"The rich are different from you and me," said F. Scott Fitzgerald. "Yes, they have more money," replied Ernest Hemingway. While the smallest segment of our population increases its wealth, the standard of living for the majority of Americans continues to decline. The rich as well as the poor will always be with us. But every citizen should be able to share the rewards of a wealthy democracy.

Our myriad problems are not insurmountable. A vanishing middle class, a poor health care system, insecure ports and borderless borders, a crumbling public education system, government corruption—can be addressed and resolved by a congressional body that governs with meticulous oversight from both sides of the aisle.

What were our elected representatives thinking when they sold out their country? Were they hoping we wouldn’t notice the insidious loss of our basic rights to privacy and habeas corpus? Were they hoping we wouldn’t notice that the United States of America, the pinnacle of democracy in the world, has a flawed electronic voting system that could result in votes not being counted? Did this bastion of political power think we weren’t paying attention when they ignored the Geneva Conventions; when they wiretapped into our rights to privacy?

Islam exists all over the world. An America that tries to impose its own brand of democracy on countries and societies that neither understand, trust nor desire it is ludicrous. How can we convince others that democracy is good, when ours is being stomped on by the very people we elected to govern and protect it? “Our way is the only way” is not the message we want to send to other systems of government that passionately believe theirs is the way.

In an interview with the Houston Chronicle, Republican Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas told that paper: “We have to step back and stop trying to put our American ideas onto this problem." A previous supporter of invading Iraq, this stalwart conservative lady will win her bid for reelection because unlike some of her arrogant peers, she is not afraid to admit a mistake.

The idea that we are fighting over there so we won’t have to fight over here is foolish political babble meant for the gullible and the stupid. While we have been fighting and dying over there we have been creating more hatred and making more enemies over there, and everywhere else. Americans are not dumb. They simply do not pay attention until a problem affects them directly. While the stock market is doing well for the wealthy, if there is enough money for college and cars and the war is far away, life is rosy. If there’s a Draft, a Depression, an unthinkable nuclear disaster or a war that comes home to roost, the bloom is off the rose and apathetic America gets off the pot. By then it’s too late.

The time to get off the pot is now—not by voting along party lines—by voting for the best qualified individuals to represent you in Washington—by voting for a “checks and balances” congress of the kind the Founders left us. When I worked in Washington the heavy scent of power within the Beltway was intoxicating. The closer one gets to that power, the more he or she is apt to be seduced, even corrupted by it. Any individual that has ever visited the White House or met any President or high-ranking government official has had a direct experience of that power. Congress controls the purse strings. They should be scrupulous in their oversight.

How many Americans are aware of the Sixth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution—their right of habeas corpus—“the fundamental instrument for safeguarding individual freedom against arbitrary and lawless state action?”

“The Supreme Court has ruled that these rights are so fundamental and important that they are protected in state courts by the Fourteenth Amendment’s Due Process Clause.” Have you been paying attention to what has happened to these basic rights?

The way to avoid one-sided political shenanigans is for the people to be fairly represented. By not paying attention, by not voting, many of the younger age group (the least likely voters) are going to wake up one day and wonder what happened to their basic freedoms and comfortable lives. Ignore the dim-witted political ads. Pay attention and vote your conscience.

“Simplicity-Courage-Humor-Soul”®

A writer/editor, I work with one client at a time for a cost effective solution to your writing and editing needs. Visit me at http://www.susanscharfman.com. My novel The Sword & The Chrysanthemum is available in paperback everywhere, and in eBook form at http://www.AuthorHouse.com.