Our health as a nation depends on the willingness of the people to keep our government healthy. We became an independent nation when the people rose up and rebelled against a government that had lost sight of the fact that the governed were its source of power. It seems nowadays that we are giving up this power to influence and direct the actions of our government due to laziness and we have come to see government and its role differently than our founding fathers. We once saw government as a body of representatives selected to carry out our directives and a bureaucracy to take care of the necessary business of the people in interacting with each other and other nations. Now we seem to see government as the nation and as long as they keep us comfortable we are willing to let them usurp the power and responsibility of choosing our course. We have allowed government to separate itself from the people to some degree by our lack of participation and our failure to oversee the activities of our politicians.

In order to oversee our government we must learn to stay informed and work to influence the direction of the governing body that we have elected. We must demand information instead of entertainment from media sources. We can not depend on sound bites and special interest groups to give us a complete picture of a candidate. We need to be willing to challenge candidates to answer and explain their stances rather that hiding behind rote responses developed by political advisers helping them seek office. Only as candidates disclose their views and ideas are we able to understand the direction and vision that they will bring to the job in which they seek to serve our interests.

We must shake off our lethargy as a people and see government as a servant that we direct rather than as an entity that controls our lives. We must take a stance on issues, debate those issues seeking the best direction for our country, be willing to make tough decisions and choose representatives that will carry out those decisions. If we continue to trade away our power in exchange for comfort and if we turn our back on our responsibility to be involved then we will cease to be that great nation for which so many of our forefathers were willing to give everything to secure.

We need to remember our heritage and wield our power if we wish to continue to be a nation where the government receives its power from the governed. We must stop being ashamed to be great, stop trying to become like other nations and instead seek to become the best nation that we can. Only if we stay involved and informed will America be healthy.

Learn more about this author, Bill Dover.
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