Complacency in America


The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States of
America and the Bill of Rights risked every thing, their property, their
freedom, and their very lives so that we could have equal representation
in a government of our choosing. These men, who gave us the right to
vote in the first place and set forth the tools to ensure that we would
not lose these rights were not complacent men, but what if they had
been. Had they been content with taxation without representation, would
we still be British citizens living under a monarchy? If the men who
risked so much to give us these rights were alive today, would they be
happy with the turn out at the polls every four years? Would they be
content with just having the best government in the world or would they
want us to continue to strive to be even better?
Complacency or the absence of complacency has made a
difference, for either the good or the bad throughout history not only
in this country, but also in the rest of the world at one time or the
other. I like to use the “what if” phrase to try and convince my friends
who do not vote, to become active in the decisions that will shape not
only their futures, but also their children’s and grandchildren’s
futures. I do not want to influence the way they vote, but rather
attempt to get them to see for their selves how complacency or the lack
of it has made a difference in the past, and to remind them of the
dangers that being complacent can bring with it. What if the people in
the northern states had been content in their own lives and not stood up
against slavery?
Suppose Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been content with Black
Americans treatment as second-class citizens in the sixties; moreover,
we must not forget those who followed their leadership. They were not
complacent, and look at the difference it made in the lives of millions
of black Americans, even though it cost many of them their own lives.
What if women had been content and had not stood up for their right to
vote or own property, would they have the rights that they enjoy today,
and then where would Oprah be now.
History tells us all the time how if Europeans in the 1930s
had not been complacent and acted earlier to the obvious dangers of
Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany, that W.W.II could have been avoided
altogether or at least with a lot less bloodshed and loss of life. It
sickens me to think that had the German people not been so complacent
about their government’s obvious atrocities toward the Jewish citizens
of their country that the needless slaughter of millions of innocent
lives would never have happened. Instead they sat by content with
anything Hitler did as long as he continued to bring them prosperity,
and make their individual lives economically better than they were
before the Nazi party came to power, but look at the misery and
suffering it brought to them in the end.
This brings me to another point; there have been in the past
and continue to this day those who employ direct and subversive means to
scare people by using fear for loss of life, loss of lifestyle, or to
ridicule them into complacency. Hitler and The Nazis were able to do
this very well, making an art of it and refining it. The Ku Klux Klan
has done for generations. They have changed their label and ironically
now refer to them selves as the Nazi Party but they are still out there
trying to push their prejudice ideology about blacks and Jews, just
waiting for people to become complacent enough for it to work. How many
more Americans would have lost their lives in Vietnam if college
students of the time been content knowing that they were exempt by their
status as students, and not protested at places like Kent State where
some of them lost their life. Was our government of the time using
violence to push polices, hoping it would make people complacent?
President Kennedy was not content with the Soviet Union
installing nuclear weapons in Cuba. If he been complacent, instead of
risking total nuclear war to make them remove them, would we have won
the cold war or would we still be living under fear of the iron curtain
ascending over our country? Throughout history, we see that being
complacent might be easier, but it is never better in the end, only
bringing more suffering.
I have seen instances lately of the current administration
using fear and other methods to try to bring people into complacency
with their policies. They have threatened to arrest people for
protesting against the war in Iraq and have tried to ruin the careers of
celebrities like the Dixie Chicks for opposing them. They have even
threatened to arrest members of the press for opposing them and writing
negative stories, and yet people say we still have the best government
in the world. I say that is not good enough.
Complacency is a feeling of contentment, especially when
coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy. The
attitude of citizens in this country that do not vote, including most of
my friends, is a very dangerous attitude. Considered the silent
majority, because they have more combined voting power than any other
group in the country, and yet is so complacent they do not use it. This
of course does not prevent them from being the loudest when it comes to
complaining and griping about the way politics in this country continue
on a downward slide. Many times I have asked my friends, who belong to
this group why they do not vote and they say things like, why should I?
It will not do any good, or politicians are all liars, or something else
like that. Brought about by being too comfortable for too long this is a
sure sign of complacency or just plain old-fashioned ignorance to the
dangers of this way of thinking.
One sure thing about politicians is they will do anything they
can to stay in power. If the silent majority does not exercise the right
to vote given to them and all of us by the founding fathers, remain
complacent and do not wake up, and do something about it now. Will it be
too late to prevent the suffering that this attitude has proven to bring
with it in the past? I myself refuse to be complacent, and sit by idly
while we lose our rights one at a time. I only hope that by speaking
out, and trying to get others to exercise their right to vote, that the
silent majority will recognize the danger that their complacency brings
and understand the importance, the difference, and the power that voting
can make. If they do not, then the politicians, whose wealth and status
make them immune to the consequences of their policies will continue to
run this country the way that they see fit, while the rest of us lose a
little more every day.

Complacency...


NOW THERE'S A WEAPON OF MASS DESTRUCTION !!!



Great... 'nothing to add', 'nothing to take out' ...piece!!!

One solid block of a text!

Thanks, I thought it was appropriate here at election time again.

america its almost like no one like us, but will die to try to get here.
i love this country and would not want to be any other place but i think
we are a little bit spoiled, there for we tend to no matter what group
we fall under to cry more when things dont go our way. i think we are
loseing more an more everyday but bottom line is you got to go out an do
something about it. people want there rights well than stand up for
them, people agaisnt the war than go protest, you want god back in
schools go make it happen, as for me an amaerica well were doing ok.

I personally, Do not think that being the best country in the world is
good enough. I believe we should always strive to be better.I dont mean
bigger, or trying to force our influence on others. Let them make their
own countries better. We should lead by example, taking care of our own
first. Find better alternative fuels, put the american know how to work
that we used in the space race. Education, health care, and get rid of
the proffessional politician system by consolidating all political
contributions for use by all candidates, go back to improving wages and
benefits for workers, instead of breaking the law to bring in cheap
labour. Whatever we do we should not sit back on our heels and say, This
is still the best place in the world to live. Granted it is, but we
should never be satisfied with just being the best. We can do better,
This I believe. Now lets all remember to vote, intelligently, and
remember when we are gone we leave this world to our children.
Amen!!!