Comics

The Death of Captain America

Wednesday, March 7th, 2007

Why is the death of comic book character Captain America such an important even in our country’s history? Most people would just look at it as another publicity stunt to get people to buy comics, like DC’s “Death of Superman” fiasco in the late 80’s. That may very well be the truth, but I see it in a different way.

The character of Captain America was created during World War II to symbolize the American Dream. I’m not sure if the “American Dream” has ever successfully been defined, but to me it embodies everything the founders of our nation stood for. Freedom. Freedom of Speech, Press, Religion, and every other freedom outlined in the Bill of Rights and the Constitution. It’s the freedom to live your life as you see fit, as long as it doesn’t impinge on anyone else’s freedoms.

Here’s where everything changes in this post. I had a long essay-type post written, with quotes from George Washington and FDR and all that, but when I read through it it sounded like a high schooler wrote it . Honestly. I was glorifying America and everything the country stands for.   I still believe the country does stand for these things, but I’m not sure our government gives them a high priority any longer.

Captain America is dead, and his legacy seems to have died with him. It was a legacy created by our Founding Fathers which our government seems to ignore nowadays. The only thing our government seems interested in money and power. And the President and all of the big businesses that pull his strings are willing to exploit any nation or people (even our own) who stand in it’s way.

We’re not in this war in Iraq because because of the attacks on the World Trade Center. We let the terrorists have that one. We let them get away with it. We’re in this war because our President is trying to finish what his father couldn’t - and whaddya know, he’s made it worse. He had absolutely no reason to go into Iraq. He’s admitted they weren’t a threat to us. He went in there because he’s trying to overcompensate for something he’s lacking. He’s trying to be a “big man” -a bully, like he was in college. Ever hear that story about how he used to burn his coeds with lit cigarettes? This is the same thing, but on a global scale. He’s your typical neighborhood bully who just happened to be born into a position where he could make it to the top. It’s by no merit of his own. He was given everything he’s ever had in life. He’s never had to work for anything, and suddenly he’s President and can keep on being the same jackass he’s been all his life.

I’m not saying Saddam Hussein was a saint or anything. He was a horrible man that his country was too afraid to rise up against. But, why is that our problem? If we would keep our noses out of situations like this, innocent Americans wouldn’t have to die the way they did on 9/11 for things that our government does. George Washington preached the poilicy on non-involvement in global matters like this, and we should listen to what he said. If we listened to our nations Founders, and governed ourselves by the ideals that they set forth we’d be a much happier, richer nation. We need to focus on the needs of our people, not the needs of another nation. The needs of our people are the freedoms that were given to us by our Founders. We were granted the right to “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.” Tell that to the good American soldiers who are forced to give up those rights, and pay the ultimate price over in Iraq. And, for what? What are they giving their lives for? The answer’s simple: nothing.

But, our government continues to flex its muscle all over the globe, in places we are neither needed nor wanted. The result of that is unnecessary lives lost and the neglect of the common American citizen who’s working his ass off every day to realize his own American Dream. That describes the good people in New Orleans before Katrina. Decent Americans caught in a horrible tragedy. Americans who work every day to finance our war in Iraq. And how does our country repay them? By basically ignoring them in their hour of need. We basically left them to die.

The today I read this article concerning Presidential Candidate Barack Obama. The article points out that for some reason Obama is trying to hide the fact that he was a Muslim. These people writing the article don’t want him in office because of his Muslim background. I guess the reasoning behind that is the fact that Muslims were apparently responsible for the WTC attacks, and since he used to be one of them he must be building a bomb in his basement or something. Allah forbid someone raised Christian to be a terrorist. There’s never been one of those (Timothy McVeigh). And, wasn’t our country founded on Freedom of Religion, among others? Go back and read the beginning of this blog. I said it there. It’s true. You can be a Muslim in America. It’s not illegal. Yet.

So there. Captain America is dead, and everything he stood for is dying. He tried to make a difference in the world, and died fighting a law that took freedoms away from those trying to protect them. That’s America, today anyway.