Today I should have watched the Inauguration with as much hope and happiness in my heart as anyone in the acres of humanity fanning out from the Capitol Building. And I would have - if not for the last two years.
The last two years of watching elected officials at all levels find ways to screw the public out of it's money, voice, and quality of life. I cannot summon a blip of enthusiasm. And I resent it. I resent that this issue has crept into my life and stolen this moment from me.
As the camera pans from the new president to the Lincoln Memorial, I get a tear in my eye imagining Martin Luther King watching this day unfold from across the reflection pond.
But the moment passes. I remember closed doors, done deals, mitigation, and politicians everywhere trying to convince the public, without the slightest bit of humor, that casinos are good for us. I am discouraged beyond repair. Cynical at last. Where others feel hope, I find only hypocrisy.
My hope is up the street - at the Supreme Court. My hope is in their ability to end the unbridled, government-sanctioned greed that has taken land off the tax rolls and which will stop at nothing to build the worlds largest casino on a highway near you.
But the Chief Justice just messed up his lines at the swearing in.
I say a prayer for smart people with position, good judgment, a moral compass and political leverage. Redeem my faith, restore my trust. That is my hope.
And those of us who manage the public's dollars will be held to account -- to spend wisely, reform bad habits, and do our business in the light of day -- because only then can we restore the vital trust between a people and their government.President Obama in his Inauguration Address
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5 comments:
Gladys,
I couldn't agree with your sentiments more.
The celebration of a new President would have been preferred to consideration of the rampant corruption and loss of democracy in our midst.
A tear, Gladys?
No! The tears flowed down my cheeks at what we, as a small town, and those surrounding communities have been forced to endure because of wealthy international investors who targeted us.
And I remember Stephen Graham and Jack Healey huddled together every time I went into the Town Hall.
I remember the Lincoln Navigators registered to the Lakeville IBEW whose occupants met with Mr. Bond.
I remember seeing the arrogant rapist and serial liar driving a new shiney SUV to each event and calling us racists.
And most of all, I remember those who endured the punishment of speaking the truth and speaking out against casino gambling. Those are the few who presented the facts and explained that this was never about jobs.
It was about the investors' profits. This was never about Native Americans or their heritage.
This was about predatory gambling.
What no one has publicly disclosed is that the Tribe in Mashpee is in disarray and chaos, unable to govern. Torn to shreds by the likes of Abramoff, Graham, Marshall, Hendricks, and others.
It's time to cut the umbilical cord that binds. We can visit them in prison.
It's time for a new Administration to cleanse the most corrupt department in the federal government, the BIA.
And it's time for the proper enforcement agencies to do their jobs and cleanse our town of those covered with the slime of the last 2 years.
It will happen! Today, I am assured!
One thing is for sure.
Today Glenn Marshall will stand in a court of a law and admit to all the wrongdoing around this casino.
U.S. attorneys will continue their investigation down any paths that Marshall sends them down. Some of those paths will lead to Detroit, some to Mashpee, and some maybe to Middleboro.
Luckily I don't have the same cynicism as you. I share the distrust of government, but I think I've had than since Nixon and the last 8 years of hell, I mean, Bush didn't help.
Bumpkin, perhaps you don't share my cynicism because, despite the outcome and the miserably corrupt process, you got a vote in the casino issue. You got to get up and speak your mind in front of your fellow citizens and be heard.
Me and my quarter million nieghbors in abutting communities never got that chance.
And unlike you, and those neighbors, my community has gone unrepresented at the Regional Task Force. Which even MIDDLEBORO wanted to be on...
Could it have anything to do with our being in both Marc Pacheco's (D - Tracks) and Dave Flynn's district (D - Slots)? Or the fact that Flynn's grandson is on my town's board of selectmen?
I'll give you one cynical guess.
Agreed GK.
While I may have gotten a voice and a vote - the process sucked so bad that I don't feel that either were worth a damn.
Which is why I felt(and feel) so justified in continuing the opposition.
If the town had done a decen job of vetting the casino, I would have just accepted the outcome. Instead I just felt outrage.
And that, dear Bumpkin, is also why I'm still here.
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