I must be stupid

We have two political parties in our country, and there's little difference between them. Both claim that the other screwed up the country while in power, and yet realistically, BOTH have been in power for over a hundred years! They may have lost a majority here or there over the decades, but their power and influence is the major reason for the face of our current government. Everyone at this point claims that our government is a wreck, that our country is falling to pieces. And it's always someone else's fault. Democrats blame the Republicans, Republicans blame the Democrats, Union leaders blame Big Business, Big Business blames lazy people sitting on welfare. We've seen the same kind of people come and go from government, and we ask ourselves how we got this point in our country. Why is our country "declining"? How could we have gotten to this miserable point?

Plenty of people have grandiose visions of where they think the country should be. But they never ask questions that are far more important, How are we going to realistically get to where we want to go? If now sucks big time, what do we think is needed to make our lives and status not suck? Instead of lopping people's heads off, let's start making some changes. And realistically, if matters are so bad in this country, then why the hell aren't we seeing an uprising? Why aren't people taking to the streets? In the 1960s, millions marched on Washington. What happened to that kind of activism? We are in the midst of two wars! We have soaring debt! Money market managers are walking away with untold millions while 50% of our country gets by on less than the federally established poverty levels!!

The last great march on Washington I heard about was not a call for drastic changes in our legal code regarding the status of race or the rights of the impoverished. It was a call for people to stop acting like crazy fanatical idiots in politics.
If we were really pissed about all this, we would do something about it. And there's the rub of it. We blame congressmen, but I bet those guys are working a hell of a lot harder than the average Joe. Really, We as a people have failed ourselves because we fail to get active. So there's your answer of who's to blame. We are. Wake up America. We are electing all these "corrupt officials" who are taking this country to hell with their "inane" government policies. We are supporting these wars with our bodies and our blood and our treasure. We are giving out the taxes that support welfare programs and bail out the rich. We are working at jobs that don't provide an adequate living wage for our families.

Why did we let this happen? Because we work 40 hours a week and then we go home to take care of our families? Or because we've convinced ourselves that we need to look fit to impress all the people around us, so we spend hours at a gym every week? Or because we have dreams of being the next Hendrix so we spend hours a day playing guitar? And let's be even more realistic, is it because after a "long hard day" at work, we think we deserve a break so we go home to our televisions and video games and let the evening dribble away from us?

If this country sucks America, it's OUR fault. We stood by and let it get as far as it has. Stop acting like it's all the politicians' fault. If you see something wrong in your life that you think the government is responsible for, stand up and make your voice heard. This country was founded on the idea of populist democracy. Elected officials are meant to serve the people, of which we are all a part of. Take a stand for something, for anything, if you're feeling so inclined. But otherwise, understand this: Our country is only "going to shit" if you think it is. If you don't have any particular reason for thinking otherwise, then you might as well concede the fact that you, personally, are doing FINE and that as far as you can tell, the economy and the country are doing fine as well.

Stop listening to the pundits, America. Listen to yourselves. If you are managing to get by, chances are, YOU ARE FINE. If other people are not doing fine, then they have a responsibility to try and get their voices heard. And if you hear their voice, and it resonates with you, THEN it is time to act.

Take this unemployment fiasco for example. Pundits talk about our high unemployment rate constantly. You know who I never hear about? The unemployed people. They never say word one about this whole thing. I don't see them on the street, I don't see them marching on Washington. It's not as if they are being locked away in sweatshops all day, they don't work! Maybe it's important for us to find work for the 8-9% of Americans. But if the shit were really bad for these guys, don't you think they'd be on the streets shouting about it? Don't you think they would try and organize? If you're reading this and you're thinking, "Umm, shut up, guy! My life IS crappy. I AM unemployed and it's AWFUL. I look for jobs everyday and I don't find anything." Well, in that case. GET UP AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT! Chances are, if you are unemployed and struggling to get by, then there's likely to be someone else out there who isn't doing so hot either. Social media has made organizing easier than ever. You must have SOME TIME in your day to try and do this??

Government has no incentive to enforce actual changes to our jobs situation because it's always just the usual clamoring. They don't get inundated by the unemployed. Their days are consumed with phone calls from special interest and lobbying groups. The days of popular activism seems to have ended. Yet we act as if the problems facing this country are historic. If that's the case, then sholdn't we stand up in defiance? I think the reason we don't is that our country isn't actually as bad off as everyone makes it out to be. Actually, let me rephrase that. Our country could be going in the shitter, I have no idea as an individual citizen whether that's true or false. Here's what I do know: Basically, my life is fine. And my guess is that the lives of a lot of other people are fine. So many people's lives are fine, in fact, that they don't really think it's necessary to get off their couches and do something drastic like stand outside of Washington for days on end.

Until the day comes that the fan stops moving from all the poop clogging it's mechanical arteries, true change will not come to this country. That's what I foresee. Until enough people are out of work and actually starving no great change will come to the state of this country. Circumstances are simply not dramatic enough for radical change.

So until our Julius comes, complain on America. I know you don't have the balls to actually do anything about it.