From Sweden With Love

I was awakened by a call from Sweden this morning. Got a friend over there who needed to talk.
He is going through a tough time and is fed up, looking to come back to wounded America. He has been there for many years, ex-patriated himself over there after marrying a Swedish woman and getting involved in her family business.
I was struck by the dilemma my generation faces, and it doesn't matter where the hell in the world you are. Everything is backwards, upside down and incomprehensible.
The age old equation of work hard all your life and you get a pension, a comfortable retirement and a home that is paid for and worth many times more than it cost, is gone. There will be no pension, you cannot survive on social security and chances are your home has been devalued substantially over the last few years.
You played by the rules in good faith and have absolutely nothing to show for it. Except the prospect of working until death.
The irony is that my generation was a rebellious one, a group that fought against the status quo and tried to change it. We looked around and said this is bullshit, this life ain't no life, so we grew our hair long, played our music loud, fought in the political arena, fought for gender and racial equality, pointed the finger at corporations and politicians. Eventually the sad fact is that most of us got absorbed into the stereotypical American life, got castrated, became docile and here we are. It is a hard thing to be a rebel.
But the present situation proves that we were right to fight. The situation we are in now illustrates more than ever that our social structure is heartless, that the rich rule and will do anything to keep the worker bees as worker bees, and that politics and politicians are corrupt.
All of the evil inherent in our system of business and government is right out in the open now, contemptuously. My generation is worse off than my parents generation. The powers that be not only defeated us, they intensified and perfected their lying, cheating and stealing to the point that the middle class is almost extinct and the gap between the haves and the have nots is so big that you cannot see across it.
What will be our response? There was a spark there, an inspiration, a powerful sense of anger, imbalance and indignation that prompted us to rebel. We need to get that back.
A battle is being waged in Washington; President Obama is fighting against the status quo, trying to change the incestuous relationship between corporations and government. republicans are trying to protect it.
President Obama is fighting the right fight and victory on his part will improve my life tremendously. But I need something more immediate. My life is under attack. It's getting smaller, harder to deal with every day. The weasels I work for, in homage to the giant corporations and republican politicians, have openly insulted me, telling me in deed if not in word that I am nothing, and they will manipulate me as they please with no regard for my financial well being, no consideration for respect.
I am searching for independence. It's a Don Quixote kind of thing with little chance of success but it's something. I HAVE to do this. I cannot sit back and allow corporate and politically sanctioned thieves to destroy my life.
I hope this spirit is alive in most of my generation. We have to find another way to fight because we are literally fighting for our survival this time.
We are at the crossroads, baby and the Devil is ready to make his deal.
I'm not convinced we are going to get another chance.