The Empire Crumbles

Photo by Carrie Thomas

I find myself coasting down toward the landing strip after frantically circling for so long. There were times in the last year where I consistently got 4 hours of sleep per night. I have been so focused on my music and my goals that I have not given much time to myself to just eat pudding and watch cartoons. So, that is what I am doing. I am embracing two months of laziness. Don't fret though, I am never completely idle. I am working on writing songs for the next album and I go back into the studio on the 24th to record a song which is brand spanking new called Duct Tape and Super Glue. Some of you got to hear a preview of this song out on the road.

Lately I find myself focused on something rather important. It's odd how this subject came into my head, but it involves roads and bridges. Having found myself in unfamiliar cities across the country doing shows I discovered one disturbing trend, One thread of similarity. The paint on every bridge in this country is pealing away, chipping and the metal underneath is rusting. There are cracks in every sidewalk in every city and potholes on every street.

This may seem like a simple little thing with no meaning, but for me it is a sign of a decaying empire. Our infrastructure, our roads, our rails, our streets are literally crumbling and not being repaired. We have focused all our money and resources on a war that benefits only the few elite involved for their own special self interests. Our educational system is falling apart. Our healthcare system and social security are a mess, yet we continue to funnel money into a war with no end in sight, a war that ultimately makes this country a less safe place to live.

Historically, the end of most empires came when they tried to stretch their reach too far, focusing their resources on colonizing and controlling descenting nations.
We have become so arrogant in our neocolonization of the world that Russia has initiated a move towards a cold war attitude against the United States.

The empire is crumbling as our landfills grow larger with imported chinese trinkets. Penny by penny, those trinkets are building another empire.
We have become a nation full of consumers as manufacturing jobs move overseas. What we think we are saving in sweatshop labor, we are losing in the end.
It is the way of history and the world. One empire will fall as another comes to take its place.

We need to pass legislation to stop overseas sweatshops and outsourcing of jobs. We need to stand up to our leaders and say no to endless wars that take innocent lives with absolutely no justification for being initated. We need to change our direction as a country if we are to remain a world power or we all need to pull out that credit card one last time and buy a good book. I recommend a beginner's guide to chinese.

The empire is crumbling.