The Other Voice
- ISBN-10
- 0615665055
- ISBN-13
- 9780615665054
- Pages
- 200
- Language
- English
- Published
- 2012-07-11
- Author
- Roy Schmidt
Description
We have become a nation of isolated individuals, floating like islands, expecting instant gratification. Society and technology provide it. If we don't see immediate change after sending our $20 check to Move On or to the NRA, or after copying an editorial link to Facebook, we're ready to give up and reject the system. But we can't Tweet ourselves into a new world. And we can't drop out and expect life to do anything but deteriorate for us.It takes determination, patience, and teamwork to make things happen. Now, as we find ourselves in another election cycle, with a chance to fix some things, it is time to begin that work.In 2005, the nation was hit hard with buyer remorse from the 2004 election. The Iraq invasion was becoming a severe drain on America. This great country was being split in two by forces bent on creating division and anger as a means of mobilizing the conservative base.For the next two years, I wrote for a newspaper column called Other Voices. The writings are surprisingly relevant six years later. Conservative voters are crying buyer remorse from the 2010 election. The economy is feeling the deep effects of the Iraq invasion, which kicked off the Great Recession, and will remain a severe drain on America for generations. And the country is being further split by new forces interested in making media money by keeping us angry at each other.My goal in writing this book was to gather the writings I did during the mid-2000s so we could remind ourselves why we wanted so badly to remove the neo-conservatives from office. By 2004, we were frustrated and angry, and somehow allowed a failed President to be re-elected simply on the strength of incumbency. Shortly thereafter we understood the magnitude of our blunder, but it was too late. We had to wait until 2006, and 2008, to do something about it. The wave of Obamic Change inspired us and took us into the next decade, but we should have been mature enough to understand that a wave of change would not be enough to force the underlying system to change right away. That would take time, and a large segment of independent voters was not mature enough to understand that. In 2010, they voted back into office the very folks who had messed up the system in the first place.In the fall of 2010, a wave of "tea party" candidates was elected to office across the United States, in Michigan, and in local elections. The results have generally been disastrous. Issues I've railed against:The Rich Get Richer: While the share of America's pie eaten by the super-rich has doubled over the last few decades, wages for the middle class have not changed. With the election of the mega-rich and powerful Koch Brothers into governorships across the US, the accumulation of wealth in the hands of the few will continue, at the expense of everyone making less than about $250,000 per year. Meanwhile, the American budget deficit grows.Calculated Divisiveness: FOX News' fear factory gains an ever-increasing stronghold, while NPR, the true fair and unbiased news source, loses funding. FOX News viewers are consistently the most misinformed media viewers in America.Special Interest Influence: Guns are allowed in schools, bars, streets, cars, and in the hands of more criminals and terrorists than ever. Thank the NRA's lobbying machine, not law-abiding gun owners like me, who are in favor of sensible gun control laws.All this will only get worse before it gets better. But we have to start sometime.I blame voter apathy in 2010. It amazes me that people who become disillusioned with the system think that dropping out is some sort of solution, some sort of meaningful rebellion. It's like being unhappy with the direction the cruise ship is sailing, and so jumping into the ocean. There's no poignant protest, no lasting statement there. Just one fewer passenger that no one even notices is gone.I choose to remain on deck, behind the wheel.These stories are the stars by which I steer.
