I found this video online. I do not know if any of you watch the Countdown with Keith Olbermann, but a few nights ago he delievered a stunning and truly sobering speech. I have embedded the video below and encourage you to watch it, to think about it. His journalism, bold enough to evoke the memory of Edward R. Murrow, made it difficult at first to add any commentary, but I somehow found my tongue and attempted to add my thoughts on the state of our union right now. I am sure at a later time I will craft and deliver a more thoughtful article on the same subject, but the passion of a moment has merit to match the careful construction of thoughts.
We have found ourselves in a precarious position, here in the United States. We find ourselves in a time where anything that contradicts our current Adminstration is branded as being biased, elitist or flat out wrong. We live in a time of absolutes, where those on the right only get their information from those on their “side” and those on the left do the same. We have no sense of appreciating two sides of the token any longer. Information is ignored based on the network or paper it comes from, not based on whether it is true or false. We live in a time dominated by partisanship and uncompromising beliefs that make it impossible to change anything. We have succumbed to what the politicians want: A people satisfied to be divided, a people fine with the government stepping in and telling us that we really do not know what we are talking about and that the control really is best left in their hands. We have believed them. We have given in. We have given up. We have let them win. We sit in our living rooms, in front of our computers, our TVs and we are unaffected. We are uncaring. We let the world pass by us, we let egregious errors go without lifting a finger, without saying even a feeble word requesting that they be righted. When will the madness stop? When will we, the people, rise up and proclaim that we indeed know what we want and are capable of making educated decisions? We are not stupid. It is time to stop being okay with them telling us we are. It is time for us to return to the people the United States was made for: A people who could not accept a government that wanted nothing less than complete control. Is this a nation made for the people and by the people any longer? Or is it a nation with people simply residing in it, content to accept whatever fate their leaders may choose for them?
I do not think that the founding fathers had this apathy in mind 230 years ago when they penned the Declaration of Independence. They hoped for a nation strong enough to stand up to those who would attempt to steal power and freedoms away from the people. We have forgotten that America is nothing without us and have allowed ourselves to believe that what El Presidente says is the only thing that matters. We have lost our voice. We are losing our freedoms. We are losing the dreams that this nation was founded on. What will you do to stop this terrible reality?
Do not be afraid to disagree with our President. Dissent is what this nation was founded on. Without dissent there is no check to the powers any President might amass. Dissent is what will save us from fascism, from a state that does not allow its people to ever speak against it. Our right to disagree should be the right we hold most dear. Do not be afraid to flex it and use it.
2 comments