Politics. It seems that most Americans don’t care enough to be informed about what is going on in the political landscape. They would rather bury their heads in the sand like an ostrich than understand what is happening in the United States of America. Maybe its because its easy to be apathetic and ignorant. The path of least resistance appears to be the most popular choice when it comes to political sentiment this the USA. Most people do not know the names of more than 3 people running for President in 2008, if that many. Even fewer still know what the individuals stand for. And even fewer than that know what the role of the federal government truly is or should be. The Constitution? Whats that? Doesn’t one of the amendments give me the right to be an ignorant moron? (*sarcasm*) Yeah, thats right. You’ll be first against the wall when the revolution comes.

When I see stories about our government sanctioning torture, spying on Americans, murdering innocent Iraqis, warmongering, hiring mercenaries to fight our wars, cronyism and turning America into a police state, I get really pissed off and nervous. What pisses me off most is that the average American doesn’t know or care about any of these issues, at least not enough to try to change things. They toss up their hands and say “What can I do?”.

I’ll tell you what you can do. Start talking about these issues with anybody who isn’t aware. Start voting for principled politicians (are there any?). Get involved with non-profits and local politics. Stop making excuses for being ignorant. The reason all of this is allowed to happen, is because the majority of people allow it to happen. Those in power COUNT on your apathy and ignorance to further their plans for control of the populace.

I was raised to believe that America was “the land of the free”. A place where different people can come together in a common belief of freedom and liberty. You don’t mess with someone and they cant mess with you. Live and let live. That is not the America that I see today. Through the politics of fear we have allowed the government to erode our civil liberties, invade our privacy and label whole groups of people as ‘the enemy’. All under the guise of “preserving the American way”. I would like to remind everyone of a famous quote by Benjamin Franklin: “Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” I think Keith Olbermann did a great job explaining the path America is headed down in the video below.

And if you still dont think that any of these issues affect you, think about this poem from Pastor Martin Niemöller about the inactivity of German intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen targets, group after group.

When the Nazis came for the communists,
I remained silent;
I was not a communist.

When they locked up the social democrats,
I remained silent;
I was not a social democrat.

When they came for the trade unionists,
I did not speak out;
I was not a trade unionist.

When they came for the Jews,
I remained silent;
I wasn’t a Jew.

When they came for me,
there was no one left to speak out.

The time has come for anybody who claims to care about their fellow man, to take a stand. Start caring and start fighting for your liberty and that of your family. You think that all of this stuff doesn’t affect you, but it does.