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Alert: July 4th, 2008: A Vote for Freedom remove Remove this share

Focus:Freedom of Expression
Action Request:March
Location:Washington, United States


By all accounts, I am a journalist.  So being, I have readily noted that individuals who live at or below the poverty line are not being heard.  This is affecting our healthcare, our economy, and our children's futures.
We cannot blame the media, however.  They have a responsibility to report the news.  In order to report the news, they must rely heavily on the financial support (via advertisement) of large businesses and corporations.
Because I am a journalist, I am well-connected in radio, television, independent film, the music industry, and press.  I know those who work in these fields personally and, therefore, also know that they are limited as to what they can report.  The positions that they hold, after all, provides their only substantial source of income.  Like us, they have families to support and bills to pay.
As a result, countless petitions are being circulated, individuals all over the world (not just Americans) are outraged, and nothing is actually being resolved.
I once spoke, per lobbyists request, before the North Carolina General Assembly regarding welfare reform.  I was later contacted via a form letter, which read that a committee had been formed to review my proposal.  Following the receipt of this letter, I was avoided and ignored.  Nothing was actually ever done.  We are being pacified.  The question is, do we wish to remain passive?
Anger is futile.  Action is what is needed.  The media would gladly report on the various concerns and issues that we, as the American people, feel most strongly about if they could do so without risking their businesses and their positions.  
Martin Luther King marched for this reason.  We have, fortunately, evolved past issues pertaining to gender and/or skin color.  Today, we must march on behalf of the voiceless that remain:  The impoverished.  We must march on behalf of those who are trapped within a welfare system that reeks of miscommunication and poor healthcare.
I derive from a family of educators.  The majority of my family members are PhD holders, fairly wealthy, and land owners.  Thus, as a young adult I definately had my instilled preconceived notions regarding the rich and the poor.  I stared in open-mouthed shock at nothingness when my mother told me that I had to choose.  I could have gone home.  I could have grabbed my then three-year-old son and one-year-daughter up and ran away.  I didn't.  Instead, I trusted and relied on our welfare system to lift me up out of the darkness of single parent poverty, to help me become self-sufficient.  The system works, in that I was able to climb out of the hole.  It was not easy, however.  I can't yet even truthfully state that I am 100% independent, but I can say that I am trying.  In so doing, I have learned not to judge what I have become.  I have, in turn, learned not to judge what I once was.
I do recognize the problem, however.  
In my mind, I envision thousands upon thousands of souls reaching out to both each other and their government.  They are screaming, but they are never seen.  They are never seen because they are never heard.
I do not want the government to run my life.  I want my government to support me, to encourage me, to ensure that a system that promises to aid in self-reliance works.  Most of all, I want a government who admits where there are failings, rather then blame the one that it failed.
I want to stand tall, hold my head high, scream that I am a hard-working, dedicated, worthwhile American citizen; a true patriot, and I want to stare on the re-signing of our Declaration of Independence.  I want to make a positive difference.
I want a peaceful protest.
   

Posted: Monday February 25, 2008, 5:00 pm
      

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Michael Sandstrom (344) 		Sunday March 9, 2008, 10:36 am
Amen, this is great!! Thank you!!

Michael Sandstrom (344) 		Sunday March 9, 2008, 10:42 am
Maybe we should invite the Candidates that the media "kicked" out.. I would love to see them ALL on the Ballet. I think "We the People" should decide who our next President should be a march on July the 4th would be a great event. Maybe even a History making one?? It is up to U.S.!

Michael Sandstrom (344) 		Sunday March 9, 2008, 10:43 am
Maybe we should invite the Candidates that the media "kicked" out.. I would love to see them ALL on the Ballet. I think "We the People" should decide who our next President should be a march on July the 4th would be a great event. Maybe even a History making one?? It is up to U.S.!
We the People of the United States in order to form a Share Summary
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Alert 1 Feb 25, 2008

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