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KATIE ZERR: ‘We the People’ are the problem


Looking at the state of the nation, one would not know that the economy is recovering, gas prices are hovering around the $2 a gallon mark, wages showed a positive upturn in recent reports and the stock market has been on a steady climb for months.

The cloud of gloom that has permeated the airwaves for a number of years has refused to clear. Polls show the people of this nation have little or no faith in our government, Congressional job ratings have hit an all time low and voter apathy is rampant.

As people march in protest of the failure of grand juries to indict police officers in the deaths of black men, one has to wonder what contributes to the an environment where any positive news is soon crushed by another negative news story.

It is so easy to blame it all on one party or the other. The truth be told, this mess is of the people’s making.

We have allowed, through our self-absorbed lives, the control of government to fall from the people, to a handful of the people.

In our country those boys with the biggest and best toys are leading our Congress through their wallets and purses.

We have spent billions of dollars on wars that were supposed to make this world a safer place to live. If you ask the people on the street, the majority would say the impact on our men and women in the armed services and our reputation as a nation have been far more negative than positive.

Our congress can point fingers across the aisle and blame one another for the mess, but the blame lies at the feet of the people.

We have watched these wrongs go on and on and have allowed it.

We have not pressured our representatives into doing what is right for the country. “We the People” has become “We the People with the Most Money.”

We have let the Super PACs and those that fund them take control of our Congress with nary a whimper. The power of the people was wrestled from our hands and merely picked up where we dropped it in order to use both hands for texting.

We have allowed the national media to fight our battles while we stood on the sidelines to cheer or boo if something that was televised pulled our attention away from our phones or pads.

Our extremely short attention spans are spoon fed by networks that specialize in inciting the biggest reaction through incendiary words that in some cases hold little or no truth.

Groups and organizations with narrow scopes and heavy wallets have been able, through rally cries and thinly-veiled threats, to shape legislation that makes them money, but is harmful to the majority of the people of this country.

Yet, we go on with our noses in our devices, checking on our stocks, our fantasy teams and what the Kardasians are up to.

When something like the Michael Brown or Eric Garner incidents occur, the majority of people used to press for answers. We stood along side of those who protest the wrongdoing and pushed for justice and changes. We once made calls, sent letters, talked to those we elected to push them into action.

Now as we watch what is unfolding on our favorite news network, we can be told exactly what we want to hear. We allow ourselves to be spoon-fed information that satisfies our two-minute concerns and get back to the latest fad that hold our attention.

We have become a nation dependent on letting others fight our battles and sending sacrificial lambs to slaughter while the major players continue to make more money.

We need to pay more attention. We need to question why some actions do not get reactions while others are hours worth of talking points on 24-hour news networks.

Most of all, we need to recognize our role in our government and take it back.

We need to get into conversations with real people, not just listen to those paid to tell us how to think. We need to listen to what the others are saying. We need to broaden our horizons and realize absolute power is not a democracy.

We need to put down our phones and talk to each other, not at each other.

– Katie Zerr –

 
 

 

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