Don Quixote?

This caught my eye this morning while reading the news:

"Afghan policeman fires on US troops, killing 2
By RAHIM FAIEZ, Associated Press Writer Rahim Faiez, Associated Press Writer – 2 hrs 35 mins ago
KABUL – An Afghan policeman conducting a joint operation with U.S. soldiers opened fire on the Americans, killing two of them before fleeing, an Afghan official said Saturday, raising fears that militants have infiltrated the ranks of Afghan forces."

I turned to my poor, beleaguered husband, waving my hands in the air, saying "It's like watching a freaking Keystone Kops movie! If we were being occupied by 150,000 or so Afghans don't you think a few of us would take up arms and shoot a few of them? What is wrong with those idiots in charge of this "war"? His response surprised me: "No, we'd arrest them, take them to court, put them in prison, and take care of them."

Then I started thinking about how I "got involved" in my almost decade-long fight to right the wrongs in our governmental process.

Thinking way back to when I wrote to my Senators and Representative and several newspapers asking how could the Supreme Court be allowed to select our new president, George W. Bush? Asking why was this Constitutional Crisis not being discussed?

And then came 9/11 and I wrote to those same people asking them how did this happen? Why didn't our National Security Advisor, Condolleezza Rice, keep on top of this radical group, Al Qaeda? Was it because her expertise was the former Soviet Union? Did she not study the countries surrounding the USSR while she was getting her doctorate? Was she too busy shopping and playing the piano to read newspapers, or heaven forbid, the daily intelligence reports? She said she'd never heard of anyone using an airplane as a weapon! Had she not read previously about the attempt of one whacko who flew his aircraft (nearly) into the White House? Or of the three other attempts to fly airplanes into large buildings in some sort of misguided protest during the prior ten years?

My next missive to "my" representatives and the newspapers was to question why on earth we would want to invade Iraq? How could Iraq be involved with the 9/11 terrorists (mostly from Saudi Arabia) who were religious fanatics when Iraq was a secular nation that had been "flown over" by us for the previous decade to make sure they didn't do anything ugly? I didn't understand why I saw reports of people marching "for" war and didn't see reports of people protesting the planned invasion. (One group was patriotic, the other was unnoticed, according to the news media, because the groups were small, rag-tag, hippie types. TEN MILLION of those hippie types protested on the same day around the world, and it wasn't notable?!)

That's when I did a little research and discovered that a half-dozen multinational corporations owned 90% of "our" news media. Our "watch dogs of democracy" had been purchased by the fox. How are we, then, to inform ourselves on matters necessary to maintain the republic if the dogs are on the dole?

The internet made it possible for me to communicate with lots of people. Wow! I could tell my friends and acquaintances that there was something fishy going on here and we could save the country. I was a tad naive.

Within a year I found websites devoted to doing the same thing I was trying to do and I was pleased. We have slogged and blogged and signed petitions and made phone calls and written letters, and our dear leaders have gone about their business as if we didn't exist...... until recently.

I guess it took a financial meltdown to get people's attention. Now we have many more people asking questions. Lots more websites with petitions to sign. I guess if you're out of work you have time on your hands and might turn your attention to why you aren't working. The simple answer is: you are not working because your government isn't working as designed.

Those out-of-work rabble rousers are now worried about keeping their homes, putting food on the table, getting medical care, and their retirement pensions.

Serious stuff.

Anyone notice that government is acting like they're paying attention now? Anyone else getting regular emails from Congress critters who don't actually represent your state? I've been told by those critters that if I give them some of my money they will be better able to fight the good fight. Huh? Don't we already pay them a minimum of $165,000 a year in salary? Don't they already have access to the best medical care (on site) for the grand sum of $503 a YEAR? Are they not among the wealthiest people in the country? And, who got a 10% raise recently? Not us.

Which of the CEO's who've made our lives miserable have been fired? TrueMajority.org is claiming success for getting Ken Lewis of Bank of America fired. They leave out the part where he's getting $125 Million to leave....

Our health care system is one of the worst in the "civilized" world. Our TV stations and newspapers tell us regularly that a "public option" in health insurance is socialized medicine and will destroy our American dream. Enough of our citizens have become extremely vocal in their protestations of this "government run" scam. Many of these vocal protestors are actually benefiting from their enrollment in Medicare! Odd how we can be lead to slaughter by smooth talking heads lying about that horrible health care reform bill that hasn't even been written yet.

And that brings us back to our Mainstream Media. Our watch dogs of democracy. When more people vote for an American Idol than show up to vote in a national general election; when more people are intimately familiar with a couple with eight children; when a very successful television program asks, "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader" (and too many aren't); when the news of the day starts with the extradition of a fugitive on the run for 30 years for a sex crime, it's time to ask our media to tell us something important.

I think I'll go see a movie tomorrow. It's a comedy, I think.... "Capitalism: A Love Story."

I'm tilting at windmills because of Austin, Joseph, Arron, Alex and Aiden.

Views expressed on this page are those of the authors and not necessarily those of Campaign for America's Future or Institute for America's Future