It always seems to be about money. Rarely are individuals or groups with power primarily concerned with the well-being or knowledge of others. Meanwhile, our soldiers, the ones we love and the ones who love us, are fighting and dying in wars that are not their own, still having the courage and strength to believe in that all-too-endangered American Dream. But the principle - those troops deserve a lot of respect, and the U.S.'s corporate media is more worried about getting a bigger audience than informing the people. But people are always the same, so Cesar is right, unfortunately.

I can't really stand to watch news on FOX or CNN or NBC, etc, anymore. It's depressing. I get a large portion of my international news online from independent media and foreign media. It's much more useful to gather info from varied sources that actually care about and document the real world.

The best thing to have is an informed public - and we're lacking that more and more these days. All sorts of things are happening in the world and even in our own country that the majority of people on the street don't even seem to know about, all caught up in their daily schedule...or their entertainment. It is the duty and responsibility of the public, if it is to be the main source of government, to actually be watchful, to be vigilant, and at least know what is being done in their name!

I love America. I also love America's principles - not the empire we live in today which proclaims itself the land of the free to send people off to wars we don't even really agree on the purpose of, toppling foreign governments at the slightest provocation or retaliation, fear-mongering over possible terrorist attacks that never seem to materialize, while using those alleged threats to diminish and diminish the very liberties we say we send our troops off in order to protect!

I apologize, honestly, for getting emotional. But the underlying concern is a valid one, I feel - Thomas Jefferson once said that "the price of freedom is eternal vigilance." Benjamin Franklin said, and may as well have added to the previous statement, "He who sacrifices freedom for security deserves neither*."

The danger in an uninformed and apathetic public is the loss of freedom, of liberty, of our fundamentally "American" identity. So I sincerely wish that people would remain informed and remain vigilant, because the way this is going right now, well....

*"...and will lose both," is sometimes added to this quote, though I only see it some of the time and am not sure of its authenticity.

The above was my response to a conversation over this image. I am frustrated, clearly, with the apathy towards political issues that really aren't even that difficult to get the gist of and that affect us profoundly. The American People have neglected their duty to maintain vigilance, and as a result, our inalienable rights of liberty suffer. I don't think it's time to give up on liberty - I don't even think we've really had it yet.