I am a sponsor of tyranical regimes. Are you?

I like living when it it isn't easy to live. Somehow it feels more alive. As

Americans, we strive for comfort and complacency. The middle-class does, anyway. Security, we call it maybe. And that is a good thing, not to be derided. But I do not like this trend towards isolationism on a personal and national level. We pick only the friends that are similar to us and to not challenge the reasoning behind our actions or the other people we affect. This flows all the way down to shopping at Wal-Mart, which in a cynic's terms might as well be called corporate sponsorship of communism, fascism, the horrific sex trade, and global oppression of the working poor. (Which much of SE Asia is bathing in, as it attempts to love up to American culture.)

But we never think about the people who actually get our money in those other countries, or what the hands actually looked like that stitched our "cheap" GAP or AE or even Fruit of the Loom clothing, or who exactly it was that said we had the right to have this cheap stuff made by poor people in other countries while they themselves do not have the same right. (Well, we earned it, didn't we? I mean, if they keep working hard, they should be able to live at the same level that we do as Americans. We all earned what we have.)

Why do we (I) get mad when people mention these sorts of things to me? Why do I not want to think about it? Why are these questions we just plain don't ask as Americans? Because the answers are all scary. And I wish we could find some answers together, because it sure is easier to live the right way and do the right thing when you're not doing it alone. I'm not really meaning to suggest anything here. I'm trying to *start* suggesting things. I want us to think, because our American dollars are currently the most powerful voice on the face of the planet. Welcome to capitalism.