have come and gone. The coast is clear, no tsunamis against individual liberties in sight, the ocean of America is glassier and calmer than ever. America no longer the oppresses its own. And cocaine and crack in the streets is a good thing and for that matter, so is poverty. RRRAAAAAAAAAAAAAiiig ht.
We are on our way up the ladder of social evolution. Then, you open your eyes, read a book or twenty, stop watching TV to formulate opinions and realize we are doing to the rest of humanity that which we once inflicted on our own. The injustices are no longer close to home, in front of our very own eyes to see.
Indeed, the oppressed are the impoverished in lands far far away and very different from ours'. One crucial aspect, however, remains unchanged...American rulers are still the Oppressors! Now, Americans, who will not stand for their own blatant oppression, fail to stand up against the oppression of the rest of the world. We spit out the same rhetoric, saying, "Well, at least they are getting paid something. They would be worse off if our corporations were not there!...?
I disagree. Money does not solve everyone's sadness and "Sorry," doe not shine my shoes. Before American businesses went into South America, just one of the many victims of IMF policies, most South Americans could drink their water without paying for it. They could walk up to their springs and drink freely. Now, it is polluted and expensive. Those talking heads do not tell you this story or anything like it, and no one wants to spend time reading or researching to find the real news of reality.
Are we nothing more than a mob of brainwashed, mesmerized zombies insensitive, if not ignorant, to the plight of the inhabitants of developing countries. Ignorance may be bliss, but it is no way to lead one's life.
The rest of the world perceives America as the promised land, just as we demand. When will we wake up, realize this is the land that it has always been; the land of the oppressors. Will we demand social evolution? White people stole this land from the indigenous Indians, and that is just a plain and simple fact.
Native Americans are still forgotten relegated to residing on reservations with no indication of remembrance or repentance. Now, American corporations and institutions with their wayward economics are the oppressors as the FED stands to take over the entire banking industry in the United States. The face may have changed, but the culprit has not...same wine, different bottle. We must unite and fight for our brothers and sisters abroad as we fought for our own freedom of opportunity. We must open our eyes to the sad reality that there remains yet another struggle to overcome. Wake up or suffer the consequences of your ignorance and indifference.
Martin Luther King once lamented, "Society must protect the robbed and punish the robbers." The Robbers name need not be repeated. Who stole Africans from their land? Who snaked their freedom? Who stole millions of children's childhoods? Who stole womens' rights and respect? Who, after granting Africans their God given freedom stole their equal social status? Who stole the life of the most eloquent and effective freedom fighter ever to grace this land? Who stole the life of a young President pursuing peace and love instead of war and fear? Now, who is stealing labor and natural resources from the people and the land of these developing nations? Who is stealing their right to basic human dignity? Who builds the factories that enslave these impoverished masses? Who is paying these children to slave away all day in gruesome factories just so they can have enough money to put shoes on their feet, to have a dime or two to take home and help provide for their family's basic needs, to put rice in their baby sister's mouth? Now, whose responsibility is it to notice this robbing and pillaging, and punish the Robbers? It is your responsibility. It is mine. It is his and hers and YOURS! We must cease this blind patriotism. We must end the detrimental indifference and complacency. We may or may not see the suffering confronting our brothers and sisters. Our Rulers do well burying the Truth under layers and layers of propaganda. Just because you do not feel like the victim anymore does not give you the right to stop caring about the victims. The longer the Robbers go unpunished, the harder they will be to stop, and the more heinous their crimes against humanity become. Life is no Hollywood production. The good guy does not unequivocally triumph on the stage of Reality. To some life is a game, to many many more life is War.
The Federal government, our President and all his peons on the Hill must suffer the natural consequences for their blatant disregard for humanity, both abroad and domestic. No longer can we allow them to legitimize robbing humanity to their right to basic human dignity and freedom to pursue happiness. Our Rulers are investing in implements of death and destruction, perpetuating war with the proliferation of nuclear warheads. The nuclear stockpiles in our silos are fossils of the Cold War, a choreographed war to instill fear in the hearts of mankind worldwide. Now, they discuss the Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI, commonly known by the Reaganesque term, Star Wars). Correct me if I am wrong, but was nuclear capability suppose to be deterrence enough? Why in the hell are they wasting our hard earned tax dollars on militarizing space?Why do we need yet another deterrent? Perhaps our Rulers intend to initiate another war against us, while simultaneously protecting their own asses with lasers in space.
