I'm not a political type person and I don't have strong convictions, like HiDelight, that our government is still working for the people. I don't follow all the political debates, nor do I(gasp!) even vote.
Most of you would say that this would render my opinion on these issues moot, as I have heard that refrain many times...."If you don't vote, you can't complain!" Sure I can!
But I usually do not.
When it comes to these types of issues....like our individual freedoms...its always a hot button. Even for me. The nonvoter. I don't vote because I don't really have faith in our system.....haven't for a long time. Never did, really.
Nor am I naive enough to believe that, if we just want it bad enough and yell loud enough, it can change. It is still steamrollering right on over the little folks, just like it always has.....with the screaming and protesting being drowned out by the huge
crunch of the wheel.
No, I'm not normally a pessimist...anyone who has followed my journal would say that I'm pretty upbeat and cheerful about most things.
Nor am I really into wasting effort on lost causes. Our political machine is really and truly a lost cause. Has been for many, many moons.
I guess what I'm trying to say is this: It seems to me, as an outside observer of the political enthusiasts, there is always someone who says, "If you aren't satisfied, it is probably because you aren't working to change things and just whining about them." Its really all they CAN say in the face of the fact that the government in all its myriad facets, does not even resemble the one with which we started.
They can say it all they want and they may even believe that they are affecting change in small but significant ways. But this doesn't negate the fact that our individual freedoms are disappearing at an alarming rate, no matter how many folks kick and scream and protest. Its happening anyway. It will continue to happen anyway.
Its
supposed to happen, according to
my belief system.
By saying, "At least I'M trying, instead of just complaining", it seems they are not at fault for the state of our country.
We all are. Americans, collectively, have been lazy, indifferent, tolerant of greed and avarice and have grown soft in our values. Not just us nonvoters and people who have realized its all too big to fight now. Even all you activists...yes, you. At fault also. If we hadn't let it become this big, this bad, this monstrous, we wouldn't have to scream and shout to try to control it.
To argue about when and where it all went wrong or why it does what it does is really futile. We are here and it is what it is. No it doesn't feel good, but we are reaping what our fathers sowed. Nothing will stop that harvest. You only have to look at the past to see our future.
Its like having a bratty kid. We created it but we still feel compelled to complain when they do us dirty. Its the nature of us, the nature of the world, the nature of where we live.
For all you folks arrogant enough, or is it naive enough?, to believe you can change it...I say, go for it!
For all of you who really can't stand what your child has become....its okay to complain about it and question its motives. After all, you know it well and can expect it to behave just as it has in the past.
For all of us on the sidelines who really just want to ride out the mayhem without expecting change...I say, lets do the best we can in the face of bad times. Find a way through or around. If you cannot, stand your ground.
Either way, we are in the same boat, so we might as well try to get along and get over it.
Being pessimistic about one thing, of which many, many are pessimistic can be called realism. Being optimistic about something that no one has been able to change in the past and that is growing worse and worse, can be called naivete. 
