We All Need To Do Something

I recently had a dream that went a little something like this:

I am a regular 31 year old guy from middle America who is tired of politics as usual in Washington…

I am fed up with both parties, and I am frustrated by the lack of answers and the overabundance of lies…

I am tired of not being able to tell what is a lie and what is the truth…

I am absolutely sick of the constant campaigning and the negative personal attacks each side relentlessly fires off year round…

Most of all, I am fired up about things not getting done by our government and by our elected officials…

Basically I am just angry, and I want the opportunity to tell the world about it…

So I call a press conference.

I send out a bunch of e-mails and faxes and I tell as many people as I can about it…

I do my best to create buzz on the internet and through the local media…

And I purposefully reach out to the national media and invite them to gather at my house in a few days so that I can talk about what I think is wrong with our political system.

My pitch to them is that as a regular, hard-working American, I simply want a few minutes in front of their cameras to make my case and plead for cooperation and leadership amongst our politicians.

Simply put, I just want my voice to be heard.

And in my dream something strange happens: people actually show up to my front lawn.

Cameramen and reporters and gawkers and the national press corps camp out in the front of my house because they want to know what I have to say about the state of our country…

They want to see who this kid is that asked them to come to the middle of the country just to give them his opinion…

They want to know why my opinion should matter…

And I don’t disappoint.

In my press conference I malign the parties, I disparage the press, I call on the country to wake up to the real issues plaguing us, I demand that our politicians are held accountable for their greed, I praise the few men and women I think are doing well, and I call on the carpet those who are not…

I take on career politicians, I take on those who claim to care about me, I take on flip-floppers, I take on the talking heads who think they are important, and I take on those who promise change but cannot deliver…

I scream and I holler and I say all the things I have always wanted to say to those in Hollywood and those who, like me, don’t think they have a voice…

I stand up for myself and all of the average American folks who are like me…

My voice is heard, and I begin to sense the world is going to change because of it…

I start seeing tears beginning to well up in those who are listening to me, and I can hear “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” played by some mysterious invisible orchestra…The music is gathering steam and it is reaching its crescendo just as my speech is beginning to peak…

And that is where the dream ends, and my alarm goes off…

That is when I stumble out of bed and look at myself in the bathroom mirror and automatically know which side of my body I slept on because my hair reflects it…

That is when I walk slowly into the living room to turn on my TV so that I can watch the Today show while I eat my waffles and finally feed the dog after much consternation on her part…

And what do I see on my TV? 

Unfortunately, more of the same:

Attacks and denials, poll numbers and wedges, stones being thrown and rhetoric attempting to destroy credibility, solutions with no teeth and problems with no end, gotcha questions and fluff answers, elected officials campaigning and celebrities bloviating as if they are important, anchors giving opinions and everyone blaming a certain ex-President for everything that is wrong in this world…

And I don’t see anyone really trying to solve anything.

And I realize this is why no one cares anymore.

Because many in power really don’t care about us…They don’t want our opinions, and they certainly wouldn’t show up on our doorsteps asking for it…

They just want us to be sheep.

The truth is than any of us could call a press conference, but nobody would come…

We could fly to New York or Washington or Los Angeles, but no one would give us a serious platform from which to speak…

We could even make some dramatic statement through an illegal act, but then we would just look like criminals…

All we can do is vote…Or blog…Or Tweet…Or go to public meetings…Or make phone calls and send letters…Or write letters to the editor…Or volunteer for a campaign… Or build a coalitions with like-minded folks…

Or we could comment on stories we think are biased and have educational conversations with those around us about all the stuff going on…

Or we could do research for ourselves on what the issues really are and then make our own decisions on who we think would do the best job for our country…

Or, heck, maybe we could even run for office…

In reality, we all just need to do something, anything, to get involved…

Because in reality, we don’t need microphones and cameras…We don’t need press conferences and AP reporters…We don’t need to be ignorant celebrities who spout off as if their opinion matters more than yours…

We just need to do SOMETHING…

Who knows?  We might actually be able to start fixing things if we all just started putting out some effort – and in reality, we wouldn’t need a press conference for that…