ALLIANCE FOR CITIZENS RIGHTS

THE MUSHROOM COMPLEX
by Ken Freeman

  I have discovered an amazing secret: most politicians think that voters are mushrooms.

As I am sure you know, the vast majority of mushrooms are grown commercially in totally controlled, dark, moist caves undisturbed by troublesome noises or the glaring light of day. What is the connection between voters and mushrooms, you ask?

It appears that in many politicians’ minds, we, the voters, are unimportant little creatures, both blind and mute, only nuisances that must be dealt with occasionally and outsmarted on Election Day. As one veteran politician is quoted as saying, "Voters, like mushrooms, are best managed when kept in the dark and covered with horse manure."

Why do they hold us in so little regard? Could it be, that these politicians and the powers that manipulate them behind the scenes, know that as long as "they" control the information on which we base our votes, then "they," and not "we," control our government?

For many years, this has been relatively easy for them to do, since the only source of information that the average citizen had available to him was print media (newspapers, etc). Then in more recent times television was added to his information channeling. The problem with both these media is that only a very small number of people decide what is or is not newsworthy. When all available information is filtered through a finite number of controlling agents who decide what constitutes news and how it is be presented, the field of vision is naturally narrowed, distilling the points of view into an ever narrowing stream of what "they" consider newsworthy. Up until recently the media have controlled the news and therefore controlled what voters think about the issues placed before them.

But the world is changing. More citizens are gaining access to information and therefore self-determination. There is a new breed of men: men very similar to those revolutionaries who fought for and founded "These United States." They, like the politicians, understand that people have their own lives to live and that the average citizen cannot jump up and run over to the Statehouse every time some power hungry group wants to take away his rights. So, this new breed of journalist brings many diverse sources of information right into our homes. These "free journalists" travel the information highway and they have come to illuminate the darkness.

These explorers see us not as mushrooms but as people, intelligent individuals who want more than one little slanted beam of information. They know that Americans want to control their own lives and also that they want to regain control of those whom they have elected to represent them in government.

Members of this new breed are called bloggers and web hosts and they have wired the darkness with the Internet. The Internet has spread to every part of the darkness; emails have begun to appear as a "thousand points of light" and the information flows. Individual citizens can now ask questions about government and if they don’t like the answers or if they are treated like mushrooms again, they can actually tell someone about it. Citizens are networking, knowledge is spreading and the people are uniting in the pursuit of freedom. And the people say, "This is good."

Then other individuals stepped into the darkness and they had with them microphones and speakers and called themselves "Talk Radio." And they told us about what is going on in the world outside and how the people can talk back to them and other citizens can hear the talk and the truth spreads and the people are saying, "This, too is good."

But most politicians say, "This is bad. We were happier when the voters were silent little mushrooms and kept in the dark and we were shoveling it to them." And lo the legislature is dazzled by the light and they hear the voice of the people and they are afraid. And the people say, "This is really good. This is what our Founding Fathers intended."

Now voters have begun to question the entire system. Why, they ask is our government controlled by special interests like the AEA who can vote taxpayer funds for their own pay and benefits and big companies who can change laws to benefit themselves? Some have even asked, "Why do our people seem so much more conservative, hard working and religious than the average of those whom we have elected to represent us?" And when they ask these questions, the legislators say "Oh ____!!!" and suddenly they are hip deep in it and that too is very good.

And then (you won’t believe this) someone in the legislature said, "I don’t think that citizens should be allowed to interfere with legislation by sending emails to their representatives or having public hearings." And the politicians drew up a bill to demand a list of all those people trying to bring in the light. "We must have a list of those who support these light givers (non profits) so that we may punish and control them," they said among themselves. They said these light givers (who by the way, are the only people affecting government that are not making money from their influence, which is why they are called non-profits) must be stopped. And the politicians called this evil bill SB220!! Desperate to protect their power, many politicians have begun to weave their lies. Back and forth they have spun them until they have created a web of deceit that has eventually formed a dark blanket to shut out the light and turn our people back into mushrooms.

And the people seeing this shouted, "We must take back our government so that our children will enjoy the blessings of liberty. Send emails," they shouted. "Send millions of emails demanding that our representatives kill this awful bill called SB220 and listen to what ‘we the people’ have to say!"

And a little mushroom, way back in the back of the cave, who had just seen his first rays of light, asked meekly "Where do I send my email?" and then I said, "On the attachment below is the knowledge that you seek and all the people shouted, "Let the sun shine in!" and even the littlest mushroom said, "Amen!"

Ken Freeman
Chairman, Alliance for Citizens' Rights

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