I Wonder

Do you vote?  Oregon recently had its Primary Elections and of course we all knew the outcome before the election:  Romney Vs Obama, but there were other issues on the ballet, always money issues, State Senate, and local government. We had a whopping 38% voter turnout!  This is in a State where you can be legally drunk and vote at the same time, or vote totally naked (as I often do!) if you so choose.  We have a mail in ballet and you have two weeks to vote at your leisure.  No crowds, no long lines, you don't even have to get out of bed.
   I find it kind of ironic.  American Flags are so common on the windows of our trucks and cars.  We get teary eyed at the sound of our National Anthem and easily talk about the pride of being an American, yet we don't even bother to vote!  We will send a couple hundred thousand young soldiers half way across the world to a god forsaken land to fight and be killed to establish this right to vote in some far away land, costing us over a Trillion Dollars, yet we won't put a stamp on an envelop and vote ourselves.
   Civics is not taught anymore in our schools.  We barely teach History anymore and we stopped teaching Geography years ago.  We don't even know where these countries are!   This is the modern digital, computer age and we know less than we ever did.  The really bad part is that we care even less.  What happens in the real world is that if you do not care then someone else will for you.
   I am not naive enough to believe that the Arab Spring or what is happening in the Middle East is about Democracy.  No one is protesting for the right to read the likes of Thomas Jefferson or John Stuart Mill, no one is studying the French Revolution or our own fight for independence.  It is mainly a battle for a piece of the pie,
whatever country, it is always about the 99% Vs the 1% and who controls what.
   Voting is just an easier way to achieve what one desires in a government or in a society.  Well, it is less bloody anyway, not always easier.  I sometimes wonder, when I see a hundred thousand or so protesting, or maybe even more sitting at home and complaining about the protesters, how many of these people are voting?
   What is it to "be an American" anyway?  I used to think that it was the right to be left alone, having no fear of a knock on the door in the middle of the night, or of being spied upon and your mail opened, or of being locked away with no just cause, but we gave all that up with the Patriat Act.  Did you even know that?
I like to think that we could be a shining example to the world but am always stuck on that concept of getting your own house in order before you clean up someone else's.  38% voter turn out is not exactly something to be proud of, in fact, it is something to be fearful of.  Only 38% of the people are determining what will happen to me, what will happen to our country.  In some countries they have Revolutions for the right to vote, in our country, apparently, voting is not worth the price of a postage stamp.  Sad...

We Will Decide

   It is looking more and more as if the Super Committee in charge of decisions concerning the National Debt have just wasted their salaries.  I hate hiring people who can't get a job done!  I think to myself, if they worked for me I would fire the lot of them.  Then it occurs to me that these people are working for me and I cringe!
   The scary part of all of this is Congress can't accomplish anything because it is representative of the American people!  We voted them in.  We are a severely divided Nation and I can imagine Lincoln turning over in his grave.  We won't admit it but the problem is not with Congress.  We are the problem.
We have voted our emotions too many times.  We have voted without knowing the issues, without realizing the consequences, and sometimes we have voted without even realizing what we have voted for.
   In "the old days" we had barbershop conversations, talked on our front  porches, even might have gone to town hall meetings.  In the old days people read newspapers and we had more reliable news on the television.
   For some reason in the past twenty years we have become afraid of political discussions!  Is this because we feel like rats in a maze and there is no cheese?  that we have lost a sense of power?  I don't think so.  I think it is there for the taking.  It would be easier now than ever before to pack a City Hall meeting.  I think we have become lazy.  We don't read.  We don't investigate.  We have lost the art of pondering.  No one made us sheep.  There is no conspiracy.  It is just easier to graze on the grass and go about our day without giving it a thought.  We take the easy way out.
   They are calling this a "do nothing Congress" when they are just doing what we are doing:  nothing.
There will be another election in one year.  We have time to read, to discover, to educate ourselves on the issues.  Time to decide what kind of world we want this to be.
   There are other issues but the Economy will clearly be the biggest one we talk about in the coming year.
The National Debt wouldn't be an issue at all in a good economy.  Do we still believe in the "Trickle Down"
theory?  We get our jobs from rich people so we have to be nice to them?  Yasum Boss Sir kind of mentality?  What is the roll of Government?  Should we really wait until the bridges fall down before we repair them?  Where can we cut money with the least amount of pain?
   I am a bit disappointed with the art community.  I thought we might have a deeper understanding, more insight, more empathy, a clearer vision, a different view.  We are as isolated and lazy as the rest and our "do nothing Congress" is representing of us.  You get what you pay for and you get what you vote for.  How could anyone vote for someone who couldn't find Lybia on a map?
   The future is going to be more of the same because we seem to like it like that.