American Dream.

What is the American Dream? Homeownership? An education and better life for your children? That flat screen TV you need for watching college ball? Is -that- what those powdered wig-wearing slaveowners and cod fishermen fought the British for all those years ago? Bullshit. The American Dream is democracy- representation of the people, by the people, and for the people.

We were founded as a country where each citizen had some say in our government, where power was not merely inherited, and where edicts were not handed down from kings and dictators, who neither ask for our opinions nor hear our voices. We put the Bill of Rights into our Constitution, one of the first documents granting people rights, based simply on human dignity and fairness, which the government cannot take away. Now our country has come a long way, for the better and for the worse, be we should be proud of the enlightened principles that guided our founders. We should be proud that the only mention of religion in our constitution is to ban the state from establishing it, but we should also be proud that eventually slavery was banned and women were given the vote… and we should be ashamed that we allow our rights to be chipped away at, that what many have died for can be traded away so cheaply.

We should also be ashamed that we live in a dictatorship, be it benevolent or not, and that we say nothing. We consider ourselves citizens, but we do not know our rights. The few control the many. Dissent is stifled. Our money is taken, and we labor for the common good, but we have no say in our government. I speak not of the citizens of America, but rather those of Black Rock City.

BRC is the largest city in the country that does not have elected representatives. Are we a community or are we a cult? Is the man a symbol or is he an idol? Is Larry a founder or is he a prophet? Must participation include submission? Does "counter culture" include forsaking the rights we so easily take for granted? Are some of us truly more deserving than others of having our voice heard?

…or is this America? For all our flaws, for everything that we have done wrong, we have always been a country where every citizen has a right to have his voice heard, to vote, to at least have a chance of effecting the course of our government.

This is a right we do not have at BRC.

I propose, in the spirit of the American Dream art theme for Burning Man 2008, an art project; Free and fair elections, in which any citizen who chooses to vote is given the chance to do so. A city council? Or a Mayor? I'm unsure how best to structure things, but I know few forms of government are worse than dictatorship (corporate dictatorship, at that).

The BORG may attempt to ignore us, but if enough people participate, how can they? This is their theme. They ask us to participate, and to be good citizens. They may be the LLC, but we, we are the city.

It is time for us to decide - will we continue to submit to the will of a corporation, or will we stand up and demand the right that every citizen of every city in this country is entitled to?

Who am I to ask? I am just a citizen of the city, one who sees both the good and the bad in BRC, and would like a peaceful outlet for change. This is not about me or any one individual, it is about the community that we have created, and that community belongs to all of us.
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silence
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Sacramento
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