Political Griping: The American Pastime

Here in the U.S. there are plenty of things wrong with our government, at all of the different levels. Some of them are obvious and easily remidied, some are a bit more difficault. But these distinctions do not come from the complexity of the problem, nor do they spawn from the severity of the problem. Instead each of them draws it's difficaulty from a wide variety of factors. But there is one thing that problems of any difficaulty share: people who don't like the way it is.

Now, it's perfectly normal to disagree with your government. The government is working on a very broad scale and you are working on a very narrow one. You can see the finite details of their solutions in action, whereas they are limited by what they are told in reports. This is ok. Because of this many people feel the need at some time or another to request a change in the government. But here we come to the trouble: most of them tell their friend about their complaints and leave it at that.

In the American system of government there are litterally hundreds of ways to get things changed if you don't like them, petitions, letters to congressmen, voting a particular way on an upcoming ballot, attending civic meetings, etc. But people just aren't using them.

Many people complain about things like the patriot act, claiming that it violates their rights. But the question I have for them is, "Well, have you written your senator about it?" Everyone I know says, "Well, no, I havn't." As long as you remain unmotivated by your "consern" then it's really not that much of a concern at all. If you're worried that the signs are evident that your car's going to run out of gas, you don't just say "I need gas" and then continue driving, you go to a gas station. This applies to government as well. If you remain inactive in government, you are destined to live in a government that has run out of gas, stagnating on the road to the future. Whining to your friends won't cause it to just magically get fixed. You're going to roll up your sleeves, put your gloves on, and get yourself into the system up to your shoulders and fix the problem.

Ya, your just one man(/woman) in a wide sea of people, but there's nothing to say you have to do it alone. Recruit a friend, have them recruit friends, run ads, go out and mingle. Get your message out, motivate people into action. It doesn't matter what topic you're fighting for, if you're the only one who cares, then it wouldn't behove your government to listen to you anyway. They exist to protect the interests of the masses, so get the masses interested.

For all of my gripes about the American system, this is one thing that we all should be thankful for: The system can be changed. But nothing happens without effort, and even a simple change will require work. But nothing is going to get better if all you do is complain!

<In the swift, deep anouncer voice>
This public service announcement brought to you by the I Hate Lazy Whiners association and from the people at Jim's Home for Nerds.
</swift, deep anouncer voice>

Easy in words, hard in practice.

Mood: Irritated