What happened to the American spirit? This great nation was born of fire and bloodshed, of sacrifice and courage; it spawned innovative ideas and it once had the chutzpah to stand alone in between two oceans of turmoil and use its collective might to be a beacon unto the world. It was a cherished place. A place mentioned in the hushed hearths and alleyways of the oppressed. A place where all men and women could have the chance to become something other than the tired, poor and huddled masses yearning to breathe free.
Now the men and women of a defeated nation carry out their daily task of feeding a bulimic economy with a burning in their collective souls that something is seriously wrong. I feel it. It feels like a dream differed. Our souls scream at us, not unlike the way we scream when the Buckeyes run a draw on 3rd-and-15, knowing that while what we do is noble, more can and should be done.
The forefathers of this country knew what needed to be done and had the moxie to pull it off. They faced the same problems we face today with the added bonus of surviving in an untamed wilderness. They even had economic hardships with a tyrant named George. At odds with the superpower of the day, great men and women united to form a more perfect union where they could be free and establish a basis for equality and justice.
Now, 230 years later, we have regressed to become serfs of relative fealty, servants of a system designed to serve us. We stand idly by as the government makes foreign and domestic policy that does not reflect the ideas of the society it has been charged to govern. As American revolutionary Patrick Henry stated, "The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them."
This country was founded on a grand idea that people joined of a common interest can govern themselves, form just laws, and live together in harmony. Somewhere along the way we have lost that which made us the shining beacon of the world. But all is not lost, we have the technology, we can rebuild it; the tools were given to us by the framers of the Constitution.
It is imperative that in a participatory democracy, we the people participate. As college students, we have the ability to change the world 10 times over before we even leave for class. Think about it. If every other student on campus decided to skip class, as if that were a stretch, and stage a sit-in on the oval in support or protest of "X", then "X" would at least be addressed with the possibility for change. Now multiply that by every college campus in the U.S.; I would do the math but I am a philosophy major for a reason.
We have an untapped ability to sway policy here on campus, the city of Columbus, the state of Ohio, etc... Just imagine what we could do if, in between studying, we put down the Xbox 360 controller or left the computer screen for a couple hours and united to get things done that would have a positive effect on almost every conceivable aspect of daily life. Not to build a utopian society, but to lower the cost of tuition, or gas, or books or any of the myriad things that need fixing. To quote patriot and lager symbol Samuel Adams, "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds." We are that minority, and instead of setting cars on fire, we should set a blaze the old tired ways of the republic so that a new institution can arise from the ashes with the wisdom and knowledge of those that came before us.
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