Saturday July 5, 2008, 5:09 am

To begin with, I'll admit this writer has some valid points. But his harsh and bitter attitude toward American citizens is bothersome to me. He needs to clearly diferentiate between the faults of the politicians/U.S government and the American citizens.

I am just going to focus on some thoughts I have concerning American citizens at this point (not the government). In a sense perhaps some of us are "spoiled and whiny" in that we have come to take a lot of things for granted - forgetting how hard it was to get to the point in our country where we have a higher standard of living than most countries. It seems sometimes that children today feel entitled to luxuries that children around the world can only dream of.

Americans need to become more responsible and proactive in government at all levels. At this juncture, American citizens can't afford the luxury of going their merry way and hoping/expecting the government to do things the way they should. We as citizens have responsibilities to maintain our country.

Americans need to personally get involved in politics at every level. This is not easy for most people. It wasn't easy at all for the founders of this country. Instead of "whining/complaining" about how bad our politicians are - do something about it. "Rome is burning..." while many of us who are in denial, ignorant, lazy, whatever, don't get involved to help the situation.

It is not enough to say "all politicians are crooks" or that "the government is evil" and things to that effect if we aren't willing to get out of our easy chairs and put forth some effort to help make things better.

I'm thankful to all of those here at Care2 who realize the work that needs to be done and are doing their part. Let us unite in our effort to work on the many issues facing our country. As the saying goes, "Freedom isn't Free", and again I say we need to start getting involved in whatever way we can, especially at all levels of government.

P.S. To the writer of this article who is based in Virginia, I wonder if he is a citizen of this country and if so, why isn't he doing more than basically writing hateful articles about American citizens? And, if he finds America so reprehensible, why does he stay in this country? I would like to read about countries and their governments and citizens that he considers to be so superior America; that might be helpful morethan hateful criticisms. He should elaborate on how and why those countries are better? If he is indeed an American citizen, does he want to be part of the problem or part of the solution?

YES, America has it's faults. Which country can say it has no faults?
Why is it that so many people from all over the world still want to come here to live? I recently talked with someone from another part of the world who had immigrated here. In our conversation she spontaneously declared: "Everybody wants to go to America!" hmm I think that perhaps people would rather stay in their countries of origin if they had the freedom and economic prosperity that our country offers. But, I ask myself: If Americans don't wake up and start doing their part in preserving our freedoms, then we won't be the country that people would want to come to, or even the country that Americans want to live in.

I have just written some thoughts that came to mind after reading this article, I hope others will comment about the article. I'm sure there would be some interesting views about it!

peace to all,

carol

Saturday July 5, 2008, 10:16 am
my response to the author: right back at you!

Saturday July 5, 2008, 10:47 am
be assured JOHN STANTON is an united states citizen born in 1956 or 57 in TEXAS..........he teaches in washington dc .......

CAROL C................the points you make in your comment ........up to a point are the same as JOHN STANTON'S ........you just try and be polite ...he does not he doesnt need to be ......the time for politeness is over ....