Like I said in a previous post, politics is a racket. Our country is in pretty deep doodoo already. It can't be fixed in a day. Nor is one man going to change things in 4 years. Even if he could, there's no way my one vote will count. The system is rigged anyway. Even if it did count, I don't have time to spend researching the candidates or keeping informed with current events. I feel like I probably should pay attention, I just don't really care to spend the time I do have learning about this stuff. I'll just wait until right before the next election. Politics is boring, I'd rather focus on other stuff. I have enough troubles in my own life to think about the troubles in our country! The country is fine and free as ever, just let our elected officials handle it - they're the experts.
I think at one time or another we have all had at least one of these thoughts enter our head. I totally have. I've always felt that I probably should pay attention but I don't understand what's going on enough to really have an opinion. What finally kicked my butt into gear about all this? Let's start off with some quotes:
"If a Nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be.... If we are to guard against ignorance and remain free, it is the responsibility of every American to be informed." - Thomas Jefferson
- "I don’t know how you feel, my brethren and sisters, but I’d rather be dead than to lose my liberty. I have no fear we’ll ever lose it because of invasion from the outside. But I do have fear that it may slip away from us because of our own indifference, our own negligence, as citizens of this land. And so I plead with you this morning that you take an active interest in matters pertaining to the future of this country." -President Ezra Taft Benson
- I started listing a bunch more President Benson quotes because they are all so awesome. I decided rather than flood you will all these, I'd invite you to go to http://www.latterdayconservative.com/quotes/ezra-taft-benson/ and read through them!
- "The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men." -Samuel Adams
- "[We have been given] a republic, if you can keep it." - Benjamin Franklin
- “Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It's not.” -Dr. Seuss
- "Liberty must at all hazards be supported. We have a right to it, derived from our Maker. But if we had not, our fathers have earned and bought it for us, at the expense of their ease, their estates, their pleasure, and their blood." -John Adams
Are you fired up yet?
To lead into my next argument, I'll begin with this quote by George Washington.
A primary object should be the education of our youth in the science of government. In a republic, what species of knowledge can be equally important? And what duty more pressing... than ... communicating it to those who are to be the future guardians of the liberties of the country?
We are the guardians of liberty in our country today. We have heard all of the catch phrases, "freedom is not free," we sing the songs, we have learned of the many who sacrificed to give us this great country and died for our liberty. Making America free is not something that can just be checked off the list. We can't just
thank a veteran on Veteran's Day and watch fireworks on the 4th of July and call it good. We have been given an awesome country and an awesome responsibility to preserve the reasons this country is great! We can't be complacent. We were born here for a purpose. We each have an inherent duty as a citizen of a republic to participate in our government. If we truly believe in a government for the people, by the people, and of the people, why do we not pay attention?? I believe that is why our country is so screwed up now. People over time have just gradually forgotten their duty to keep the government in check, and certain institutions have slowly gained power.
We need to wake up! We can no longer forfeit our right and duty to be the watchdog of our freedom and liberty. We can't just leave the "fighting for freedom" to our soldiers! If you really think about it, how is bombing Iraq and Pakistan and Afghanistan and Libya and Yemen and all those other countries fighting for our freedom anyway?? (More on that to come in a later post). We are running out of time - and we aren't making things better by simply putting a flag in our yard on a designated holiday. I have to be diligent, you have to be diligent. "The science of government" has to be a part of our lives. It has to, or our freedoms and liberties will continue to erode. Adolf Hitler once said, "What luck for rulers that men do not think." If we don't stand up for our freedoms - write to our representatives, elect just men who uphold the Constitution and sincerely love liberty, talk to our friends and neighbors, teach our children, live righteously, we will lose (if we haven't already) what our forefathers have fought and died for.
If you think we are still free, if our rights are not corroding, read the
Constitution and other founding documents, the
Declaration of Independence, the Federalist Papers,
Washington's Farewell Address. Compare their thoughts and feelings to what's going on today. Read, read, read. It might be hard, but it's important! Wake up! Learn about what this precious thing called liberty is. Why so many men fought so hard for it. We all know that "history repeats itself," so learn the history! Start studying and then go act. I'm not saying I have all the right ideas, but once you start learning, you at least know what the wrong ideas are. So, instead of coming home and relaxing after a hard days work (if you're lucky enough to have a job) in front of the big game, check out what's going on in the world today. It won't change overnight, but the sooner people wake up, the sooner we can start taking steps in the right direction - toward the Constitution.
Start Tonight! November 22nd-Presidential Debate at 5PM Arizona time on CNN or cnn.com for a possible livestream. If you miss it, you can usually find it up on youtube not long after.
