[Darin initially wrote a rather long stinging, thought-provoking letter, and I asked him to cut it down for posting. The original title was a bit more explicit than what's here, but I saw fit to change it to "I'm Mad As Hell...," after famous line in the film, Network.

I'm Mad As Hell...

I'm pissed off, but it's not just because I've spent four years in college, got good grades, and can't find a real job.  It's something else; it's what I've become aware of since I've been waiting for the phone to ring and the e-mail to come with a job offer.

I've caught up on four years of what's being going on in the world.

When you see it all at once, it's pretty hard to believe, especially how people are just accepting the profanity of it all. I don't know if people are just apathetic, stupid, just can't see it, don't want to see it, don't give a damn, or some of each.

We have company CEOs that have lied, cheated, robbed people of their life savings, and on top of that have run their companies into bankruptcy; and for that they are given bonuses, and multi-million dollar severance packages so they can enjoy life in their multi-million dollar homes.

At the same time, by allowing the corporations to get out of paying taxes by setting up their headquarters overseas—"headquarters" being nothing more than a file cabinet in a low-budget office in many cases—our government has ended up encouraging corporations to both avoid taxes and not hire their own citizens.

We've got a shadow government of frustrated old, right-wing cronies that have used 9/11 to justify everything that their elk wanted to do ever since they declared war on Clinton for doing something that, if the truth were known, they secretly envy.

The plans were all there, just waiting for a good excuse to dust them off and put them into action. This, of course has included taking big bites out of the very freedoms, liberties, and values that hundreds of thousands of young men like me have given their lives to preserve.

After spending billions destroying a good part of Afghanistan, Iraq, and a few other places that most American's couldn't find on a map if they had to, they are now funneling billions in tax money into politically favored companies to rebuild it all.

So they win "going in" and "coming out."

And we have a President that puts it all into shallow, simplistic slogans to appeal to the aware-challenged; slogans like "axis of evil," "war on terrorism," "beacon of freedom for the rest of the world," and "evildoers"—insultingly shallow slogans designed to stop people from thinking about anything deeper—like the real underlying issues.

...[And then there is]...the filth in the air and water of our country that's poisoning people, plus a thing called global warming that they don't want scientists to talk about; but that's okay because to do something about it would cut into corporate profits and impact political contributions.

The fact that this country is disliked and even hated by more countries around the world than any time in history is "unfortunate," but, hey, if they are not for us, they are against us anyway; and besides, who needs rest of the world when you are a superpower?

If we'd only admit it, we're mistrusted and hated for some very good reasons.

Yes, many of the people in Iraq were suffering, but if we would spend our bombs-and-bullets-billions on feeding the starving, and caring for the sick around the world, instead of a billion dollars a month war, there wouldn't be such a cause to hate us and their touted "compassion" wouldn't look totally hypocritical.

While we spend billions trying to solve problems around the world with force (what we know best and what's most profitable for our corporations), various government agencies are having to (when you cut away the BS) cut back on education, teachers, policemen, our head-start and after-school programs, and a wide range of benefits for the needy—for which, by the way, there is a greater need than ever, given the fact that the rich and politically favored are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer and more desperate, which is largely why we need more police in the first place.

Along with that there is the so-called compassionate conservatism we were sold on with millions of dollars in slick political ads paid for by corporations that are now seeing a handsome return on their investments.

And millions were convinced by these ads, the same advertising techniques that sell us on the "superiority" of Colgate toothpaste, Pedigree dog food, and Frosted Flakes.

Then there is the Fort Benning School of the Americas that, supported by our tax money continues year after year to teach favored students from around the world the techniques of torture and how to neutralize your current political enemies, and maybe even make yourself richer in the process.

The school has been around for a long time, and has very effectively trained some of our worst enemies. We continue to gasp in moral horror as we continue to pour money into it.

...I could go on and on. ...All this is bad enough, but what's worse is that our great heritage of rebelling against such victimization, the very attitude that established this country, is gone.

From a selfish standpoint, if and when we ever get jobs, it's our generation and our children's generation that will have to contend with the polluted and dead environment, and pay for this mess that we didn't want in the first place, long after those who are getting rich now have died after enjoying their lives of luxury.

They are spending trillions of dollars on credit and we're stuck with the bill.

It's sad that so many people lost their lives on 9/11, but hundreds of thousands of young men just like me gave up their lives before they really got started for the idea of democracy and freedom -- the very things that are disappearing in our own country. Those who died for these causes were under the impression that we would stay vigilant and protect these things after they were gone.

But, we've fallen asleep in complacency. We've been conned into accepting the fact that conformity and going along with political and economic exploitation represents patriotism.

Dissent, even against the clear travesty of justice and lack of true Christian morality, is branded as unpatriotic.

And, if the big money corporations can continue to sell us on the kind of superficial flag-waving, Bible-toting, "compassionate" conservatism that so many bought into during the last election, it will mean that they can continue to have both their president and their profits.

Just how bad does it have to get? Or will it be too late when we finally wake up and find out?

...When I try to talk to my parents about this, they say, "When you get a job, you'll forget about all this stuff you can't do anything about anyway."

Like most people, they just handle it by ignoring it. Mom "isn't political," and dad gets what he knows mostly from radio talk shows.

Unfortunately, they spent a lot of money on my college, and I learned the need to think about things.

Maybe those of us who are out of work should spend our idle time doing something really worthwhile for the country and its people and see that some very major changes are made!

Darin

Darin, we appreciate the letter. Although a bit "over the top," you undoubtedly speak for a lot of young people.

As of 2008, about $600 billion has been spent on the Iraq war -- about $12 billion a month -- ten times the original estimate.  About 40% of the money has been borrowed from China and other international investors.  This is the first time the U.S. has had to borrow money to finance a war since the Revolutionary War, and the first time an administration has lowered taxes at the same time.

We are also borrowing from Social Security funds. To keep Social Security afloat in the future, some say that either deductions from paychecks will have to be doubled or benefits will have to be cut back.

If you include present promises made for Medicare, Social Security and federal retirement programs, U.S. taxpayers now have a total debt of $59 trillion dollars, which comes down to $516,000 for every U.S. household. -USA Today, 2007

Unfortunately, Darin, you and your children are going to have to (one way or another) pay for all of this.

As far as the CEO's are concerned, even though there are two sides to this, The Week reports (based on a study by the Economic Policy Institute) that the average CEO earns more in one day that the average worker in the US earns in a year.

Another report says that the top CEOs in the United States make more money in eight minutes than the average worker makes in eight months, further contributing to the greatest disparity in history between the rich and the poor.

But, like it or not, Darin, this is the world we now find ourselves in. What we need from young people like you are solutions.

You speak of the American Revolution. You may also remember Martin Luther's revolt against the corrupt, all-powerful church structure of his day. He didn't resort to guns, only writings that were able to bring these things to the attention of the people and eventually spark an uprising all across Europe.

You now have the Internet where young bright people can hammer out ideas and reach agreements. Keep in mind that the Internet is the medium most used mostly by younger, more educated, more influential people. And it's basically free; you don't need millions from corporations to get things rolling.

You may recall that recently a very young girl  —  about 13, as I remember  —  got national and international attention by starting a web site, which, among other things featured still photos of war-injured children in hospital beds with a sound track of "Jesus Loves Me."  The incongruity of it all made a lot of people very uncomfortable  — and made a lot of people think!

You might start by considering this letter on how to be a moral radical.

Responses are encouraged.

-Ed.

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