We are the government, and we need to keep that in mind when we speak about Washington.
I love my government.
Have you ever said those words?
http://www.britethorn.com/
Well, if you haven't, now wouldn't be a bad time to start, because what we do hear -- far to often now -- are words of hate directed at our government and its office-holders.
"Washington is broken."
"Our politicians are all crooks."
"The President hates America."
And then when a gunman opens fire on a United States Congresswoman, and more than a dozen other innocent bystanders, the public at large expresses shock and horror at something that was as inevitable and predictable as an eclipse of the sun.
But which needn't have been.
In the news reports following the shooting of Gabrielle Gifford, you hear the same thing over and over again from journalists and politicians from both sides of the aisle: she is well liked, gets along with everyone, and always works to maintain respect and civility with people who hold opposing views from her own.
She is the Gold Standard in politics, and now she lays wounded in an Arizona hospital, a living, and still breathing metaphor for our critically injured Federal Government.
And as it is with any wounded soul, health and vitality will not be restored to either Congresswoman Gifford or the government of the United States through the application of angry words: Not on Cable News stations, not on talk radio, not around the water cooler and not on the internet.
Trying to lay this crime at the feet of the right wing would be no more healing an action than one more pull of the trigger by that lone gunman in that Arizona Mall.
So if you really love your country, open your eyes up to all the good that your government does for you -- because the two are inseparable. "We the People" are the country. We are the government. Washington isn't broken, we are.
So if you don't mind, I'd like to invite you to say something nice about our government in the comments section below, or through a video response. In my own case, I'm very grateful to the United States for being there with Social Security when my father died when I was a child.
Now how about you? What nice thing do you have to say about YOUR government?