Being disgusted with American politics seems to be a wide-spread practice now-a-days. Everywhere I go, I speak with people that are fed up with politicians and our political system. Everyone seems to hate Washington and the political gridlock that has come to define it. Most people automatically label politicians as untrustworthy and greedy, while rarely giving them a chance to prove otherwise.
Everyone in America (well, almost everyone) seems to think the same thing: our political system is broken.
I must respectfully disagree with everyone in America (well, almost everyone).
Our political system is doing exactly what it was designed to do. It is maintaining the continuity of the United States of America. So, in that regard, it works fine. You don't think so? Right now, wherever you are, does the United States of America exist? If you answered no, I apologize for being wrong and hope whatever dictatorship you live in grants you an extra bread ration for the day. If you answered yes, I'm right. But Tyler, you don't understand, this isn't the same America that I/my parents/my grandparents grew up in! Whenever I hear that I always must attempt to maintain my professionalism and not reply with a loud "DUH". How can you live in a world with so many people and lifestyles crammed onto one planet and expect it to stay the same? Would you rather live in a world without change, without progress? I wouldn't. If there were no change, then there would be no opportunity to make our country better. I may not agree with every "turn" America takes, but I believe it is better than where we were, for the one reason that it gets us closer to where we are going. I'll give you a second to re-read that last line so it can sink in. The world is going to change with or without you, but whether you like the change or not, you need to be involved. Sitting at home on your couch complaining about the path our country is on does absolutely nothing to help get things moving in the right direction. I honestly believe the destiny of our nation is uncertain and unknown, but even if our country is headed toward a future that completely contradicts my own beliefs, I still have a duty to try and make America a better place than it was when I got here. And whether you accept it or not, you have that duty too. Our political system is not broken at all, we are.
"America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." -Abraham Lincoln
President Lincoln was absolutely right. If our country falls, it won't be because our political system failed our country, it will be because we failed our political system.
I remember reading about a time when being a politician was an honor and a sacrifice. The term "public servant" was an accurate description of the job. A politician is supposed to serve and represent the people that selected him/her to office, not go on a tax-payer funded vacation to Washington to exploit the country they vowed to serve and protect. Now here is where some people will try and argue with me again, "See! If it wasn't for our broken political system with all its lobbyists and corruption, America would be much better off!" First off, it is not the system's fault if people abuse it. If a teacher solicits a student for sex outside of the classroom, do we call every high school in America a failure? No, the system doesn't effect the user at all. I'm going to fill you in on something important: there are bad people in the world. And bad people tend to have a predictable pattern of action: they do bad things. So if we have corrupt politicians in Washington, guess whose fault it is if they screw things up? The voters. If we elect an official to REPRESENT us, and they do something stupid, it is completely on us for putting the individual in power. Whether or not you have the guts to accept that is on you, I don't care if you believe it or not, but your action (voting) or inaction (not voting for someone else) places the blame on your shoulders.
Our system is designed to be self-regulating. That means if there is corruption or inefficiency in the system, we elect honest and efficient people to replace those we find unsatisfactory. It's really that easy. You may say it's not, but it is. The problem occurs when we begin getting lazy and stop holding our elected officials accountable for what they do. We stop paying attention to how they vote, who they get their money from, and how they are managing our tax dollars. That is how problems start and evolve. And one of the problems of our society is that we are too reactive. Instead of being proactive and stopping something before it happens, we wait until we have a catastrophe on our hands and then we go way overboard to make sure it never happens again. We over correct. Take all the school shootings that have happened in our history, you would think by now we would have figured out a way to curb those (and no, a nationwide gun ban is not the answer but that is a different topic), but we haven't. We continue to react to events as they happen. Instead of thinking about national security and the long term effects of extremist groups, we sit back and let a horror like 9/11 occur. Instead of getting off our tails and doing some digging on the people we are placing in power, we wait until they have a sex scandal or get busted for bribery etc. President John F. Kennedy said it like this, "There are risks and costs to a program of action. But they are far less than the long-range risks and costs of comfortable inaction." We are too comfortable and too dag gum lazy to get involved with the greater good of our country. We are content to let the bad people in the world take advantage of our political system and run our country into the ground. Some people think that there is too much corruption and that there are too many bad people in the world to be able to make a difference. There are no more bad people in the world than there were in 1945. The number of bad people hasn't changed. What has changed are the number of good people who are willing to stand up for what they believe and get involved and make a difference. Now we have so many people that are apathetic and "really don't care". Those people make me mad. They are content to watch our country, which so many people are counting on to succeed, fail.
"The fiery trials through which we pass will light us down in honor or dishonor to the last generation." -President Lincoln.
How we act, or don't act, will have a lasting impact on our society. If we want the life of our nation to be secure, than our nation has to remain honest, truthful, and virtuous. And we have a political system that allows us to try and make that happen! That's what is so great about America, people can actually make a difference!We provide a platform for everyday Americans to try and change the world! How many other countries do that? That is the ultimate form of freedom- to decide one's fate; and the sun never set on so glorious a human achievement as freedom. And I understand some people feel like they can't make a difference, or that their vote doesn't count, but nobody makes a greater mistake than he who did nothing because he could only do a little.
So in some form of summary:
1. America's political system is not broken; the people are
2. Society is going to change, with or without your approval
3. America's political system provides us with an opportunity to decide our country's destiny
4. We cannot trust this huge responsibility to bad people
5. Good people need to stand up and fight for what they believe, no matter how minor it may seem
In closing, I cannot determine what is "right" in your eyes or how you define good and bad, and I wouldn't try too. It is impossible to regulate morality across a country. Mass morals no longer exist. "Each man must for himself alone decide what is right and what is wrong, which course is patriotic and which isn't. You cannot shirk this and be a man." -Mark Twain. So I encourage you to decide what you believe is right and fight for it, and remember what President Lincoln said,
"I am not bound to win, but I am bound to be true. I am not bound to succeed, but I am bound to live up to what light I have."
Please feel free to post any disagreements or criticisms or comments of any kind. Feedback is always welcome. Thanks -Tyler
