Mejor morir a pie que vivir en rodillas



No.

You are on your knees. You're just brainwashed by society not to realize it.



Or the people are lazy because we're a consumer society that's attracted to shiny things.
Or the people are distracted because our way of life requires more and more effort to earn smaller and smaller rewards.

"Single acts of tyranny may be ascribed to the accidental opinion of a day; but a series of oppressions, begun at a distinguished period and pursued unalterably through every change of ministers, too plainly prove a deliberate, systematic plan of reducing [a people] to slavery." --Thomas Jefferson: Rights of British America, 1774.

Though I may lack a "distinguished period" to point to, the manner in which we live our lives I sincerely believe is both unsustainable and doomed to make our voices as silent as those under any totalitarian regime.

On one side you have those that are fairly well to do and have plenty of toys. The toys keep them happy and they'd rather not take on the burden of looking beneath the surface of the society that offered them their shiny trinkets. On the other side you have those that are so busy working to provide food to their children that the last thing they want to do is invest time into researching the current state of things.

In either case you have a sort of tunnel-vision; people not wanting to think about the problems we face, let alone act to help fix them. Sure they may go out and vote while the campaign tides are pushing them around, but most will vote ignorantly or based on materialistic reasons. As interesting as our upcoming election may be, it equal-parts disgusts and saddens me to think how many will vote for McCain simply because Palin is a woman, or vote for Obama simply because he's black. Democracy doesn't simply require people to vote to be effective - it requires a level of awareness and intelligence that is simply lacking in our society. To those who would vote ignorantly I can only say "Mooooooo-ve out of the country, cattle."

But then even the best efforts to vote intelligently are undermined by the very country they're trying to take part in. Now, I'm smart enough to recognize a party line and a catch phrase when I hear one. And frankly both Obama and McCain are disgusting me in that regard, though at least Obama goes into some level of detail as to how he plans to make things happen. Do people really fall for the party lines? They're blatantely apparant to me but others must fall for them for the campaigns to think them still usable. If there are such people I'm not sure whether to pity them or beat them to death.

Meanwhile we have an increasibly horrible education system. We have news channels that are transparent in their bias, which just happen to be owned by corporations who have a vested interest in a political party. We have a "higher" education system that puts people instantly in debt without making them truly competitive in the workplace. We have cellphones and laptops keeping us constantly wired to our jobs, making it near-impossible to give our children the time they not only deserve, but require. And we have people in power who, if they seek more power, have it in their own interest to keep us lazy, distracted, and ignorant.

Whether you see the United States for its republic or its democracy, the government will only work as intended if the primary power is with the people. They are the ones who vote in a democracy. They are the ones who vote for their congressmen and senators. But this has been corrupted. Our democratic vote for presidents is intercepted, generalized, and even distorted by the Electoral College. Our "representatives" have more reason to listen to their party and special interest groups than their own constituents. Most of all, our votes are manipulated and coerced by the media, our economy, and effectively every facet of our society. In short, we're being oppressed. It's simply being done by a force with no one name. Our power is taken from us while we're told by no one voice that our liberties are secure. We're sold the illusion of a pure, strong nation while the foundation of what was a pure, strong nation continues to crumble at our feet.

"The generation which commences a revolution rarely complete it. Habituated from their infancy to passive submission of body and mind to their kings and priests, they are not qualified when called on to think and provide for themselves; and their inexperience, their ignorance and bigotry make them instruments often in the hands of the Bonapartes and Iturbides to defeat their own rights and purposes." --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1823.

Yes.

Depends on the benifits , Can i loot and pillage ?

Very well written.....In this same note, I will suggest another reading that compliments his Angst.

Karl Marx - A communist manifesto.

I too think we are a shameless, consumer driven society rotting at its core.  That's why I am now OFFICially advocating we all burn our computers, drown all non-working class pets, cast our cellphones into the abyss, and shed our designer clothes.  My plan also includes that we each are issued one bullet, and one gun...to do with as we please.  We are, afterall, our own worst enemy.  

The people are also the ones that want the government to do everything for them.  This is what the people want.  The people are the ones that continue to put these politicians in office.

Frankly, we deserve exactly what we're getting.

So silenced, you're sitting here on an internet forum voicing your opinion.

It's called liberty.  Doesn't make it fair.  Fair isn't liberty.