Somewhere, somehow, during the past few months, we passed a final "point of no return".

If there truly was hope in the certain prospect of regime change, from the Bush/Neocon travesty to the Obama/Neoprogressive administration, it lay in the promise of confession, reconciliation, and redemption. It lay in the chance that the new presidency and a changed Congress would fully repudiate the self-destructive sins of at least two thirds of a century of dishonor, disinformation, and dissolution committed in the name and for the purposes of empire, capitalism, consumerism, and questionable "national security".

The mantra of "Change", repeated mercilessly during the presidential campaign, but in the absence of any concrete examples of what form that change would take, was no less Rovian than The Dubbleduh-Chainey Gang's invocation of "weapons of mass destruction" and "terrorism". The endless repetition had its desired effect. It played not to the head, but to the gut; was not about thought, but about emotions. It was, in fact, more religious than it was political; more about fantasy than reality. It was a prayer, nothing more, nothing less.

The majority of the American citizenry (not to mention the rest of the human ecology)knew that "something" was wrong. Many of us even knew what was wrong, even if most were still the Mr Jones in the Bob Dylan song, who had walked into the room, pencil in hand, only to remain fundamentally clueless.

Barack Obama was to be our savior. What we we needed to be saved from, however, was left to the individual imagination. The change that we got was inevitable, certain - Obama even said it himself: the change was Obama himself. "I am the change." The Newest Testament. No. More. Bush. Simple, eh?

The mistake, of course, is ... wait for it ... Bush was not the problem. Obama is not the problem now. Bush did, and Obama is doing now, exactly what we are paying him to do: run the country for the powers that got them elected, albeit "in our name", and with our votes.

If you've been here before, you probably know that I didn't vote in 2008. I didn't vote because my vote would be cast not for a candidate with a solution, but for a corrupt and destructive system, a system that continues to be based on war, lies, secrecy, murder, grand larceny, and general perfidy and mayhem.

In short, regime change did not occur - could not occur - as the result of the selection of 2008. Bush simply retired, he and his administration's goals, strategies, and tactics were not defeated and replaced. The regime continues.

The regime, you see, is not in Washington, DC. The regime is really in places where lurk corporate monstrosities and Bilderberg, Council on Foreign Relations, and Trilateral Commission operatives. In Obama and his own gang members, the regime has just found a new PR firm, a new management team, a new bunch (mostly) of front men, slicker, stealthier, and whole lot more familiar with the English language and matters of etiquette and style. Same play, new actors.

Ticket sales for the show had fallen way off; it was simply time for new blood, a new director and assistant director, new production staff, new costumes, and some critical changes in the script. But the backers are the same moguls. At least in the early part of the run, ticket sales have skyrocketed. It's SRO in the theater and the critics (most of them paid off) are being very kind.

So I hate to break it to those of you who still hope for the change you imagined. It ain't gonna happen; Obama is not our savior. It's not his job. We were, at best, a bit naive in our expectations. After all, we did not bankroll Obama's victory. The banks did. Obama rejected public money, remember? He doesn't work for us. He works for the banks and corporations. Deal with it. Our shocked indignation and cries of betrayal are falling on deaf (and cynical) ears. We must save ourselves ... from ourselves.

The Cambridge Dictionary defines "conscience" as, "the part of you that judges the morality of your own actions and makes you feel guilty about bad things that you have done or things you feel responsible for".

I think a collective examination of conscience is in order.

I'm not off the hook. In fact, the only conscience I can examine is my own. And I have plenty of my own brand of guilt and regret. For example, I'm still kicking myself for watching about three or four hours (total) of the Michael Jackson spectacle on TV, resulting in this post being overdue. I feel guilty about that because I knew it was a useless diversion from more important things I should be doing.

What if, for example, I had volunteered those hours at the homeless shelter that that housed me and fed me for a year, then told you about that experience? What if I had simply pushed my way through a bad case of blogger block and fulfilled my responsibility to you, my readers - especially those of you who have been so generous in donating to my fundraiser? It's not just that I would feel better about myself right now, but I might have helped you, helped society somehow.

I decidedly do not feel guilty about not voting in the past election. In fact, in a way, I did vote - I voted against a system that has systematically lost its conscience. I voted against presidential, congressional, and bureaucratic immorality and corruption. Frankly, I think voting would have been taking the easy way out: "I voted, so I have the right to complain if this new guy lets me down". Sigh.

In a democracy, individually and collectively, we are this country's conscience. We are responsible. "It's not my fault, it's (fill in the blank)'s fault" is really a criminal cop out.

Please, let's listen to that tiny voice that makes us feel guilty - before it just gives up and falls silent.

Be at and about peace.

Categories: Americanism, Bilderberg, change, community, conscience, corporatism, democracy, reality, responsibilities, values