Proud to be an American?

I've often said that being taken for granted is the most annoying compliment possible.  If so, America must be quite flattered and annoyed!  Today being Independence Day, it seems right to get my red-white-and-blue soapbox out.  The USA was meant to be run by us - the people.  Why does it seem that the people are being run roughshod by the privileged few?  Because they are, plain and simple.

Why?  They allow it.  They do not use the power given to them by the government.  They don't protest, they don't vote, they don't care.  Example: The village of Bethel, my hometown, has been invaded by a bug called the Asian Longhorned Beetle.  The ALB burrows into a tree trunk to lay its eggs, and the larvae munch on the inner wood, which can hurt and even kill the tree in question.  Bethel contacted the US government for help, as they should have, and the response was extreme measures.  Every tree found to be infested, and every tree that might conceivably become infested, was to be destroyed.    Bethel is a lovely little town, rural and heavily wooded, and this idea has not gone over well.  The environment (both definitions) of Bethel is dependent upon trees.  The citizens of Bethel and surrounding Tate Township are using their power!  They are writing to everyone they can think of to stop the deforestation of the area (and possibly a nearby State Park), they are proposing other methods, they are calling attention to their cause.  What they are NOT doing is sitting around crying about it and pointing fingers.  They are taking action, and I say good for them.  They are doing what the Founding Fathers wanted done.

Too many Americans will not do this.  They want to have their freedoms and their rights, but they don't want to work for them.  And all they have to do, really, is take an active part.  When I applied for Disability, I had to jump through lots of hoops.  I wrote to many government offices to plead my case.  When it comes time to vote, I intend to remember who helped and who didn't. "But I don't understand politics" you say... find someone you respect, someone who does understand politics, and ask for guidance.  "One vote doesn't matter"? Tell that to the people of  North Carolina - one of their legislators poked the wrong button and now fracking is legal there.  "I wanna vote for a third party candidate, but that's wasting my vote".  Even writing in Alice Cooper is not wasting your vote.  The only wasted vote is the one not cast.  Your vote is your power, given by the Founding Fathers, and if you waste it - shut up.  You've given up your right to complain.

Then there are those who think it's okay to use the word Muslim as a synonym for Terrorist, but they wave the flag that stands for Religious Freedom.  The ones who want to ban Howard Stern but say Freedom of Speech is precious.  If you are a True American, you stand for all those things.  You understand that, even if you can't grasp wanting a bazooka, your neighbor has the right to own one.  

If being an American means watching the people I elect and expecting them to listen when I present intelligent suggestions, then I am proud.  If it means respecting the rights of others in exchange for having those rights myself, I am proud.   Are you a True American?  If so, be proud.  I know I am.