1999 Article

Robert Wayno Switzer

With a new century upon us, do we the people really know in what direction we are headed? Some of us are going to the right and some of us are going to the left, but most of us don't really care in what direction we are headed. Have we lost sight in our own life that we have forgotten what it means to live in truly free nation? Has technology made our life so easy that we don't even have to think or has it made us into people that just wat what others have? We are trying so hard to keep up the Joneses, that we have lost sight of our own life.

We justify our means right or wrong and judge others because they might not have as much as we do or they might have more than we might. We must ask ourselves, what are we teaching our children? We look at T.V. and see that money runs the nation. the more money you have the more power you have, less money, less power. If we have money we can go to college and if we don't we cant. Some our children are that that is easier to go to prison that it is to go to college.

We the people think that our government should take better care of our nation and the people in it. A president once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you...ask what you can do for your country." Most people don't trust the people that are running our great country. All we hear is how our govenment us under scandal, so who do we trust? We cant trust our schools to keep our children safe? Going into the new century, we cant trust our bank to keep our money safe? Can we trust our neighbor? Can we even trust religion?

Sometimes we think the only person we can trust is ourselves, but then our ego gets in the way. Most people that have these so called large egos are people who make bad choices and after all, choices are the way we make decisions in our life and making bad decisions makes for a bad life.

We must stop and think what we want to do in this new century. Mr. Rooney from 60 minutes said that sometimes we have to just pay attention to what is happening in our own little world and not pay attention to what is happening in anyone else's. He was talking about not paying attention to what is going on with what is on T.V. I guess no news is good news.

We forget what our forefathers went through to make our lives better. We forget that sometimes we have to sacrifice at times, to have any type of freedom. We get so wrapped up in our bills that our lives are becoming a joke. When was the last time we saw a beautiful flower or enjoyed looking at a flower? Do you think it is time for a change, but don't know how to go about it?

The first stop is with us, if you are one of those people who think you can't make a difference, think again. When we think that way, all we are doing is waiting for someone else to do it for us. It is like traveling 100 miles, you have to go the first miles before you complete the full 100.

Why do we always want to live in the future or the past before we live in the present? What a waste of time, we miss so much living that way.

Why not think of life as a big pie and cut that pie into 5 pieces and each piece will stand for a way we live our lives. Have one piece for family, an equal size for work, then one piece for recreation, then another for faith or whatever it is you believe in, another for personal life and that means taking time for just you. It doesn't matter in what size you want to make the pieces, just so that they will fit your life. You will notice when once of those pieces get altered in one way you will feel your life in turmoil, so it is always important to keep those pieces of pie at the right size so as to not forget or neglect any one of them.

Remember we are on the Earth for a short time. What we do with our time is very important. WE are a great nation. Please don't let the 2% that run this nation, ruin if for all of us. We must take a stand now while we can, because if we wait it might be too late for our children and us. We must think for ourselves first so that we don't get pushed into a corner, which we can't get out of.

We have two political parties that rule over most of the voters. Some of us don't look at other parties because they don't have the financial backing that the two big parties have. It takes a lot of money to run for offices. Big business and corporations back the two main parties, because the person who runs for president promises them favors. Is that the type of person we want in office?

The person that runs for office should be a good listener and do what the people of our great nation ask him or her to do. that person has an obligation to do what is right for the people, not to just promise that they do it but to make sure it will get done. In the past the person that gets in office, gets there by big businesses money, not the promises they give to the people. We the people are secondary and most of the time third and fourth on the president's agenda. We vote the president into office and our minds are made up for us, by what we see and hear on the T.V. and that takes a lot of money.

In the 90's we found out what a lot of money will do. When you have enough money, you can get away with murder. With a lot of money, you can get elected president of the U.S.A. We live in a capitalist country and needless to say. money makes this country what it is today. We have lost the idea of what we use money for today. Most people want to use it for power and control, instead of helping the houseless, and the children, as well as the elders. We have put supply and demand in the wrong hands. We need to get back to our roots. I don't believe our forefathers meant for this to happen, because what happened is people with money took the idea and put it to use for themselves. This idea goes back to the days of slavery and is still going on today but it is now called the middle class.

The middle-class people are the ones that go to work every day, pay bills and buy food for their families. These are the people that pay taxes and buy things to make their life and the life of their family more comfortable, better known as supply and demand. The political parties have done nothing but lie to the middle class to get their vote. The middle class person is trying so hard to make ends meet that they don't have time in the busy lives to make sure that these politicians aren't lying. The media makes the politician look so good, so the people go ahead and vote for them, only to find out they voted wrong. It is time the person knows the truth about who and what they are voting for.

We the people must stop trusting the media and all the rich politicians and start thinking for ourselves. We have too many comforts in our life, like cell phones, digital this and digital that, as well as AI. We don't even wash our cars ourselves anymore. We must face the fact that we have become lazy. We must stop putting the blame on other people and we must point the finger back on ourselves. We must start getting back to the basics and stop making things so easy on ourselves, that we waste money having others do things for us.

That is how politicians can make us think what they want us to think and that is why they think they can lie to us and we believe them. The politicians tell us that he or she can make differences in our lives and how he or she can make things better and because they say things that we know nothing about. we the people think it is the trust. We have become so lazy that we listen to the analyst on T.V. and other people that we don't even know, and we believe them. Whatever happened to a government for the people by the people? Why not have small meetings in our neighborhoods and talk about which politicians would be the right one and what laws should be passed and not passed. Why is it so hard to take a little time out in our busy life, to make the right decision? The right decision we make at voting time, can have a big difference on our children's lives.

Most of us don't even know where our money is being sent that we give the government for taxes. How many of us know where our money is going? We should have a right to know and we should also have a say in where our money goes. Why can't we have tax reform, flat tax, or no tax? We didn't even pay taxes until 1947, before that the corporations did. A lot of people do not know that. The government just tells us what they want us to know and most of the time it is a lie. The government didn't tell us the truth about the Kennedy assassination until 30 years later.

I believe in a government that will work for all the people in this great nation of ours, not just the rich and powerful. We need a president that is voted in office by the common man and the rich man. When someone runs for office, they get campaign money from rich people and special interest groups that want favors. We should someone who runs for office that gets one dollar from every working man and every working woman in the country. I bet there would be a big surprise in who would be president. I bet a lot of laws would be changed for the good in this country and we wouldn't be wasting tax dollars, like California does its big money making business building prisons. Lock people up to make money. Remember we are teaching our children it is easier to go to prison than it is to college.

We can just hope and pray that someday the people of the USA will wake up to the fact that they have been doing things the wrong way. There are groups that are doing that today, not for the money but for a better way of life and one of those groups is the Artists for Political Revival.

Write in Candidate 2024

Robert Wayno Switzer

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