I am GenX, and the Reagan years shaped the growth and definition of my worldview. Sure, he wasn't perfect. America wasn't perfect. There were problems - lots of them. But American conservatism was a very different belief structure back then. 1/13

Conservatives were generally Republicans, so much so that the words were by then essentially synonymous. The political party tended toward fiscal responsibility and moral accountability. The moral platform wrongly excluded and harmed many. It could have changed for better. 2/13

Instead, conservatives became even more reactionary in response to lackluster administration by Bush, then the beginning of inclusive change in the Clinton years. Clinton's profligate expenditure (in context) offended conservative fiscal thinking, but set the ball rolling. 3/13

GW Bush campaigned on return to policy a lot like Reagan, and promised a humbler foreign policy, but 9/11 marked a change with the rise of neoconservatism. The beliefs of this pernicious philosophy belie every principle of conservatism, and are antithetical to America. 4/13

Obama's tepid to lukewarm socialism was a direct result of the rise of the neocon police state. The apparatus was in place, and it was merely repurposed to achieve a slightly different destruction of the spirit of independence. 5/13

Surveillance and enforcement didn't change, only the targets. Now we argue over who should be made an example of, and how egregious the latest affront to the sanctity of the state. We are racing to see who can lick the master's boots first. 6/13

In about two and a half centuries, we have demonized the words of our forebears, and discarded our legacy of dissent. We now argue over what set of rules we should be made to follow. 7/13

There is no Patrick Henry on the nation's stage, saying: "Is life so dear or peace so sweet as to be purchased with chains or slavery? Forbid it, Almighty God! I know not what course others may take, but as for me, give me liberty, or give me death!" 8/13

No, we Americans are now altogether too well behaved. We see voting for a chosen master to be the ultimate expression of this poor facsimile of freedom, even when the records of each are devoid of anything like. 9/13

We Americans see heavily armed and armored police lining up against protesters, and decry the protesters' use of homemade shields. Then celebrate the cult of police with a defaced flag. How is this American? 10/13

We hear bleating about a duty to serve and celebrate the state to protect freedom, but as soon as that so-called duty means accepting slight discomfort to protect others, it's an affront to that freedom. 11/13

We are inundated with exhortations to vote, somehow also a duty, to change one master for another. Or worse, to maintain a faithless oathbreaker in an office held in too much esteem. Our substance is eaten out by debt, and our soul is eaten out by hatred. 12/13

So I say, consider your consent. Reflect on your allegiance. Are you a republican? Are you a democrat?

Or are you an American?

The vote is nothing. Each of us, in the actions we take and the values we practice, steer the course of this country. How will you? 13/13