Rome vs. The United States (last chapter rewrite...this replaces religious book I was considering writing)

Please note: this is a work in progress.

What does the United States and Rome have in common?

When Julius Cesar led an 8 year campaign to conquer Gaul, modern day France, 50% of Gaul's population was killed. Another 25% of the population was forced into slavery for the Roman Empire. The remaining 25% served some use where they were and allowed to stay, but they were taxed.

My point of mention this piece of history is this, Rome was an incredibly brutal civilization. Rome was a country that relied entirely on military might, and Julius Cesar thought he acting according to god's will. Notice a similarity?

The United States spends more on "defense" than all other countries combined. Every action taken by our military is offensive, and over the last few decades, the U.S. military has been responsible for millions of deaths. You may also remember when George Bush made his statements about praying to god for answers before beginning the Iraq War.

The logic used to justify the War in Iraq is the same logic used to justify the War in Vietnam, which was, if we don't stop it there, it will come here. Obviously, the logic used back in the 70's was flawed because Communism didn't spread. Communism died because it's a viciously corrupt system, which doesn't grant individual people basic human dignity.

Basically, Democracy won out over Communism because culturally, Democracy recognizes the importance of individuals. However, the Democracy used by the United States is deeply flawed because we keep ending up in wars, which arguably do more harm than good.

In the end, Vietnam became a wound, which took over a generation to heal. Iraq is well on it's way to being the exact same thing.

After Vietnam, America didn't do anything to repair itself culturally to prevent the tragedy of another Vietnam. Special Interests of the Military Industrial Complex still had way too much influence in Washington. Politicians were still allowed to throw the American people further into debt. Presidents, who are only going to be around for a maximum of 8 years, can just absolve themselves of any responsibility by "passing the buck" thereby letting someone else clean up their messes. And finally, our income tax system, which forces people to contribute a portion of their income, adds to a perfect recipe for disaster that is destined to keep repeating itself over and over again in the form of pointless war after a pointless.

Can the United States survive living this way? The obvious answer is NO.

Just as Rome couldn't continue to slaughter and enslave, the United States can't continue to stop "the spread of things" whether it's communism or terrorism.

The point of The New Bill of Rights was to take a broad look at the different flawed aspects of American culture and the consequences thereof, while at the same time presenting the obvious solution, which would, in effect, prevent mistakes from being repeated.

I said in the second paragraph of this book, I was only going to write a script, which entailed the main character running for president. I didn't want this character to seem like he was "full of it." So, I started writing this book to give this character some substance. I ended up writing all about my own personal heartfelt political beliefs as naive as they may be, and I packaged them neatly into 10 new amendments to the Constitution, which is probably the exact same thing James Madison did.

When I began writing this book, it became abundantly clear, at least to me, I was writing about something, which is very important. I kept spending more time on it in an effort to totally make sure I knew what I was talking about--at least, that's what all my research has led me to believe.

When I turned 18, I became interested in politics; it was right around the time George Bush Sr. and Michael Dukakis were running for president. You might remember the scene where Michael Dukakis was riding around in a tank wearing that dorky helmet. I thought to myself, "This dude is acting just like the weasels I'm going to high school with, who are driving around in the Camero daddy bought for them, except this dude wants to be the leader of the Free World! Wow!"

Needless to say, I chose not to vote in the 88' election, nor have I voted since. It's not that I'm not patriotic--I honorably served in the Navy. I haven't voted because I have not seen any changes in America's political culture that would indicate, to me, voting is a good idea. To me, it always seems like a choice between "the lesser of 2 evils", which shouldn't be one's impetus for voting. I wouldn't say I'm cynical, but I do know when someone is "full of it" or not, and I recognize that politicians spend very little time dealing with the incredibly important issues in a way that is compassionate for all sides.

The New Bill of Rights might offend some people. Most likely, these people are the people who are making more than 10 million dollars a year and politicians who take lavish vacations on the special interest's dime. Everyone else will just notice things seem a little less dreary, they have more money, and they can travel more freely.

