I'm not talking about venting-to-a-friend angry. I'm definitely not talking about going-for-a-long-hard-run angry. I'm not even talking about so-pissed-off-you-could-walk-up-to-a-tiger-and-punch-it-in-the-face angry, not that I condone violence to animals.
It's time to get angry enough to swallow your pride.
It's time to get angry enough to sacrifice a part of yourself for the greater good;
To step back from your anger and take the time to look at yourself, no, I mean really look and make sure that your theories fit with the facts and that you're not trying to fit the facts to your theories.
To learn that enough is enough and to realize that leadership requires consent from those whom you are leading, and that if you stray from them, then you are no longer fit for their representation.
It's time to get angry enough to realize that this morning, on the first of October, two thousand thirteen, the conservative GOP Tea Party in the United States of America cared more about being "right" and protecting the status quo than it did about its hundreds upon thousands of constituents who did not have access to affordable health care. The consequences of this serious misplacement of priorities resulted in the loss of over 800,000 jobs and several "non-essential" branches of the government be shut down or drastically reduced. Some of these "non-essential" branches include NASA which represents the future of the USA's global standing in science and technology; the Environmental Protection Agency along with many national parks, museums, monuments, and zoos, which represents the USA's natural resources and its rich, melting-pot history; and the Department of Education which helps fund the curiosity and enthusiasm of the true future of the USA.
This government shutdown, the climax to the national healthcare argument that started 3 years ago, was intended to show the foolishness of this "universal healthcare". It was intended to show the leaders of the opposing side that there are consequences of allowing Obamacare to go into effect. But that's not how I see it.
I see the government shutting down all access that the American people have to our future. By failing to resolve the budget, Congress has eliminated our opportunities to learn about our nation's history, about our nation's vast and wondrous environment, to find statistically important trends in disease migration and socioeconomics and the physical universe on this planet and those outside of it. Congress has reduced our ability to foster an environment where its replacements can learn about legislation and politics and precedent. And meanwhile, the GOP Tea Party caucus is failing to show the American people the consequences of Obamacare because, even as all of these definitively beneficial programs are halted, thousands of citizens are signing up for affordable health insurance for the first time. Thousands of people can finally get help and treatment that was previously unavailable to them.
"If you want to know what a man's like, take a good look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals," said Sirius Black in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. This remark is brilliantly insightful and pertinent. Look at the way Americans treat those who are inferior to them, and this will show you our true character. We will deprive our inferiors of affordable health care, limit their resources towards personal and professional development, and then, when we finally have created an opportunity for them to gain what the rest of us already have access to, we will shut down the institution that has created such an opportunity. This is the mark of our character today, but it does not have to be this way.
There are many dissenting Americans who feel the same way I do. I feel like this shut down is silly, rash, and irresponsible. And so it is time for me to get angry. It's time for me to ask for others who feel like I do to realize that this problem can no longer be someone else's problem. We can't afford to ask what someone else is going to do about it. We have to make this shutdown our problem and we have to do something about it. So speak up. Call your senator, representative, both local and federal. March in protest. Put up flyers. Graffiti. Chalk. Everything and anything you can do. Just make sure you're loud. Because even though the government has been shut down, We the People can still rise up.
