Earlier this week, Bill Moyers and PBS released “Buying the War,” a documentary about the run-up to the War in Iraq and the media’s complicity in that decision. (Click on the link and you can watch it yourself.)
I don’t think it is any secret how I feel about the current administration or its policies regarding almost every element of American life, but watching this documentary showed me things I never even knew. Documented facts. Not opinions. Evidenced facts.
All of which add up to why this administration currently enjoys a ~26% approval rating. And why we–as voters–have to face up to the fact that we have not been doing our jobs.
Democracy is hard. It isn’t Social Studies. It’s advanced citizenship. We have a duty to pay attention to the people we elect and hold them accountable for their actions. If we sit by and do nothing, we deserve everything we get.
We have a right to defend ourselves. I hear 2nd Amendment advocates saying that all the time. (For the record, I’m one of them.) But, at the same time they scream about having the right to defend themselves, they don’t know who their local elected officials are, don’t vote, don’t pay attention, don’t care.
You don’t just defend yourself with a gun. You also defend yourself with a vote.
What’s the cliche? The price of freedom is vigilance?
Well, it’s time to start living up to that.
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