I’m sorry, but I don’t want to be an emperor, that’s not my business. I don’t want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible. Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other’s happiness, not each others misery. We don’t want to hate and despise one another. In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone, a way of life can be free and beautiful. But we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men’s souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and blood shed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has left us cynical and our cleverness hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery we need humanity. More than cleverness we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities life will be violent and all will be lost. The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men. Cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world. Millions of despairing men, women and little children. Victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. For those who can hear me I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed. The bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass and dictators die and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never parish.
Soldiers, don’t give yourselves to brutes; men who despise you and enslave you. Who regiment your lives; tell you what to do, what to think, or what to feel. Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle and use you as cannon fodder! Don’t give yourselves to these unnatural men. Machine men with machine minds and machine hearts. You are not machines, you are not cattle! You are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts. You don’t hate. Only the unloved hate. The unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers, don't fight for slavery, fight for liberty! In the 17th chapter of St. Luke it is written, “the kingdom of God is within man.” Not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You the people have the power. The power to create machines, the power to create happiness. You the people have the power to make this life free and beautiful. To make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy let us use that power. Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world. A decent world. That would give men a chance to work. That would give you the future, and old age a security. By the promise of these things brutes have risen to power! But they lie, they do not fulfill their promise. They never will. Dictators free themselves, but they enslave the people. Now, let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers. To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance. Let us fight for a world of reason. A world where science and progress will lead to all men’s happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!
Charlie Chaplin, The Great Dicatator 1940.
I’m willing to bet that until you read exactly who wrote this, you thought it was me and my ideas. All of this just goes to show that the life we lead is not better than the one of fear and desperation during World War II. Except one crucial difference. The war is long over. So what are we afraid of? Why do these words strike me so much? I assert that it is because we live in a world of dictators. People telling us what to do what to think and what to feel. They treat us like machinery and cattle. How often have we heard promises of jobs, a future, and security in old age during the presidential campaigns? It says it right here. Go ahead and sell your liberty to those candidates that would say these things. But I tell you they lie. They will free themselves, but enslave us. Only we have the power to defend democracy, true democracy based in liberty, not politicians. I’m not trying to tell you not to vote, I’m just saying there are other options. Stand up for liberty, stand up for democracy, don’t let the democrats and republicans tell you how to vote and steal your freedom one broken promise at a time. It’s your responsibility, your place to fulfill those promises, not theirs. Vote, please for the love of God vote, that is your responsibility, but vote your own convictions, your own beliefs! Not McCain’s or Obama’s. It is time we rise up, start a grass roots campaign for someone We the People chose to run for president instead of two separate groups of corrupt and uncaring machine men. We will still have different candidates. So what will the difference be? All the difference in the world! When was the last time you voted for someone you truly believed in? I’m not even asking for someone I can put all my faith in, just someone that puts all their faith in me. Well, I guess I’ve said it. To go on would only be rambling. If you have questions about this, ask me. I’d be more than happy to share my views with you. I certainly won’t shove them down your throat, but I am passionate about it, so be prepared. Just think about it. Think about Chaplin’s words from nearly 70 years ago and how they apply to us, on a grander scale than just the homeless and starving, the war in Iraq, and the fuel shortage (though I in no way intend to down play these, they are merely parts of the whole).
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