Power and Responsibility

Ninety percent of those killed in Iraq are civillians. The 2.5 Million displaced people in Darfur face a horrific, genocidal fate, as the UN (at the time of this posting) still has failed to provide peacekeepers to strengthen the African Union's efforts. One of every five people on Earth does not have access to drinkable water, as apathetic materialism continues to characterize the west. AIDS is killing off entire generations of sub-Saharan Africans, leaving a population of orphans, themselves not educated in methods for preventing the disease. US "relief" (Why is there no "War against AIDS?") comes with a mandated part "abstenence-only" curriculum.
War is profitable, and as such, has been capitalized. Government contracted corporations, owned by our political leaders and their cronies, funnel our tax money into their pockets. Lobbyists give campain contributions and lucrative jobs to politicians who champion their causes. In the US, our tax money is spent on bringing death and destruction to peaceful civilians, instead of providing healthcare and education to our citizens. The rich do not pay taxes. They use corporations to shelter their assets. As such, the tax burden falls solely on the middle class.
Americans are enslaved by the fear of losing their jobs and their health insurance. To be educated, one must go into debt, or join the military.
Any opponent to universal healthcare and education, who is worried about the expanded role of government, should worry also about current and pressing erosion of civil rights by the Patriot Act, and the attempted suspension of the Writ of Habias Corpus, which began to assure the liberty to question one's imprisonment, and be fairly tried by due process in 1305. Are we slipping back into the dark ages?
With great power and influence comes an equally great resposibility. Blind idealism is no longer an acceptible foreign policy. Abstainence-only AIDS prevention programs do not work, and neither does creating a power vaccum and subsequently trying to occupy a brewing sectarian battleground, where all doctors and educated professionals with the means to do so, have taken their families and fled.
Vote with your dollar, Vote at the ballot box, vote with your voice, and with your heart. Christ taught love and compassion for all of God's children. As citizens of this nation, who give the government your money (and their power), we must demand accountability and transparency of government. The "closed door" meetings of the World Bank and World Trade Organization, that decide the fate of millions in developing countries, must be open to the scrutiny of the citizens who fund it with their taxes.
I am so greatful for the wonderful life that I enjoy, here in this beautiful country. I am proud to be an American, where I have the right and the obligation to voice my discontent with the government. Do not be afraid of your government, and certianly don't be apathetic.
It is time for us to give, to volunteer, to vote, to care, and to be informed.