THE TIME HAS COME FOR ALL GOOD CITIZENS TO COME TO THE AID OF THEIR COUNTRY

I have written on this subject several times before within other context. I now make this subject priority one, as I believe it should be.
Our country is in deep trouble. Financially, diplomatically, and most of all in the lack of engaged citizenry. We have become a nation of extremes. We either are extremely left, extremely right, extremely liberal, extremely conservative, extremely religious, extremely secular, extremely Democratic, extremely Republican and predominantly, extremely apathetic. We tend to pigeon hole ourselves within a selected group and parrot what that group says, believes and votes for. By such ideological slotting, we can then disengage brain and let the other members of said groups think for us when it comes to our citizenry and politics. Just like in sports, we pick a team and then bash every other team. We second guess the coaches and berate losing players. Here is the difference. In politics and good engaged citizenry, WE are in fact the coach, owner and players. We would like to place blame on an administration, party or group. Just like in so many other facets of our lives, we have shunned responsibility and accountability.

Politics, it seems to me, for years, or all too long, has been concerned with right or left instead of right or wrong. ~Richard Armour

There are many men of principle in both parties in America, but there is no party of principle. ~Alexis de Tocqueville

We'd all like to vote for the best man, but he's never a candidate. ~Frank McKinney "Kin" Hubbard

There must be common ground which we can all stand upon. We must find that common ground. I believe we can all agree on keeping our republic sovereign and autonomous. I sincerely feel we stand to lose that soon should we continue down the path we are on. How can we accomplish this? We must start locally by approaching the party of which you are not a member of. If you are not now, or have ever been a member of any party, good. We must forgo this party mentality. I know it will be difficult to accomplish. Start by developing relationships with people of every party. Stop refusing to talk to liberals/conservatives. Be a citizen, not a republican/democrat/libertarian. Love liberty, not a politician. Love freedom, not television. Love your country, not dogmatism.

Under democracy one party always devotes its chief energies to trying to prove that the other party is unfit to rule - and both commonly succeed, and are right. ~H.L. Mencken, 1956

All of us who are concerned for peace and triumph of reason and justice must be keenly aware how small an influence reason and honest good will exert upon events in the political field. ~Albert Einstein

The Democrats are the party that says government will make you smarter, taller, richer, and remove the crabgrass on your lawn. The Republicans are the party that says government doesn't work and then they get elected and prove it. ~P.J. O'Rourke

The future is up to us. We have to understand that we are the government. We have to become engaged in the process. We have to insure our posterity enjoys the same freedoms and liberty that our forefathers secured for us with hard knocks and blood. We have to understand that it is our noble charge to secure this future. The days of laziness and lackadaisical approaches are over. The party is over. Should we allow things to take the course those who would destroy our republic for their financial gain would want, which is what we are currently doing, we will lose our monetary autonomy and with it, so goes our republic.

Midas, they say, possessed the art of old
Of turning whatsoe'er he touch'd to gold;
This modern statesmen can reverse with ease -
Touch them with gold, they'll turn to what you please.
~John Wolcot

How come we choose from just two people to run for president and 50 for Miss America? ~Author Unknown

Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first. ~Ronald Reagan

We must educate our youth on the rights and duties of citizenship. We must get our children engaged in the process. To do this, WE must be engaged in the process. Ask questions. Take the time to call your representatives. Force change by numbers of those us engaged. Take up the mantle of good citizenship and be a good example for our youth to emulate. Take responsibility and be accountable. Be Americans one and all. This house is once again divided. This house will not stand as such.

Every two years the American politics industry fills the airwaves with the most virulent, scurrilous, wall-to-wall character assassination of nearly every political practitioner in the country - and then declares itself puzzled that America has lost trust in its politicians. ~Charles Krauthammer

Instead of giving a politician the keys to the city, it might be better to change the locks. ~Doug Larson

One ought to recognize that the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language, and that one can probably bring about some improvement by starting at the verbal end. If you simplify your English, you are freed from the worst follies of orthodoxy. You cannot speak any of the necessary dialects, and when you make a stupid remark, its stupidity will be obvious, even to yourself. Political language - and with variations this is true of all political parties, from Conservatives to Anarchists - is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidity to pure wind. One cannot change this all in a moment, but one can at least change one's own habits, and from time to time, one can even, if one jeers loudly enough, send some worn-out and useless phrase - some jackboot, Achilles' heel, hotbed, melting pot, acid test, veritable inferno or other lump of verbal refuse - into the dustbin where it belongs. ~George Orwell, "Politics and the English Language," Shooting an Elephant, 1950