Back Talk: A Tale of Self Deprecation

Welcome to the first installment of what I like to call:

If I Ran the World (shouted by Laurence Fishburne)

In today's piece, I would like to discuss the state of our American political system and the decrease in our personal liberties. The United States government has become too involved in the personal freedoms of private citizens and businesses. We are being told what we can't do, not what we can. We have cameras on us all the time and our daily activities online are being monitored (please don't lock me up for expressing my opinions!) We are subject to fear mongering by the people who we elect into power through clever use of the media and emotions. The very people who are supposed to keep a check on the government are instead easily influenced to lead the public toward certain ideas that benefit those in power. Using fear to rally support has been used since the times of the Cicero. Our own nation used this tactic to gain support for the Spanish-American War in 1898. Yellow journalism and sensationalism on the part of William Randolph Hearst, owner of several prominent newspapers, lead to the spread of rumors as fact and the blind belief in the hearts and minds of millions of American citizens. What we need is a media that asks the hard questions and is not operated by those who wish to control for their own personal gain. We also need a complete remodeling of the political parties. Very few American citizens ever have a chance to become President if anything because they lack the money necessary to run a campaign. Our choices are limited, usually to bad or worse. There is a true lack of proper representation in American government and multiple parties should be allowed a stronger voice to express their viewpoints. No democracy lasts forever and it is up to the citizens of this country to question our leaders and speak up when we think things are going wrong. If I ran the world, the media would be an outlet of unbiased truth-telling that would encourage us to fight for the protection of our civil liberties. After all, that's what we wanted in the first place.