America, LLP.

There has been a great deal of talk about job creation during the 2011/2012 presidential campaign season and it makes me wonder about the caliber of candidates the GOP is shilling.

 Now, let me be clear, I have no chauvinistic affiliations with any party, I vote based on merit. If I believe the Republican/Democrat/Libertarian candidate is what’s best for America, then they get my vote. Period.

That being said, I have not had cause to vote Republican or Libertarian in the few presidential elections I have been able to vote in. The reason being that the candidates from these parties seem to think that America is a business instead of a country a republic-an “idea” is the most apt definition I can give of this land.

It strikes me as cold, and I admit to leaning a bit left when it comes to some of the major issues, but it strikes me as cold when candidates relate their business acumen as a major tenet of their presidentiality (verb. Skill set needed to be president of the United States. Not actually a word-yet).  Is the United States a corporation? Are our Senators our immediate supervisors? How would that work and who do I talk to about getting a raise!?

If America, LLP, is to exist and the president is the CEO, is the Constitution the code of conduct? The Declaration of Independence must be the mission statement. Is the Civil Rights Act the employee handbook? Where is human resources because I have a few staffing issues I would like to talk to them about.

Candidates for the position of CEO from the GOP staffing office are trying to abolish the payroll department as well as get rid of the group healthcare coverage that many employees so desperately need. They are claiming to do good things as well, such as fix the fence in the backyard to prevent non-employees from doing jobs that employees themselves don’t want to do.

Is being an American a job? Can you quit? Can you get fired?

Having taken a bevy of political science classes during my tenure as a student in almost all levels of education, I never once thought of the president as a CEO. Maybe its youthful naïveté speaking but even as an adult, I cannot conceive of the fact that being a CEO is enough to garner the most powerful job in the world. What do you think?

Independence Day: An Idea

It seems a simple and inalienable principle, but independence-moreover: freedom-is anything but. The requirements for freedom are intangible, unlike freedom itself: sheer force of will, an inherent desire and the wherewithal to activate the aforementioned. Freedom can be taken and it is rarely given without immeasurable sacrifice which is why it is our most cherished idea.

One of the most powerful forces known to man is the idea. Ideas have shaped the universe as we know it. Ideas have allowed us to dream and forced us in to bondage. That freedom is an inalienable right is an idea. Freedom as an idea has no weight save the collective will of a people to fight to the bowels of their souls for it.

For this reason there is perhaps no greater secular holiday than Independence Day. In the United Sates, we celebrate with one another-all walks of life, all credos, all ethnicities-starring intently into the night sky to see the rockets red glare and bombs bursting in air. That that star spangled banner still waves is testament to the will of the people who salute it and the sacrifices they have laid bare.

This Independence Day, remember the struggles of those less fortunate around the world and the struggles in equal measure of your neighbors who still suffer despite having the freedoms we enjoy. Salute those who protect it with their will, desire and lives. Marvel at the strength of an idea and how it has shaped the world-for better or worse. Cherish the fragility of freedom and always remember that the first verse of the Star Spangled Banner-our National Anthem-ends in a question mark.