Protests Are un-American?

When I first saw this article, I was a little shocked that the Speaker of the House would call protesting un-American. After all, exercising one's right to free speech and telling your representatives how you feel about an important issue is very American. Most people, it seems, hardly care what our government does, so to see people standing up for their beliefs is a good thing.

My first thought when hearing this quote from her was the she's un-American. Nevertheless, before jumping to that conclusion, we might as well consider what motivates her to say things like that. Not that it really matters from an objective standpoint – it doesn't change what she said or what she meant by it – but it does help elucidate her behavior.

Pelosi, like all those other hacks up in DC, is a politician. Politicians make a living by selling government. Right now, Congress and the President are trying to sell us a BIG one. And people are protesting that. Of course they're going to try to discredit their opponents. To them, it's personal – it's their careers, their reputations on the line.

I agree that it would be nice if politicians, instead of sputtering rhetoric all the time, would speak logically and rationally. I agree it's annoying when they resort to name-calling. However, politicians must always be on the offensive. I think the saying, "the best defense is a good offense" must have been derived from politics.

The fact is, politicians are taught to be shysters. If people continue to buy into silly, meaningless rhetoric (like, health insurance reform will lower the total cost of medical care), then politicians will always sell it.

If voters paid attention only to factual, logical arguments and took the politicians' propaganda with a grain of salt, then we'd have a lot more reasonable people running the country – much fewer worries about our future.

Instead, we like our politicians to be more like TV – constantly peddling an impossible utopia, propagating scandal after scandal, and portraying behavior fit for teenagers. People are not as interested in holding their representatives accountable as they are in dishing on the other party's leaders.

When our politicians are immature, when they have scandals, or when they meddle irresponsibly with our future, it's easy to be mad at them. It's particularly easy when they're not members of our party. However, if we want to know why these ridiculous people act the way they do, we should look closer to home.

After all, we're the ones who voted them in and continue to vote for them! It doesn't matter that we say we disapprove in the polls, in casual conversation, or even in protest. We bought into big government when they sold it in their campaigns. If we keep voting for these people, we can't be surprised when they act stupidly and try to take away our liberties.

If we don't like what Congress is doing, we must stop rewarding them with reelections. Get out there on Election Day and vote them out! It doesn't get more American than that.