We all know things haven't been right in this country for a long, long time. Continuously politicians blame the other side, the previous office holders that they swept out of power, foreign nations exerting undue influence on us from without, and domestic rabble rousers from within for the things that are wrong. We listen to them intently, and we jump at the chance to elect them when they promise us that they are going to fix all these problems for us. Why wouldn't we? What do we know about trade agreements, and nuclear non-proliferation treaties, and the falling Euro in relation to the dollar, and running a Department of Homeland Security, and cleaning up oil and stopping the flow before it reached shore, and a whole host of other problems that grip our news channels.
So long as those news events stayed where they belonged, namely on the news channels, we were serene and content with all those goings on. After all, VH1 has a new dating show, from the makers of Rock of Love that isn't going to watch itself. I mean, Cody has soccer practice and Dakota needs to go to her piano recital right after her ballerina lesson, so where's the time to pay attention to what Bill O'Reilly or Anderson Cooper or Keith Olbermann are saying about the state of our nation and what kind of trouble all who are looking ahead are aware of?
We don't pay attention because we choose not to pay attention. But when, like now, as these events are thrown in our face from every direction, when those who are clued in start showing the rest of the nation what is right under their noses, when even Rolling Stone magazine starts noticing that the man they fell in love with isn't bringing about the sunshine and rainbows he promised not even two years ago, we can't help but pay attention. We have started to awaken ourselves to the types of people we have chosen to lead us; we have started to realize that it isn't our best interests they have at heart, but their own desires for power that truly drives them.
America is sick. America is dying. I wish it weren't the case, but it is.
America needs help. And by help, I don't mean a federal bailout, a stimulus plan, a new watchdog group, another loan from China, an incentive-laden contract to sub-let our government's operations to the United Nations, or a new "clean" energy initiative.
What America needs is the same fervent pride that drove us to rebellion all of the other times in our history. We the People must show the Spirit of '76, the drive to fight for our freedom; we must have the strength of Dr. King and the civil rights activists in the 1960's to stand up against a machine which wanted to keep us down forever; we need the will and determination to choose the difficult path and fight against our nation, if needed, when needed.
I don't mean fight with weapons, though I can't lie and say I don't see open war as a possibility, but fight with words and actions and beliefs. We must tell those who we elect that instead of looking out for only their interests and their personal glory while plastering their faces on posters and t-shirts and books and movies and bobbleheads and coffee cups and in songs and on every television station on the dial that enough is enough. I will no longer allow you to drive this country into ruin for your own personal glory, because you want power and fame and to be remembered forever. It ends now! We the People demand our country back, and we must stand in your way in every way in order to get it back.
You think you have control of your nation? Of your state? Of your city? How many times has every single one of us have this conversation:
Guy 1: "Congress sucks. There they go passing another bill that nobody wants."
Guy 2: "Dirty bunch of criminals. Oh well, what are you gonna do?"
Guy 1: "Good point, if not them, then someone else will rob us blind."
Guy 2: "Yeah. See the game last night?"
We accept their criminality and their incompetence and their crimes as something that is commonplace and acceptable. Just because we have been apathetic, doesn't make it right. Just because the generation before us was screwed over by their politicians doesn't make it so we must as well. Just because the nation has been allowed to wallow in its own decadence for three generations doesn't mean it isn't salvageable. Just because someone promises to change things doesn't make it something good he is going to change it into.
Just because we have lived the lie that we are safe, we are untouchable, that America is so strong and powerful that it will last forever doesn't make it so. Just because we have grown up thinking it can't happen here, that the Constitution will outlive us, just as it did our grandparents, doesn't make it so. We have been given these rights, passed down from the previous generation like an old family quilt. Sadly for us, we can't be given rights, they will cease to have any true value. We must fight for our rights, we must stop those who's only mission is to slowly but surely take everything they want for themselves, including our liberty.
Change is surely coming...
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