Wake Up, America! Before It's Too Late.

     I adore America, and that is the first and foremost reason for my bark on this blog. But it also seems to me, we aren’t communicating in this country.

     If you believe our Founding Fathers were of genius and perhaps benefited best from pure focus and the lack of distractions, we could learn a great lesson from them on how to bargain at the table.

     Are we even capable of an open, honest debate in public or is that a myth of the past not even worthy of a sound bite anymore.

     Have we become an inhumane group of uncivil selfish beings only driven by single issue politics? Perhaps robotic in many ways? Have we any interest in unity and the benefit of our fellow man and community?

     Or have we allowed the rules of law and individual rights in America to be manipulated to where our country is almost unrecognizable? There is absolutely no reason why we cannot come together and problem solve via the latest swift technology devices mankind has developed? Let us allow intellectual freedom to overcome paranoia. Before it is too late.

     Nine out of ten cities are deemed “financially stressed” by experts. I’m still not sure exactly what that means, but if it is anything like the stress I have undergone over the past five years since the economic crisis of 2008, it isn’t a pretty picture.

     Yet, the House of Representatives voted two-to-one Wednesday to delay a federal debt ceiling confrontation or decision - depending on how you look at it - until May, basically kicking the garbage can down the calendar once again.

     What was a fiscal cliff late last year has faded away for another sunny day, leaving uncertainty among investors and economic forecasters. That translates into an uncertainty of whether new jobs will be created for the twenty million or so Americans still having the guts to look.

     Do you actually believe in the Constitution or just parts of it that serve your own purpose and individual needs? Have you any idea what is in the Patriot Act 1 and 2 legislation that Congress enacted and how it affects your life and liberties? Do you care how it has altered our reality? 

     We’re talking about banning assault weapons in Washington. That debate should have taken place two decades ago. Who is kidding who here? We are way past that discussion. Ask the residents of Newtown, Connecticut.

     Do you have any appreciation for the debates and open forum that had riveted Philadelphia during the constitutional convention, or do you simply consider it a myth of the past?

     These words and principles should still hold true. They are valid even in an invalid society. More importantly, the Constitution works to protect the very people represented if enacted and acted upon. The ideas of the Constitution allow the people freedoms beyond reproach, if they take advantage of the empowerment.

     We’ve traded open debate for protests. Protests create flair and fire but not results. The influence needs to be in the decision-making process, and we are far behind in scheduling the debates. Our government is fading fast in answers, and we’re hiding in the sand waiting for a mirage.

     To that point, we are all at fault. When corporations are making record profits yet college educated people can’t find work besides minimum wage jobs throughout the United States, there is a problem. When more than forty-two million Americans are living on food stamps, there is a problem. When billion- dollar athletic stadiums are erected on the taxpayers' back under the guise of economic development, and yet thousands of homeless congregate aimlessly within miles of its unused entrance for fair weather gladiators, there is a problem.

     Simply put, we are out of whack because we’ve fallen asleep at the wheel. We aren’t involved in civics, and therefore we have more politics than problem-solving in American government today.

     Has Congress failed us? The politicians can’t even sit down in the current two-party system and negotiate anymore. Everything is formulated behind the scene and behind closed doors at the last minute. Wednesday’s vote to extend the debt ceiling took yet another step in that process. That’s a huge problem. The public doesn’t seem to have any idea what it’s paying for and basically doesn’t care, either.

     Thomas Jefferson said, “All tyranny needs to gain a foothold is for people of good conscience to remain silent”, while James Madison added, “a well instructed people alone can be permanently a free people.”

     I figure if Jefferson and Madison were somehow brought back to life today, they would take a look around and drop dead in their tracks of massive heart attacks.

     The pure beauty of those quotes can still ring true in today’s society. We really don’t need a new Constitution to fix our vast woes. Ladies and gentlemen, we need to learn how to follow the old one. As written.

     The first words coming to mind are education and community. Without a reawakening, our ship has sunk. The days of electing a representative and following the political rhetoric toward positive results are long gone. The only way the community benefits is when those within the community get involved.

     I'm not talking about a revolution as much as an overhaul of the system. There are simple ways to get everyone on the same page. But it requires work instead of words.

     The House of Representatives will invariably have to act on the debt ceiling. Is America going to default on her debts? What are the politicians waiting for, another economic downturn, an influx of monies to save the day from Uncle Sam?

     Every now and then, you hear a public cry to fix a broken tax system. It might be the first step for a fairer process that could absolutely solve other issues such as unemployment, health care, housing, and our debt problems in the same dialogue. Everyone is affected by the tax system so why not have a say in the process. The internet can go a long way toward welcoming Americans back into the political system and bureaucracy controlling it. You can demand facts from politicians and require answers.

     We simply don’t have enough information in hand. We don’t know if Congress is going to pay its bills later this year. We should be demanding our elected officials sit down at the table for eight hours a day in public session until something gets done for all to see. That is how most employers handle their business. Why should the American public observe the federal government by any other means?

     That is exactly what should happen here, today and now. Open debates until some plan towards the future begins to take shape. The American people deserve this step. We should demand it.

     After all, it’s your dollars and your debt.