I am an exile....

 House Republicans Kick Off 2014 By Ignoring Everything the American People Want

 'Will repealing the law create even one job, contribute to GDP growth, or address the income inequality devastating the economy? Of course not, and Republicans admit the only reason for pushing the repeal effort is to “make overseas Americans far more sympathetic to Republicans and have an impact on fundraising”'

Where's the will of the people in this?

'Rape audit refers to requiring a rape victim who sought an abortion to prove to an Internal Revenue Service auditor that they were “legitimately raped” to claim a deduction under healthcare expense on their tax return.'
'However where women’s rights and healthcare is concerned, the Republican religious right will force, by legislation, the IRS to access, monitor, and audit women’s health and wellbeing. Will the “rape audit” bill create one job, boost GDP growth, or address income inequality decimating the economy? No,'

WTF?

The country that I grew up pledging allegiance too, the country I believe in, is gone.  It has been usurped and overthrown.  In its place sits a changeling, a Fascist empire, run by a psychotic, lunatic fringe seeking to control the world and enslave the majority of the population of the planet.
What I see around me, the avarice, ignorance, and apathy, the fear and division, is not the land of the free and the home of the brave.  This is more like the land of the feeb and the home of the slave.
If we are brave; why can't we tolerate people who don't look like us?  Why can't we respect people who hold different beliefs?  If we're so brave where's all the fear, anxiety, and hatred coming from?  If we're so brave why can't be comfortable with teeth that aren't gleaming white?
As for the free,,,,
Well I just paid to be able to drive my car on the public roads.  If I want to go fishing next summer I'll have to buy a license.  I have to watch where I walk, or I could possibly step on someone else's property.
This country has the highest incarceration rate in the world.
The police are gearing up for a war.... 
The United States of liberty, equality, and justice for all, has one foot in a grave and the other on a patch of oil.
What I see when I look around is the corruption and decay of the Roman Empire, not the reason and compassion of the Enlightenment.
People, the United States I pledged allegiance too was born in the free thinking of the Enlightenment, not the legions of Rome.
You want me to swear allegiance to a second rate empire?
I don't think so.
People so afraid of their neighbors that we feel the need of stand your ground laws?  People so stingy they don't want to chip in a little so their neighbor can go to the hospital after he's been shot by some rabid gun nut?  People so selfish that we'd rather pay for bigger and better bombs than help out after a catastrophe?  People so unaware and unobservant that they can't even see what's in front of their faces?  People so apathetic and oblivious that they can't even be bothered to help govern their country, when they have the opportunity?  People who think problem solving skills and a good education are elitist and suspect?
This is not my country.  These are not my people.
And these are not the citizens that the founding fathers crafted this country for.
And this is not the city on the hill.
This is a will-o-the-wisp that's gonna suck the human race right off the face of the planet.
Except for the better few who have all the resources.
I don't think anybody should pledge allegiance to that.
Stop buying, everything, the hype, the fear, the chemicals, the tooth whitener....
Just stop buying.
And start thinking about what you really want to spend your life on.
Cuz that's what those green paper slips really represent.  That's what you're selling so you can buy into the system.  That's the real currency of our grand and glorious Risk and Monopoly shell games.