When Politicians or collective governments overstep their limits of power, they are no longer considered politicians: they are considered tyrants or dictators. Over time, our elected officials have slowly introduced laws, acts or bills which establish limitations on society to the point where - not only does our freedom come at an extreme cost - but Americans are beginning to question whether we are truly free anymore.
There are two key elements necessary for a revolution to potentially result. The first is a power hungry government or individual, which looks to gain control over everything it can such as public welfare, medical benefits, taxation, and laws which prevent people from being able to live freely while also creating exceptions limited to the government. The second element is the people of the country in question. The citizens reach a point where they can no longer accept the ways in which the government operates and stage an uprising to overthrow the government and reclaim their rightfully deserved freedom.
We have bore witness - by way of the media - to a number of uprisings primarily in Tunisia, Egypt, and Lybia. However, there have been demonstrations taking place in other countries throughout the Middle East, such as Algeria, Morocco, and Jordan. While it is stating the obvious that two motivating factors were poverty and joblessness, other factors which have ultimately led to the protests we are witnessing today are corruption in the government as well as a lack of accountability.
Joblessness, poverty, government corruption, government not willing to fully take accountability for the state of one's country: it sounds a lot like what we have going on here. Politicians will unquestionably point to a scapegoat to defend their ineptitude in office, but you are also equally likely to see the same politicians try to take all the credit for something that actually works in their favor. Unfortunately for politicians, there is not a great deal of good they can take credit on. With our economic woes, unemployment being as high as it is, and poverty becoming more of a burden, you will not see politicians take accountability. After all, when in doubt, blame the other side. That is what we have been taught, right? The media has done an incredible job of doing the same: pointing to one side or the other depending on the media outlet's political affiliations, which seem to be mostly democratic.
Someone actually explained it very well to me recently. He told me that America is in an "awkward state." Right now Americans don't really know how to look at things. We know that the country is not doing very well by any means, but we are holding out hope that our elected officials can solve these problems and get us going in a positive direction again. We are also on the brink of losing all composure. While we really want our issues to be resolved, we are not going to stay out of the way forever: especially if we continue to spiral downward into oblivion.
In retrospect, I realize now that I was brought up and raised with the understanding that there are things which are just beyond our control, and that we must learn to accept them. It's not something that was necessarily taught to me by my parents or my teachers. It also involves the media, television, people you meet throughout your life to include peers and even complete strangers. Over time, parents have grown more prone to sheltering their children from reality. Teachers have been told what they can and cannot teach, even going to the extent of omitting parts of history to hide the cruel and violent past that we came from. Teachers are being told to paint a picture of sunshine and rainbows. Our children are being shown a false image of the future.
The media shows us what they are told to show us. They introduce the realm of entertainment because they know it is a way to take us away from reality: their job is to keep us from focusing on the big picture. It doesn't help that the media has decided to take sides as well. This only helps to distort reality even further: that coming together is going to be the only way that the issues of this country will be solved. The media has assisted the government in the one tactic that has always proved to work: divide and conquer. When you have a people that is politically divided, it makes it that much easier to govern/rule them. Congratulations government, you have succeeded in that much, but the real question is: how long will that success be lived. You see, eventually people will not just sit idly waiting for jobs to become plentiful, for others to truly prosper, for the government to no longer bleed corruption and greed, and to truly be accountable for their actions. No. America is watching, and with each passing day a few more Americans are opening their eyes to reality.
It's not so beautiful after all. America is not yet at the brink of another revolution, and most likely will not be for awhile. That means that such an occurrence can be averted, but only if you have the right people in office to create the REAL change that we - Americans - are truly looking for. What many have yet to understand is that - in order for things to improve here - everyone must suffer in one way or another. It won't matter if you are rich, poor, or in the middle class. We will all feel that sting whenever it comes, but isn't a common sacrifice ultimately what will lead to a common good?
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