America can be defined in many different ways. For me, America is the land of opportunity that helped lift my grandfather out of poverty, allowing him to raise five children and eventually provide for both myself and his eleven other grandchildren.
America is the jet my father flies, helping to ensure safety and prosperity on the home front. America is the opportunity to practice my religion freely.
So how exactly does this vision of America play in the current political arena?
Today’s political arena has been swamped with overzealous politicians lusting for power. Politicians should be held accountable for their actions. They are a representation of the people; therefore, they must keep the interest of their constituents in mind over special interest groups with campaign dollars.
Levels of corruption have risen through the acceptance of campaign dollars and through voter fraud that occurs during election cycles. The role of our elected officials who serve in Congress or ultimately as Commander in Chief should be to garner the respect of the people not to take control of every aspect of their lives.
It is difficult to listen to a politician ramble off talking points about helping Americans when the unemployment rate is stagnant at around eight percent and taxes are set to skyrocket come 2013.
Are we, as Americans, willing to give up our freedoms to these government officials with faith that they have our best interests in mind? They attempt to garner as much power as possible in order to create a bureaucratic state of unelected officials who will make decisions for the “good” of the people who are not smart enough to figure it out on their own.
This can be seen through the selection of the Presidential Cabinet members — all are unelected bureaucrats and all are very powerful. This very premise of the progressive party grows out of the idea that Americans need a force of officials making the decisions for them because they are not wise enough to make these decisions on their own.
America has always been a land of opportunity, but a system in which the upper echelon of society is the driving factor for all decisions is where true inequality lies.
The American system of government that was established many years ago can be summed up in few words, a government of the people, by the people, for the people.
Thomas Jefferson stated it well when he said, “Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves therefore, are its only safe depositories.” So today we must ask ourselves, is the government really working to serve the people?
