The passion for political firebrands has changed focus over the decades.
Collin Reischman
– Managing Editor-
This country is plagued with impatience. All are guilty, be it the multitasking teenager who can’t wait for that next text message, or the honking SUV at the drive thru, desperate for large fries and a coke.
We’ve been spoiled. Americans need instant gratification, instant access and instant updates.
So what can be done for the “Obama-ites” who voted for change more than one year ago? Their anxiety for Obama to create a liberal utopia has grown. Yes, the undoing of eight years of corruption and incompetence of the Bush administration isn’t happening at a pace that most would prefer.
The passion for political firebrands has changed focus over the decades. Vietnam-esque protests, million men marches; these are a thing of the past. Pundits and bloggers have taken their place. Meaningless petitions circulate to supplement every lost cause.
In a nation that values volume over virtue, we sure are silent. Sure, the Olbermanns and Becks will sing their songs and dance their dances, and they won’t change a thing.
The citizens have power they haven’t learned yet. The power of the mob, strength in numbers. But the citizens won’t go out and fight their fight, whatever it may be.
They’ll stay home. Dissenters will blog under assumed identitiesand vote in anonymous polls, all while not actually saying a word.
Reform, the kind that betters the lives of all who are fortunate enough to live under its blanket, doesn’t happen overnight without the blood and sweat of average citizens.
Facebook won’t cut it, and twitter won’t win any battles. Americans must become the movers and shakers they are so determined to elect.
Those farthest from the middle have a firm grip on the national megaphone, and they don’t show signs of shutting up.
So they’ll shout. They’ll rally their viewers, listeners and twitter followers. They’ll talk smack off the field, but once they get playing time, they won’t put up any impressive numbers.
You’d think the radicals were running the show if you didn’t know any better. You’d think the Limbaughs and Maddows run the world.
History has taught us that the loudest Americans get the most press coverage, and the shrewd ones get the most done.
Put down your keyboards, bloggers of the world, and step into the real world of protest. Shut down your twitter accounts, students of political passion, and start calling your representatives in congress.
Turn Fox News off, and march to the Capitol itself, and demand the answers you so desperately need, children of the 21st century.
Bring poster board.
Bring markers and cameras and megaphones. Bring podiums and signs and people. Bring a message. Bring your voices in the physical realm, rather than the digital one.
Take to the streets, righteous protestors of nation. Leave behind your coaches and office chairs, and go make the changes you would see in the country.
Any pundit can make noise.
Any simpleton can comment on YouTube.
Patriotism is protest. Protest should always be personal.
