Mike Dedwylder is a junior majoring in architecture. He can be contacted at [email protected].What is the American, and global, marketplace? How does it affect the American, and global, government?
Is it a purely capitalistic system functioning around a working democracy, or is it some amalgamation of consumerism functioning off of corruption and policies designed to protect corporate leaders from legal persecution?
The more I learn, the more I lean toward the latter, and what makes it worse is that there seems to be a disinterest among our generation.
I met a man in Austin, Texas, recently who, for three hours, tried to explain to me that our generation is ineffectual in changing policies that we know should be changed. For those three hours, I tried to defend not only myself but also my friends and everyone who I know but made no headway. Simple facts that everyone should know I didn’t know, and very few people I was with did know.
I was lost to simple facts such as who my state senators were and what their policies were on events as major as the war in Iraq.
He then asked me what I had done to voice my opinion, for or against, any of these events that I felt so strongly compelled to change, and I had no answer.
While this man was probably full of crap, and while I’m sure many people are doing whatever is in their power to change the policies affecting them, I couldn’t help but take notice.
Professional lobbyists are growing in influence and in numbers, and it seems as though no one notices what they are doing.
They are flying under the radar while controlling the major aspects of our country in general. There are now more than 35,000 professional lobbyists making money off of their connections and their ability to influence your congressional representatives and with starting salaries at about $300,000 a year. It’s obvious they are effective.
Now tell me how it feels to know that companies are paying to change policies that protect small farms, small businesses and the environment while so many people sit back, watch it happen and do not care unless it’s on HBO or MTV.
Are we in a generation of brilliant minds jaded against the hope of curbing the mistakes of our forefathers, or are we simply a juggernaut barreling forward with a single goal of making as much money as quickly as possible, damning everything in our path?
The answer is probably more diverse than the question could possibly imply, but I think the desire to make a positive change is growing.
The question now is this: Will we care enough to see this through, working as a whole to make the changes that need to be made and give the power back to the American people?
This is a problem that affects everyone now living. It’s not something to be put off for another day or year, because the effects will be seen in our lifetime, so now what will you do?