Against All Authority?

Typically the activist left begin their political journey with a significant amount of rage and naivety. Understanding the basics of how things "should" be and comparing them to how they are can be quite frustrating for a bleeding heart. The initial response is normally a black and white perspective of the situation. A cause and effect outlook. "Things look bleak because the government's corrupt." Using this as a springboard, well-intentioned and terribly ignorant newcomers to the political scene fall victim to political nihilism. Unsatisfied with the state of the world and unable or unwilling to devise a solution, these nouveau-activists point fingers, name names and ultimately create a self-fulfilling prophecy through what amounts to salutary neglect. In other words, they don't like the answers provided by authority nor do they want to bother trying to solve the problems themselves. Often times they'd rather shoplift, curse out their teachers and make their mothers cry. Yes, I'm generalizing and yes I'm talking about a very specific group. I'm doing so to make a point.

While many argue that what this country needs is less government, less rules and less authority, I will continue to argue that we need simply to redistribute so-called "Big Brother." The problem isn't so much that there is too much authority, rather that there isn't enough authority over the authority. Let me explain. This country was definitely founded on the principle of natural rights: life, liberty etc. This country was also founded on the principle of oversight. That being said, there is a huge disparity between the amount of oversight for the commonfolk as compared to the politicians. Federalism and a system of checks and balances serve a very distinct purpose in this country: to prevent any one person, branch or group from exercising too much power. If in sports a player breaks the rules and the referee turns a blind eye, do we scrap the sport entirely? It's preposterous, then, to presume that the solution for corruption in politics is to scrap "the system." Allow me to quote my hero and one of the many people responsible for the culmination of liberal ideals upon which this country was founded: Thomas Paine.

“Those who want to reap the benefits of this great nation must bear the fatigue of supporting it.”

The point is, essentially, you get what you get and you don't get upset. We can be armchair activists and bitch, moan and complain day in and day out about our "system" and the "sheep" who continue to vote for the "crooks" who swindle us out of our freedoms or we can say to ourselves "what now?" This is our springboard, broken as it may be, and we don't have a choice in the matter. So you can listen to your nihilistic punk and guffaw at the "sell outs" who actively participate in our political processes or you can be a part of something bigger than yourself and lend us a hand. You can be the generation of politicians who (mostly) aren't crooks. You can be the generation of activists who fall away from divisive party lines and work as true humanitarians. Or we can let this country fall further and further from its original intentions because I can guarentee you that those greedy crooks who act only out of self interest are more motivated than you know. People in that vein will stop at nothing to succeed and it will require the strength and character of a people united to stop them in their tracks.

Hasta la victoria siempre.