Dropping two atomic bombs on the Japanese at the very end of World War II when the Japanese war munitions were so depleted they sent their own men on sacrificial missions because the jets did not have enough gas to make the return trip to base. Now these are called suicide bombers, even terrorists. Harry Truman was not trying to save the lives of American soldiers, he was demonstrating America's military dominance. We were the hornets. Japanese were honey bees. And we sent in two "hornets" to annihilate the "honey bees'" society. The demonstration was so effective it became the impetus for the nuclear arms race and the next war, right on the heals of the previous two. And what about the 140,000 innocent men, women and children unnecessarily murdered in Hiroshima, and the 70,000 killed in Nagasaki. 9-11 ain't got shit on those "King Kong" hornet bombs.
Fat Man and Little Boy were not conventional weapons. They were nuclear attacks. These bombs turned healthy humans into carbonized cadavers. Those who were not carbonized melted. Those who did not melt into a pile of boiling flesh, melted beyond recognition to die a slow agonizing death with their eyeballs hanging from their sockets and their skin dripping from every joint. Those who did not get eaten alive by maggots festering in their wounds died from atomic disease with their hair and teeth falling out, bloody gums, and internal bleeding of every sort. Those who managed to survive both the immediate and residual radiation have become known as the hibakusha. They are plagued with leukemia, cataracts, and various types of cancer. Thyroid, breast and pancreatic cancer were just some of the painful residual killers. Japanese, Koreans, and American POWs were all slaughtered like pigs. Our soldiers gave their life to fight for a cause and country they believed in. And the thanks our rulers gave them was Nuclear carbonization and death. Our rulers are not human, humane, and are as separate and different from us as hornets are to honey bees. We are their prey. They are our predators.
This blind patriotism is preposterous and a sure sign that the mission is close to being accomplished. Our rulers annihilated more than a quarter million innocent Asian civilians. And we did not care. We still do not care enough. We were lied to by our leaders then, just as we have been deceived again with Iraq. We worship this felonious Federal government like dogs do their masters. Are we incapable of critical thinking because our Rulers tell us something is so? Are we so complacent that we let evil thrive to the detriment of our very survival? Are we that afraid of change and social transformation...Rev olution? Can we handle the truth as it stares us straight in our unfocused eyes? Only the truth can set us free. We must be open to our Reality and demand change. If we do not, we are worse than the perpetraters of these pernicious acts. By accepting their iniquity, we become the enablers. After all, this is a Democracy that we live in, right?! Rrrrrrraaaaaaight, if you say so. Ignorance is no excuse. I took the time necessary to see the truth of our reality. So must you. And you must be courageous enough to accept what you see and brave enough to fight for more, to fight for a better existence. The most fascist plutocracy ever to control a nation is endeavoring to establish a global apartheid. They are setting up shop in your back yard. Are you too brainwashed to see, accept and know the truth of Reality?
Our Rulers are still separating, segregating and acting superior in their eternal endeavor to conquer the masses through division. We must unite to win this final fight. Now, our rulers do not overtly oppress their own minorities...well, not to the point that we once allowed. Now, the victims are to be found abroad in the AIDS epidemic filled lands of Africa and the poverty surrounding Asia and South America. It is harder to see the oppressed. We are appeased, placated by the fact that it is no longer across the street. At least now it is across oceans. This is a manifestation of Americans' indifference and self-proclaimed superiority. There is more separation now than ever. The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer. The economic disparities grow larger, both abroad and domestic. The West vs. The Rest of the World. Northern Hemisphere vs. Southern Hemisphere. Evil vs. Good in the epic battle of Existence. Can you see this picture? The writing is on the wall.
We must chase our dreams. The American Dream is not equally accessible to all. Cities are concrete jungles. The impoverished humans surrounded by black, morbid penury do not have the same opportunity to pursue happiness available to the filthy rich surrounded by stifling and suffocating opulence. The right to pursue happiness is a basic human freedom that must be made available to all. Again, I remind you of the prophetic words of Dr. King, Jr.,"Injustice ANYWHERE is a threat to justice EVERYWHERE." Keep a tight hold on the rope of Hope. We must all put our hands in our neighbors and pray for a brighter tomorrow. Be a dreamer. Keep y our head up, for he who looks up is taller than he who looks down. Give thanks and praises to the Most High, and help put an end to this disastrous American mission. Thank you.
Learn more about this author, Cameron Stoddart.
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