Christmas Eve, 12/24/2004
Begin Dispatch.
A Letter to Future Generations,
To Whomever Can Still Read,
Please forgive us for what has happened. We can only imagine how difficult your life has become, sadly. Please understand that many of us tried to fight the darkness that overtook our democracy in our 224th year of existence. But the larger forces of human greed, hatred, bigotry and fear conspired together to create an insurmountable foe. A foe that used its power to control every aspect of our lives. Reducing us to nothing more than prisoners. What was once the greatest experiment in human self-government was co-opted by extremists who despised what that experiment represented: an egalitarian and free society. Fearful of others, fearful of change and fearful of freedom, those extremists methodically and systematically took control of our government, dismantled it piece by piece and threw it into the fire - destroying forever what we all thought was strong enough to withstand the worst marauding advances - simply, America.
We had been taught (to the point of apathy, perhaps) that the extremes of human history would never blow onto our shores. In hindsight, we were looking in the wrong direction, because they didn't arrive on our shores. They bubbled up from within; from wellsprings of hate and cowardice hiding behind veils of goodness and love. Many thought it was fleeting, the overlords ascendance to power, that it would pass. Many could just not see the course set sail by these horrible men. Sadly, however, many agreed with their leadership; many agreed with their lies.In our 227th year, the evil forces began a crusade to rid the world of our perceived enemies. The reasons stated for war turned out to be lies. Many disagreed. Many fought against the half-truths. And many died needlessly, on both sides. Perhaps this was the beginning of our end when human life became meaningless and an afterthought. Perhaps we were headed down that road long before. We do not know. What we do know is that our leaders lied to us and our leaders stole from us, on all things and everything.There were those of us who wanted a society of freedom and dignity for all. There were those of us who believed that our democracy would endure the ravages of these evil men. But we poorly miscalculated their ruthlessness and hatred of our democracy. The result is, unfortunately, your present.End Dispatch.