"GOVERNMENT IS INEPT".
It was only a bumper sticker on a car, but it set me to thinking. In an era when a certain (angry, White, undereducated, reactionary) segment of the population screams and foams at the mouth, far too many have decided to place blame everywhere except where it belongs- squarely on their shoulders.
What is government but a reflection of ourselves? When last I checked, this was still a representative democracy. We- all of us over 18- have a voice in deciding what our government looks like. Where were the whiners, the complainers, the "teabaggers" during the eight years of the Bush Administration, when government really WAS working against the interest of the middle class? NOW they're terrified of "Socialism", about their civil liberties being trampled, about Big Government intruding on their rights? Or is it simply that a Democrat- and worse, an African-American- is in the White House, and reflexive hatred of anything "Liberal" (i.e.- different) is de rigeur for any self-respecting teabagger? Dissent is laudable, and the hallmark of any functional democracy is its ability to tolerate dissent. What I'm referring to can hardly be qualified as mere dissent and disagreement, however. This is merely common, garden variety ignorance, racism, and reaction. When you have nothing to offer but anger, vitriol, and racism, how can you reasonably expect to be taken seriously?
I can understand and even respect someone whose beliefs may be different from my own. If your beliefs are based on fact and reality (instead of fear, ignorance, and paranoia), we might even have something to talk about. The problem from where I sit, though, is that far too many on the Far Right are willing to piss and moan about the "ineptitude" of government while have nothing constructive to offer. Anyone can destroy or tear something down. No one's going to take you seriously if all you're about is pissing and moaning. Really, the only "ineptitude" is with those who foam at the mouth in paroxysms of righteous indignation. Anyone can complain; what are you willing to DO? How are you going to make a difference? If you want to see change, BE the change you want to see.
Lead, follow, or get the Hell out of the way; there's work to be done. While you're at it, how about you stop whining about Barack Obama's birth certificate? Your ignorance and your racism are showing.
WE DESERVE BETTER.
