I watched "The Patriot" last night. It's a great movie with Mel Gibson. It's a fictional film revolving around a revolutionary war hero. Although its a work of fiction it does a great job of portraying what the feelings of people must have been back then. The reluctance of some to fight against British rule, the fiery patriotism of others and finally, how some people had just had enough and so, unwillingly, they went to war against a tyrannical government. The entire time I watched it I couldn't help but think how this movie might as well have been about an entirely different country than the one we're living in now. I'm not a terribly political guy. Usually I try to stay away from politics as much as possible. It just strikes me as sad, the idea of Freedom and Liberty, what those men fought for so long ago, the things that they wanted so badly that they were willing to sacrifice their comfy way of life, their houses, their families and their own lives to get, they finally got and then, over the generations we've squandered it, wasted it like a kid with a dollar in his pocket at the candy store. I wonder what it would look like if we did a comparison of the taxes that they paid in colonial days to the taxes we pay now? It's really tragic that all of those beliefs they had back then have been reduced to being a pretty damn good movie. Today, not even 300 years into the bright, shiny new country that those guys gave everything they had to create, the President signed Bill H.R. 347. This bill makes it a felony to hold a protest in an area that the Secret Service decides they don't want a protest in.(Peaceful or not, By the way, for anyone who happens to be reading this who is more of the peace/love mentality) Hmm...now we can go to jail for actually using our 1st amendment rights. Its not even a democrat or republican thing anymore. Members of both parties overwhelmingly supported it. I find it ironic. The only thing that the members of both political parties have been able to agree on for a very long time is that it is perfectly fine to violate some of the rights granted by the document that this country is supposed to be based on. This is why I typically snort in derision any time politics is mentioned. I'm not going to go on a huge rant about this. Yeah, I know, I've already been ranting, Right? well, I'm sorry. I go on tangents sometimes. I'll leave you with this thought. When I was growing up I was proud of our country. I was a child idealist. A patriot's patriot. (I may have watched to many John Wayne movies, I'm not really sure) I viewed the Statue of Liberty as a beautiful thing. A gleaming, shiny monument to a great country and the Freedom of its people. I was proud to live in the greatest nation on earth! Now I see the Statue of Liberty more as a poor, beaten woman sitting in a rape clinic with a torn dress and bruises all over her body. Her torch is flickering and about to go out. I hope she can find the strength to stand up, lift her head again and go on with her life.