The Dawn Of The Future

Growing up, I was raised to believe
that every American had a voice
and that voice was meant to be heard.
I am not so sure anymore
that those standards apply today.

We all still have a voice,
but it seems that the voices
that drown us all out
are the voices that should be
working with and for us,
not against us.

The politicians who have
taken an oath to do
what is in the best interest
of the people have taken it
upon themselves to do
what benefits them
and big businesses.

Those of us that work hard
to provide for our families
and to keep life together
on a daily basis
are the same people who pay
the inflated salaries of politicians
who just don't seem
to care about us anymore.

There was a time when
political figures actually listened
to the constituents of
the communities that they worked in.
But those days have been gone for a long time.
It's time that we all took a stand.
Change starts with us--

Americans are the ones
who have built this country
and thus, Americans are the ones
who can change this country.
Both of our presidential candidates
say they will bring change.

What kind of change is the question?

Will we spend another presidential term
wishing that we had made
more informed choices?

Will we regret the choices
that we have made?

We are the only ones
who can educate ourselves
and make informed decisions.

Time is running out--
the election is not that far away
so dig deep for the facts
and educate yourself.

Spread the facts
and not the "facts,"
as the media would
have us believe them.

There are so many places
that we can find the information
that will help us make
informed choices
and do what we feel
is in the best interest of this country.

Think ahead to what
we will be leaving behind
to our children and grandchildren.

The choices we make today
can and will affect the future
of our children and their children as well.

I don't want my children
growing up in a world
that is destined to be
where we are headed now.

I don't want my children
facing the same problems
that we are today.

So my vote is for CHANGE!

I won't go into who I am voting for
or why I made that choice,
but I will say that my focus
isn't on what my candidate
has or hasn't done,
but more importantly,
what he can and will do.

Promises are empty,
but the facts
are pretty self-explanatory.
Rather than listen to what
the media says
and what mud the other party slings,
look for yourself at all the facts
that you can find.

What can it hurt to do a little surfing?

Take a few minutes away
from your e-mail or that game
and search for cold hard facts
about where each candidate stands
and what each candidate
is capable of doing.

Remember-- they work for us,
not the other way around.

Change starts with each of us.

Look back at the past
and see what party
has stood where over the years.

Look back at the end
of past presidential terms
and see where we were as a nation then.

Then look forward and see
where you think we should be in the future.

The real change will be
the changes that we make.
Each and every one of us
needs to work for the change that matters.

We need to remind the government
that they work for us.
They need to understand
that what we think and what we feel matters
and that if they can't make change happen
based on the things that we believe should happen,
then they will not be working for us anymore.

The president is merely
the CEO of our country
and should answer to the people
on the issues that the people feel are important.

Because we all have our own opinions,
we may not always agree
on exactly what we believe
needs to be done,
but I do believe that even if
we think separate roads are better,
we all want to end up at the same destination.

We are promised a government
for the people, by the people and of the people---
let's make sure they make good on that promise.