A New Pledge of Allegiance?

I used to enjoy attending local Chamber of Commerce meetings, until I finally recognized that we were being used by the national organization to provide unwavering support for Big Business - and to the Republican Party which they have apparently purchased. They were certainly not representing me, or local "Main Street" businesses.

Each Chamber of Commerce meeting started by reciting the Pledge of Allegiance. While I've always been a patriotic American, I started to feel uncomfortable reciting the Pledge as part of an organization intent on destroying our nation.

I hate regulations and taxes as much as anyone, but they have never held me back.

I refuse to accept the notion that it's impossible for American businesses to make a profit under what some  call "crushing taxes" and "burdensome regulations." It's been my experience that good, well managed, businesses have always been able to make money in good times and bad, without lying and cheating, or demanding "special favors" from politicians they've "purchased." Many fine businesses have done this year after year. And, they've been able to do this no matter what the tax rate and regulatory climate happens to be.

Our nation is in danger of being destroyed from within. Grover Norquist disciples started two expensive wars under false pretenses (among other things, they lied about finding Weapons of Mass Destruction). They used borrowed money to pay for their wars, along with the tax cuts they gave to our wealthiest citizens, leaving our nation with a massive debt. Big Business doubled down by demanding more government handouts, insisting that they're necessary for them to create new jobs to replace the ones they've cut and sent overseas.

It also hasn't helped that our nation has been fighting a civil war for decades, fueled, in part, by a 24x7 propaganda channel, Fox News, spewing out dogma as if it were fact.

Until recently, I'd never seen much difference between Republicans and Democrats. Republicans would spend and borrow, while Democrats would spend and tax. More recently, the Grover Norquist disciples have added a whole new obstacle to the success of our nation, by their refusal allow ANY tax hikes, and their refusal to work toward shared solutions to our nation's problems. Only their solution is acceptable - Abolish our Government, turn valuable government programs like Social Security and Medicare over to Big Business, so that they can be killed off as a "business decision" by the private sector. If they achieve their goals, all will be well.

Except it won't.

I'm beginning to suspect that the Republican Party is preparing a new Pledge of Allegiance to be recited at all business meetings. I shutter to think what they might require our school children to recite.

New Pledge of Allegiance

Our nation was built on a foundation of freedom and equality for all. It thrived under people willing to work together to find shared solutions to complex problems. It stagnates and wilts under single-issue politicians, more beholden to special interests than to our nation, who refuse to even look at realistic shared solutions.

The danger is real. Our nation will fail if its future is turned over to an unelected lobbyist, funded and controlled by unknown groups.