My fellow Americans, our democracy is broken and we must be the ones to fix it.  For far too long, we have allowed ourselves to be excluded from making the most important decisions about laws and policies that affect our lives.  Never has this been more obvious and dangerous than in the past 10 years.

I thought we might come together as citizens to demand that the electoral college be abolished after the 2000 Presidential election proved to us that "every vote does NOT count."  We did nothing.

I thought when it was revealed that there were no weapons of mass destruction in Iraq nor did that country have ANYTHING to do with the 9/11 attacks, we would demand that our government and military withdraw.  We protested in the streets but we did nothing to save the lives of our servicemen and women or the lives of the Iraqi people.

I thought when hurricanes Katrina and Rita decimated the Gulf Coast in 2005 and our government not only did a pitiful job of responding but ordered a National Guard unit to keep evacuees from crossing the Crescent City Connection bridge into another town for safety and shelter at gunpoint like they were illegal aliens, we would demand FEMA personnel be fired and the residents receive all the assistance required.  Again, we did nothing save our own individual efforts.

I thought when we learned the passing of the Patriot Act made us subject to warrantless wiretaps, being detained and tortured at black ops sites in other countries indefinitely without formal charges being filed just on the SUSPICION of terrorist activity, we would demand that the law be repealed.  Still, we did nothing.

I thought when former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke ran to President Bush and Congress with the ridiculous story that if our government did not hand over nearly $1 trillion to the thieves on Wall Street and in the banking industry, the U.S. economy would collapse, we would demand that our government tell them "tough luck."  Actually, this is EXACTLY what we did and Congress blatantly disregarded millions of our phone calls anyway.

Last week, the Senate Finance Committee rejected the public option for health care even though a CLEAR majority of people in this country are in favor of it.  These are the same people who have their health care insurance, salaries, and retirement funds paid for with OUR money!!!  These are the same people that get to vote on their own raises when their approval rating is in the toilet! America, do you believe change will come simply because we voted someone in office?  Don't you see that both the Democratic and Republican parties have abandoned their constitutional duties to the citizens for legalized bribes that we call lobbying?

Think about it.  When it comes to drafting legislation to regulate the abuses of a certain industry, it is ALWAYS those who are guilty of said abuses that are writing the laws and paying our government to pass them.  It happened with legislation that was supposed to regulate the mortgage, banking/credit card, oil, and now health insurance industries.  Corporate and special interest money has corrupted EVERY branch of government until check and balances and conflicts of interests no longer exist.  You see, it is not just about crooked politicians.  It is about whole societal systems that are broken and unjust.  Systems that will NEVER come close to providing equality and prosperity for the masses.

Until we can somehow put aside our petty and superficial differences such as right wing/left wing, liberal/conservative, black/white, straight/gay, and Christian/Non-believer, our power will remain diluted and our efforts will be nothing but a fragmented, ineffective mess.  Traditional protests don't work because marching in D.C. nowhere near Congress or the President isn't going to get their attention.  Instead, we must be bold in our actions and march straight into the chambers of Congress.  Despite how they have sold us out to corporatism, they still work for us and we have a constitutional right not only to have our grievances addressed but to call a constitutional convention so we can take away the privileges Congress most assuredly does not deserve. 

What will it take for us to REALLY do something, America?  A stolen election?  The illegal occupation of another country?  Our fellow countrymen left to drown?  Denial of medical care?  Loss of privacy?  Catastrophic unemployment? Theft of our children's and grandchildren's future earnings? Being owned by China? Torture?  All of these things and more have already happened and continue to happen with little to no sustained resistance from us.  How much further are we willing to be oppressed by the very people who we elected to represent us?