Posted 7:43 PM by ill
Personal Freedom, Politics and Basic Human Rights...

There is a lot of civil unrest recently. Especially in the "disillusioned younger generation." We've got debates springing up over gay marriage, religion, and Howard Stern. Talk is thrown around of fascist regimes and dictatorships taking shape in America and how we are having our rights stripped away piece by piece. In many ways I can see the fear people have over some of these. In some ways I think there may even be some need for concern, however, (and you knew there was going to be one) as we all stand around blaming our government for all the things we see as wrong we still seem to miss the point that we are still a "Government of the People. For the People. By the People." The majority rules folks and right now the majority ruled in favor of many of these things. Fear motivated some of it and ignorance motivated some of it. But above all that, we still put them in power. Sure you can say Bush "stole" the election but at this point that is neither here nor there. The knee jerk reaction to our rights diminishing is wrong and counter-productive. It's like putting a band-aid on a gun shot. Sure we can stop some of the blood but the wound is still there and nobody seems keen on trying to find out who pulled the trigger. You know why? Because we did. We got so caught up in all this prosperity and freedom that nobody stopped for a minute to ask what the cost would be.

In many ways I pity us. We are like children. We want to run our lives but when we are left to do so we screw up and look for the government to bail us out. Then when they start invading our personal lives we want them to back off and leave us alone. We're like a rebellious teenager. Screaming "I hate you" to our parents until we move out on our own run out of money and have to move back in. As soon as we're back on our feet again, it's back to the "I hate you" and off on our own again. We've become a society of no accountability. We've become so good at pointing the finger that we forget in 99.9% of the situations we are to blame. Look at our court systems. Tied up with cases where some sicko rapes and kills ten five year old girls. He stands trial and says "It wasn't my fault. I was abused as a child and my parents made me this way." You know what I say? Bullshit.

It's the same with the current trend of government bashing. We sit and point our finger in judgment blaming them for everything that is wrong and forgetting how these people came into power in the first place. We put them there. We are to blame. You have the ability unlike many other places out there to have a say in who runs your government and what they do. If you think different you are sadly mis-informed. I know I may get some blowback for this from people that say "I didn't vote for them." and I'll go ahead and respond to that now. Maybe not but the majority did. So what did YOU do to change the mind of the majority? What rallies did you attend and what door to door campaigning did you do? I'm going to go out on a limb and make a broad generalized statement here and say that four out of five of you probably did nothing.

Well America, I'm calling you out. I'm screaming shenanigans at you! Don't like what's going on? Change it. It's that simple. You are in one of the few countries in the world where you have a say in what happens to you. Sitting around complaining doesn't change your environment. Getting up and going out does. I'm daring you to make a difference. I'll go so far as to say I don't have time for people that will reply to this and say the "Bush Regime" is too powerful and we can't change it. Maybe I'm old fashioned but I still believe that as long as we still hold free elections our voice can be heard. If the majority goes for a direction you don't agree with blame the society that created them... not the people in power. They are only following what the majority told them to do.

"I watched with glee while your kings and queens
fought for ten decades, for the God they made
Shouted out "Who killed the Kennedys?"
When after all... it was you and me"
-Sympathy for the Devil: Rolling Stones