For What It's Worth

     You, or someone you know, may have that friend on Facebook or Twitter that  posts too many "political" things and such, "disrespecting" others with their views, and (my favorite) "ranting" about politics and freedom. I would like to take time to address these concerns as I do realize that these can be somewhat annoying, but sometimes the message isn't as easy to see.
     In this time of political turmoil in not just the country but the world, it becomes so easy to say 'I am sick of politics! I just don't care anymore!" and at times I'm sure we have all uttered those words. Unfortunately, that position is not what most often serves not only the country, but the individual well. 237 years ago, our forefathers came together and wrote the most important document in our nation's history, the U.S. Constitution. These wise men had the vision and forethought to put the power and destiny of this great nation in the hands of it's people, with the government only there to serve and protect the citizens. In this document, they outlined not only the rules for government and what their limitations are, but what God-given rights should be protected. What is not specifically spelled out is the responsibilities we have as citizens to continue and uphold the constitution. These responsibilities are not enforced by a law or a government, they are seeded at the root of liberty, with the individual. This document written for the people must be enforced by the people, especially since it is in place to specifically control the government. In recent years, bills such as the Patriot Act, NDAA, SOPA, Obamacare, and others blatantly intrude upon these constitutional rights. Through lobbyists, special interests, and the obvious manipulation of the media, coupled with the lack of interest from the American public have allowed these bills to prosper, and our liberties to die.
     The news on television has become a tool of the government to influence and sway public opinion, whether it be towards the left like CNN and MSNBC, or to the right via Fox News. With either side claiming the evil of the others, it makes these channels reporting seem less like news and more like hokey TV dramas, intended only to strike an emotional response, not to inform. The utter frustration of knowing when someone is lying to you, is alone infuriating. Knowing someone is lying to you, while they claim to report unbiased truth, is unacceptable.
     I quote Patrick Henry, from his famous speech, "Give Me Liberty, Or Give Me Death" in 1775 ; "Mr. President, it is natural to man to indulge in the illusions of hope. We are apt to shut our eyes against a painful truth, and listen to the song of that siren till she transforms us into beasts." The television media has become the sirens and we are becoming the beasts. In these past few years, not only are they lying to us, they are not telling us the whole story about a majority of the issues, and the stuff they are leaving out is the stuff we really need to hear.  This practice of omitting information directly contributes to the "I don't care" attitude of a good deal of the public as it pertains to politics and government. 
     In the age of information, ignorance is a choice. With the internet an easy and vastly accessible tool for communication, it stands to reason that simple curiosity can lead to vast waves of knowledge, knowledge that the television refuses to share with you. The simple art of asking questions always leads to finding that knowledge, and with the internet, it's as easy as a click of a button.
     Have you ever found out a secret or some inside information and your first impulse is to tell your friends? This basic human instinct to tell information comes in many forms, gossip, chit-chat, etc. With the advancement and widespread use of social networking, the ease of sharing information has tripled in the last two decades. Therefore, the urge to share news or gossip has increased as well. Ask yourself, if you found out information that a close friend or relative should know, you'd tell them, right? In many cases, that's what drives the owners and friends who post these political pages. To quote Thomas Paine, from his writings, "The Age Of Reason" 1794; "You will do me the justice to remember, that I have always strenuously supported the Right of every Man to his own opinion, however different that opinion might be to mine. He who denies to another this right, makes a slave of himself to his present opinion, because he precludes himself the right of changing it." Since policies made in Washington can and do affect all Americans, many feel the more we know about the goings on in our capital, the better decisions we can make not only in voting for our elected officials, but in the laws and policies we allow them to pass.
     The blatant ignoring of the constitution (which we were all taught is the law of the land, the thing that makes this country different from the rest of the world, the very thing our soldiers swear to fight and die for, that our "supposed" leaders took an oath to defend and uphold), the withholding of information, and the manipulation of opinions and emotions by the media is what prompts these posts.
     Most importantly to me, I, as many of my friends and family, have children. We must think about the world that we are leaving for them, and their children, and their children's children. Maybe, and I know this is a new concept, but one human being can be genuinely concerned for the safety and well being of others.
     In closing, if you don't want to read these posts, don't. If you are offended by the comments on these posts because they contradict what you have been led to believe, un-friend them. No one has the right to force you to read or believe anything you do not wish to, but they are helping your right to be informed.  Maybe they do this to give you the opportunity to make up your own mind, since the government and the t.v. won't. Knowledge is power, and the power in this country is not where it should be. We should be doing all we can to save our country from bad policies and unnecessary wars, all we can to preserve our way of life and remove these oppressive chains, to free us for a prosperous future. Let's do this for the next generation, may they be wiser than us, and may we have the wisdom to allow them to be.