Miss Liberty speaks: “America, be a mensch . . . not an empire!”

She has stood, silent until now, in New York harbor since 1886. Finally, the Statue of Liberty is speaking up. Enclosed a few tidbits from that great symbol of freedom for all mankind.

Dear America,

Since so many fine Jewish folks have passed by my torch to find sanctuary from oppression, I use the Yiddish word mensch, which means ‘a good person.’ For over 125 years I have watched your great country move in so many directions. Sadly, with the advent of WW1 I realized that the wrong people were leading you. Your Gilded Age first brought in the fine progressive movement, which was stifled by that First World War. Your General Smedley Butler explained it all in his later essay ‘War Is a Racket ‘. Once the Second World War stopped the Nazi insanity, your fine America got itself entangled in a Cold War which was not needed at all. Those in your country who ran things decided to make America the next world empire . . . and lo and behold it now has come to fruition. Thus my speaking out.

I look around me and I see that your leaders, those that former President Eisenhower labeled the military industrial complex, have gone crazy with power. You now have over 800 foreign military bases in over 100 different countries. You illegally invaded and occupied Iraq for over 10 years. You have done the same in Afghanistan. Both countries have been destroyed internally, and your actions have incited millions of Muslims worldwide to hate you. Yet, you turn a blind eye to what your friend (and surrogate) Israel has been doing to the Palestinian people for a generation or two. I must now speak out when I see this fine America that I love so dearly sending missiles and bombers to destroy Libya and perhaps Syria as well. Is this not what Rome did when it ruled? Did that signal the beginning of the end for their empire?

America, be a ‘mensch ‘and pull back this empire. Close the hundreds of bases worldwide. Pull your young military and that equal number of mercenaries (AKA ‘Private contractors ‘ ) out of those places . . . especially Iraq and Afghanistan. You have NO right to be the judge and jury for the indiscretions of other nations. Allow a United Nations to be that judge. Stop the warehousing of so many nuclear weapons and other instruments of overkill war. Cut your spending on military things and use the savings to stop the economic bleeding of your cities nationwide. Tell the super rich who run this empire that they will be held accountable for making so much profit from the misery of your fine people. It is common sense to realize that the more money the average American has, the more your economy is stimulated . . . not when a few have so much at the expense of the many. “

As I passed by the grand lady in the harbor, I could notice what seemed like tears running down her face. How many others have seen it too?

Philip A Farruggio is son and grandson of Brooklyn, NYC longshoremen. He is a free lance columnist (found on TheSleuthJournal.com, The Intrepid Report, The Peoples Voice, Information Clearing house, Dandelion Salad, Activist Post, Dissident Voice and many other sites worldwide). Philip works as an environmental products sales rep and has been an activist leader since 2000. In 2010 he became a local spokesperson for the 25% Solution Movement to Save Our Cities by cutting military spending 25%. Philip can be reached at paf1222@bellsouth.net.