"Sheaths of Wheat" at the Dallas Museum of Art

I spent a day at the Dallas Museum of Art recently. I'm a huge fan of Van Gogh, and they have an exhibition of his "sheaths of wheat" paintings as well as other notable painters of that time--peasant painting was huge in late 1800's! Who knew?

I have to say, I was more than impressed.

I had a lot of basic questions about Van Gogh's paintings--How big are they? How much paint did he use with each brush stroke? How did his paintings compare to the other impressionist painters of his day? Is there any color distortion between the photographs of his paintings and his actual paintings? What's the big deal about the french impressionist movement?

All my questions were answered.

One painting in particular that I thought was awesome was the painting by Robert Zunn called Harvest, 1860. The detail and the color were fantastic to the point where it looked surreal. The painting itself was huge, probably about 6' x 6'. It had billowing clouds and an endless wheat field set in the middle of a forest with the traditional peasants working the field. It's a very inspiring painting, and it's even more amazing to think the painting was painted more than 140 years ago, and it's just as brilliant today as it was back then.

There are a lot of great paintings at this exhibit. It's well worth the $16 bucks to get in and the $5 bucks to park.

I had never been to the Dallas Museum of Art before. I didn't know what to expect. They definitely have a good collection. Pretty much every great artist is represented, and walking through the museum is exactly like getting a lesson in Art History, and the layout of the museum itself is quite clever. Go there. You'll see what I mean.

Plus, there's a little known secret about me. The walls in my apartment are bare for a reason, and it's not because I'm too cheap to put up any paintings. I've had the idea for a while now that I'm going to do a series of paintings. Actually seeing Van Gogh's paintings in person was the missing piece of the puzzle before I was to begin this undertaking. He's one of my most favorite painters. I'm not saying I'll start tomorrow, but it's definitely something I've got planned to do at some point. It will probably happen as soon as I get completely tired of looking at the blank space on my walls.

What's so cool about selling a church?

I have a listing for a church, which I've been trying to sell now for some time. It's actually a very beautiful church in the heart of North Dallas.

It's a congregation of about 400 Black Southern Baptists, and if you ever attended a sunday service there you would be impressed. It's quite a moving experience--imagine a 50 person choir singing and a stirring sermon.

The 1st question people ask me is, "Why are they selling the church?" And, the answer is somewhat sad. Back in the early part of this decade the church had a charter school. The school had over 400 students and most of them where black.

Believe it or not, the neighbors attacked the school's charter. They said some of the kids where going off school grounds and vandalizing properties in the neighborhood, which may or may not have been true. In reality, whether there were or weren't a few bad apples at the school is irrelevant. The truth of the matter is, kids will be kids. It's why they are sent to school to learn to become functioning members of society. There really wasn't any specific issue that could not have been addressed and corrected, but the neighbors still fought the school, and eventually, they took the school before the City Council. Dallas City Council ended up siding with the neighbors, and the City of Dallas shut down the school's charter.

As you can imagine, the charter school was a major source of revenue for the church, and once the school left the church began to struggle. They also had a 38,000 sq ft building that couldn't be fully utilized.

Notice I haven't used the "R" word, yet. But, this neighborhood where the church is, is predominantly white, and they weren't seeking to reconcile any differences when they attacked this school. They saught to shut the school down, and they were successful.

Most of the congregation became disenfranchised after the school was attacked. A lot of the congregation had young children attending the school, and they had to fight to keep a charter so their kids could go to school. This is a trajedy.

Yes, these people were victims of racism.

So, selling this church will be some sort of vindication for these families because they will be able to move to a place where they are welcome, and they will have money to build a church they can be proud of.

My dream is to be able to walk into the new church one Sunday morning while the Reverend is giving a sermon and sit in the back pew. The Reverend notices me sitting back there and gives me a wink--I just sit back there and listen and look at all the families sitting there and know that I had a little something to do with it.