Getting back to our inner patriot and rediscovering what keeping our leaders in check is all about.
My girlfriend loves me and tolerates my daily ingestion of progressive news, talk shows, and stories online, but even she gets fatigued from all the information. One night she ask me why I keep digging and I tell her I believe it is important to know what is going on with this corrupt administration. My hope, I tell her, is the Democrats will overtake the Congress and get to the bottom of all the corruption the Republican controlled Congress and White House is up to. But her response struck me in an odd way:
"Ed, no matter who you put in office they are all corrupt; they tell you one thing and they do another. Why is it any different if the Democrats take office?"
I didn't have an answer, at first, but after a couple of days mulling what she said it occurred to me this response is both something many Americans say out of frustration over the lack of voice by ordinary people. To me it is also an American cop out. It's nothing personal to my girlfriend or anyone else who shares her views, but I think we are missing an important point that comes straight from the founders of our country: "We the People..."
Too many times we pass the buck of keeping our government officials--local, state, and federal--honest to Congress and the press. In George W. Bush's world, we can see Congress, the Supreme Court, even the fourth estate, the press, fails time and time again due to corruption and compromise. When even Bob "All the Presidents Men" Woodward is tainted by scandal you know it can't be left to any of these guys and gals to legislate. How about the reporters at the White House who didn't find their voice until after Katrina and other gaffs by President Bush's crack administration? Before this event they were as toothless as the abominable snowman from Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer.
No Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea, it is not up to the folks within the beltway or around the state capitals to keep things in check (it is totally their fault for the way things are in our seats of government.) When it comes to the corruption of our nation it falls down to us. To coin a phrase, "I have seen the enemy and the enemy is us." If the Dems or any American citizen is tired of this current string of controversy, scandal, and compromise and are looking for a great slogan to rally the troops, here's one: "It's about `We the People' stupid!"
*We the people abstained our responsiblity to follow what Congress, the White House, the Supreme Court, along with our state and local levels of government, to our politicians who tells us to "trust them" as they go on unchecked. It isn't until later do we hear about how these same politicians go behind the backs of the American people to do their own thing.
*We the people procrastinate our responsibility to find out what is going on with local and national measure that affect our homes and neighbors by staying busy with life and work. "Let them take care of it, I got other problems to worry about like working eight to ten making a living for my family." Look, if men and women left their homes during the Revolutionary War to go to war; if people gathered their families to go to a town hall or public meeting with the city council because they are concerned with the latest measure; if a grandmother can pull out sheets of paper and envelopes and dutifully write their elected official because she's mad as hell over something she read in the paper, then we can find the time to delve into what's going on with our government.
*We the people can turn off `American Idol', stop worrying about which singer is not getting enough votes, and turn to what real American idol (or idiot) is taking your tax dollars and golfing at St. Andrews Golf Course for the fun of it. Too many times we get caught up in pop culture and never venture to find out what are our elected officials up to. We need to be involved and forget about what's on the tube to focus on the matters at hand.
If you wonder why "We the People" is so important to me its simple: It is the people of this country which are able to stoke the fires of freedom and justice. We are tasked to hold the feet of our leaders against the fire to burn off the impurities and find out what type of metal these leaders are made of. In the past few years all we've done is kept the fire away from their feet, afraid to catch them on fire. It is our job to start stoking the fires and burn off the chaff of lobbyist, pet projects, or any irregularities which corrupt our land.
At the time of this writing the Latino community is marching in the thousands demanding Congress and our president to deal with the on going problem of illegal immigrants. In the weeks since plans of a mass eviction of illegal aliens came to surface the Latino community, to their credit, organized and got the word out through the news on their radio stations and word of mouth. Their passion is evident, their aim is clear, and their voice is being heard cause debate for the first time in years.
Meanwhile, other Americans can't pull away from the mundane unimportant things of our lives to rise up in protest over the corruption of our officials. Only the few can be found in our cities and towns holding lone protest and placards to get anyone to join their voice and protest.
What's wrong with this picture?
I truly believe we need to put the WE back in our preamble and start exercising with action, and not with words, what is our right as Americans. If not corruption will continue and "we' will be put out of the equation.