Complacency in America


The men who wrote the Constitution of the United States of America and the Bill of Rights risked every thing, their property, their freedom, and their very lives so that we could have equal representation in a government of our choosing. These men, who gave us the right to vote in the first place and set forth the tools to ensure that we would not lose these rights were not complacent men, but what if they had been. Had they been content with taxation without representation, would we still be British citizens living under a monarchy? If the men who risked so much to give us these rights were alive today, would they be happy with the turn out at the polls every four years. Would they be content with just having the best government in the world or would they want us to continue to strive to be even better?
Complacency or the absence of complacency has made a difference, for both the good and the bad throughout history not only in this country, but also in the rest of the world at one time or the other. I like to use the “what if” phrase to try and convince my friends who do not vote, to become active in the decisions that will shape not only their futures, but also their children’s and grandchildren’s futures. I do not want to influence the way they vote, but rather attempt to get them to see for their selves how complacency or the lack of it has made a difference in the past, and to remind them of the dangers that being complacent can bring with it. What if the people in the northern states had been content in their own lives and not stood up against slavery? Suppose Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy had been content with Black Americans treatment as second-class citizens in the sixties; moreover, we must not forget those who followed their leadership. They were not complacent, and look at the difference it made in the lives of millions of black Americans, even though it cost many of them their own lives. What if women had been content and had not stood up for their right to vote or own property, would they have the rights that they enjoy today, and then where would Oprah be now.
History tells us, if Europeans in the 1930s had not been complacent, and acted earlier to the obvious dangers of Adolph Hitler’s Nazi Germany, W.W.II could have been avoided altogether or at least with a lot less bloodshed and loss of life. It sickens me to think that had the German people not been complacent about their government’s obvious atrocities toward the Jewish citizens of their country that the needless slaughter of millions of innocent lives would never have happened. Instead they sat by content with anything Hitler did as long as he continued to bring them prosperity, and make their individual lives economically better than they were before the Nazi party came to power, but look at the misery and suffering it brought to them in the end.
This brings me to another point; there have been in the past and continue to this day those who employ direct and subversive means to scare people by using fear for loss of life, loss of lifestyle, or to ridicule them into complacency. Hitler and The Nazis were able to do this very well, making an art of it and refining it. The Ku Klux Klan has this done for generations. They have changed their label and ironically now refer to them selves as the Nazi Party but they are still out there trying to push their prejudice ideology about blacks and Jews, just waiting for people to become complacent enough for it to work. How many more Americans would have lost their lives in Vietnam if college students of the time been content knowing that they were exempt by their status as students, and not protested at places like Kent State where some of them lost their life. Was our government of the time using violence to push polices, hoping it would make people complacent?
President Kennedy was not content with the Soviet Union installing nuclear weapons in Cuba. If he been complacent, instead of risking total nuclear war to make them remove them, would we have won the cold war or would we still be living under fear of the iron curtain ascending over our country? Throughout history, we see that being complacent might be easier, but it is never better in the end, only bringing more suffering.
I have seen instances lately of the current administration using fear and other methods to try to bring people into complacency with their policies. They have threatened to arrest people for protesting against the war in Iraq and have tried to ruin the careers of celebrities like the Dixie Chicks for opposing them. They have even threatened to arrest members of the press for opposing them and writing negative stories, and yet people say we still have the best government in the world. I say that is not good enough.
Complacency is a feeling of contentment, especially when coupled with an unawareness of danger, trouble, or controversy. The attitude of citizens in this country that do not vote, including most of my friends, is a very dangerous attitude. Considered the silent majority, because they have more combined voting power than any other group in the country, and yet are so complacent they do not use it. This of course does not prevent them from being the loudest when it comes to complaining and griping about the way politics in this country continue on a downward slide. Many times I have asked my friends, who belong to this group why they do not vote and they say things like, why should I? It will not do any good, or politicians are all liars, or something else like that. Brought about by being too comfortable for too long this is a sure sign of complacency or just plain old-fashioned ignorance to the dangers of this way of thinking.
One sure thing about politicians is they will do anything they can to stay in power. If the silent majority does not exercise the right to vote given to them and all of us by the founding fathers, remain complacent and do not wake up and do something about it now. Will it be too late to prevent the suffering that this attitude has proven to bring with it in the past? I myself refuse to be complacent, and sit by idly while we lose our rights one at a time. I only hope that by speaking out, and trying to get others to exercise their right to vote, that the silent majority will recognize the danger that their complacency brings and understand the importance, the difference, and the power that voting can make. If they do not, then the politicians, whose wealth and status make them immune to the consequences of their policies will continue to run this country the way that they see fit, while the rest of us lose a little more every day.


Author unknown!!!

Sht, I couldnt get through the first sentence.

Can someone summarize for me?

Word vomit

MASS APATHY?

yes.

blah blah blah blah

I agree

Throughout history, every time the middle class has disappeared, there has been some type of revolution, violent or not.......

The whole gas thing is a sham... iraqis are buying gas for $1.78 a gallon... go figure.....

There are people seeking world domination through riches...

Oh, check out Illuminati while youre at it!

...and now there are going to be people making millions on the poor bastards' homes that have been foreclosed!!!

I think its time to vote for whoever is more socialistic, sorry to say... maybe its time for another Boston Tea Party....

Its just a shame that things must get extreme before enough people will react!
Ghandi and MLK were two of the greatest leaders ever, and both believed in change through peaceful protest.

Here in this country we have the ability to make change, but unfortunately, with the complacency exhibited by Americans, unless it directly affects them on an individual level, they do and say nothing.

This is (IMO) what has been going on in the US for 30? years!
It is exactly what has brought us to this point in history, and given us the leadership we have expeirienced for the last 16yrs.

Events have snow-balled over the years, and accellerated to the point where the young dont even understand the path that lead us here. Knowing no other way they can hardly say they realize what we as a nation have lost!

The older Americans, on the other hand, have lost track of what happened. They cant say when it started, or agree on what happened! We are yet to the point that enough people are willing to raise their voices, together, and be heard.
True too is that gov has gotten smarter, closing the doors that might lead us back without a total civil war!!

Paranoia strikes deep
into your life it will creep
it starts when you're always afraid
step out of line
they come and take you away

Mindless spam - nothing to see here, move along...

Unfortunatly peacefull means are no longer effective. When the person preaches peacefull protest than they are simply killed off and the people who followed them dont want to fight back becouse it would go against what there leader wanted. One simple truth has been proven time and time again, with a few exceptions.


Raising you voice does not change government, raising your gun does.

Don't pay any attention to me, folks. Just here to check the padding on the walls.

its quite soft thankyou

mindless spam is right

but it is after the opening post

thank you adj4u..(disorrono's mindless spam)
these are important things that need to be in the open and noboby should be trying to silence them..for that would be unamericanlol

people would rather insult opposing views then to read and respect them.america has become a place where if you say something against the president you are unpatriotic or worse hate america.I love my children but when they make mistakes I point them out and make sure they are corrected.Same goes for my country.We need to bring the government back to the principles this country was founded on .

insert thumbs up emoticon here


A coward is much more exposed to quarrels than a man of spirit.
Thomas Jefferson