I know this won’t matter to a lot of people – two groups, specifically: old Republicans and young techno-addicts – but for the rest of you, you may want to start preparing for Armageddon!
My roommate thinks the best and only part of the newspaper is the Sunday funnies. I know this because he said so. Then again, he never leaves his room except to microwave some crappy, overpriced frozen crap that he bought in aisle 9 at the grocery store. Some days I can hear him talking to one of his World of Warcraft friends that he’s never actually seen in person and therefore probably pictures as an elf or a warlock or something. He’s always complaining about how bored he is now that he’s laid off from his illustration job, yet the bathroom or kitchen never get any cleaner as a result of anything he does.
How do I find time to clean the bathroom and kitchen when I’m so busy reading the newspaper and blogging about politics? You ask. I guess I’m just that cool.
I want to warn those of you out there who firmly stand by your views and enjoy the freedoms that come along with democracy. I also want to warn those of you out there who claim you don’t care about politics and that politicians are all the same and that’s why you don’t vote. For the latter group, get off your a$$ and pick up a friggin’ newspaper or book. That’s right, put down your damn iPhone for five minutes and realize that Twitter and Facebook might be good jumping off points, but there is a big world outside of the cybersphere that is getting more and more corrupt as you tweet. Not voting, not being involved and being under-educated is what has gotten us into this mess.
In today’s Salt Lake Tribune, it is reported that Gov. Gary Herbert did in fact sign HB477 into action, thus revealing where his loyalties lie (as if we didn’t already know). Another bill, HB220, according to the Tribune “would ensure Utah students learn the U.S. is a compound constitutional republic – not a democracy” and “has passed both houses of the Legislature and is now headed to the governor for his signature.”
I assure you, this is not how the founding fathers intended things to end up. One or two of them may have had alternative views but the sound mind of democracy took over and yanked them all back into gear. I and many people from similar religious backgrounds firmly believe in God and also believe that the U.S. Constitution is a document directly inspired by Him. Democracy is inspired of God. Utah legislators have reduced government transparency, weakened the foundation, slightly as it may be, of the fourth estate, and now prepare for a full, frontal attack on the people.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that if we start teaching kids that they don’t live in a democracy, the next step is implementing a society that looks a lot like scenes from Pink Floyd’s “The Wall.” Every day I read the Utah Legislature section of the newspaper, I have to choke down my breakfast. I get more and more nauseous with every passed, freedom-reducing, government-strengthening, anti-democracy bill that works its way through the crooked, bony fingers of those old men on the Hill.
Here is the First Amendment:
Amendment I
Freedoms, Petitions, Assembly
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievance.
Whitney Afterdark 