Mommy, Where Does Corruption Come From?

[atomox]

It's easier and easier today to feel that our government, our media and perhaps even some of our people are entwined in a conspiracy against America as we know it. It seems that the politicians with the most experience and the best insights seems to fall short in the polls, fail to get much press, and are doomed to political death. After all, if

Comments

[atomox]

Where would we be without the internet? I can't tell you how inspired I have become over internet and data technologies in the past year. Databases are something that amaze me with their power, and I'm obsessed with how they bring otherwise lost data to the attention of anyone who cares to look. Now combine that with the power of the internet, and we have an exciting era! Now more than ever, human knowledge can be available to anyone who wants to find it. Obama has ideas about bring more data to this network, including information that could make Congress more transparent. Isn't it amazing when we all could have the power to easily research what our own government is up to? That is a HUGE balance of power

[phoenyxraine]

That was one of those things that Worrell had tried to impress upon our class. Change starts with every individual. *We* are that rust as long as we are content to sit by and let it happen.

Where is everyone now, when we, the people, have all kinds of ways of fighting back against our corrupt government? Why is it left only to a small group of dedicated citizens who are working with their senators to beat back the crap this administration has tried to pull for years?

The "Wait for 2008" mentality has gotten us this far and now it better be damn worth it when we change over. We're going to need a strong, charismatic voice to strike at everyone's sense of responsibility for their own lives, because that, more than anything is what contributes to it, in my opinion.

[atomox]

A bit of Ghandi, yeah? "Be the change you want to see in the world."

I think in the beginning we tried. When Bush came into power, I was always talking about politic goings on, trying to spread the word about what he was up to. My hope was that if we were all better informed, perhaps we might be able to demand as a group that change we were talking about. But as time went on, things seemed more and more hopeless. After the debockle in 2004 with Kerry, where were we? Our leaders had screwed us over with their incompetence. They got lazy, we all did. We figured everyone must be as disgusted as we were, so we didn't try. We assumed a sure thing, and we lost. Why? Because when you offer nothing like Kerry did, even the patheticness that is Bush looks better.

Now here we are in 2008, and I don't know about you, but I'm finally coming out of a 4 year hybernation. So I hope you're right. This had better work out for us, or I honestly don't know what the next step will be.

[atomox]

Nah, it's not nearly to the point of armed revolution. We need something more long term. We need to get people to give a crap for more than 10 seconds. After all, if enough of us believe in something for long enough, popular opinion will force change. But the problem is that not enough of the country gives a shit. It's a real problem.

At this point, I feel strongly, but I'm still addressing my personal ignorance on the subject. I've been asleep a long time now, and I've got a lot of ground to make up before I can go any further.