I'm Back!

After a long hiatus, I have decided to come back to blogging. I have neglected it for so long, that I have become complacent in the face of extraordinary world events that have been playing out. The media, and our politicians would both have you believe that everything in this country is going right. Indeed, the market rally from March 2008 until now has been extremely powerful and persistent and is giving fodder for our pundits and politicians in claiming that the crisis is over. But we all know that it isn't. Our country is still on the road to bankruptcy. Our tax code still sucks and is very unjust and unfair. Commodity prices are climbing ever heaven-ward. The dollar is conversely sinking like a stone and is expected to test its lows in the very near future. Housing prices are still flat, bankruptcies and foreclosures are still hammering the American people, alongside an unemployment rate that refuses to come down from its lofty highs (unless you seasonally adjust it, then all is possible). Congress passed a bad medical insurance bill requiring everyone to have insurance, or else. The list goes on and on and on...

We all know that this country is falling down around us. We can all see it in the minutiae of our daily lives. Maybe your family is focused on the fact that schools are closing, state by state. Maybe you are getting increasingly worried about the health of your pension. Maybe you wonder if the Social Security Ponzi Scheme will be around when you retire and if you will actually get back what you paid into it. The focus for each and every individual is different, but it all adds up, melding together into a massive cluster-fuck of problems that joins every American together into a common sense of emotional turmoil: Anger at our politicians, disbelief at the state of our once mighty country, cynicism that nothing changes in the face of great disaster. But at the end of the day, we turn on the television, watch some American Idol, and forget about - just for a moment - the problems facing our families and neighbors.

It is then that apathy sets in, the most disgusting emotional state that ever saw the light of day, a disease that infects many Americans without them even knowing it. I can't do anything about the problems of the world, so why worry? I just want a beer and a baseball game, not complain about things that I can't affect.

So that's what happened to me. That anger, walled off for a good while, decided to break through those formidable barriers created by apathy and decided that it was time to be heard again. I attended my first Tea Party on Tax Day and loved it. The turnout was quite poor here in NYC, Apathy Capital of the World, but I felt I made a difference. I waved my Audit the Fed sign, spoke to like-minded individuals in the movement, interviewed with reporters and tried my best to make my voice heard. And I think it worked. Cars and trucks inching down the street were very interested to see the movement making some noise. They added their own support with the toots and honks of their horns which made the Tea Party crowd cheer louder. It was a vicious infectious circle, and it is my hope that the quest for justice, liberty, fiscal responsibility, and just plain old common sense will start to spread outward in gigantic waves. A shot heard around the world!

My hat goes off to those people making their voices heard every day. I applaud you, envy you and aim to emulate you. I also encourage others to do the same. Email and call your politicians with your complaints and requests. Start your own blog to channel your anger and frustrations. Write your local papers. Join a protest or rally. Make your voices heard, people!