Reforming America: Being Vigilant

"The price of freedom is eternal vigilance." – Thomas Jefferson

From the founding of our nation it has been known that unfettered power is detrimental to the well being of our people. When we stop paying attention the people who would abuse power are free to do as they please. There are a million excuses for not keeping up with what is going on in the world but none of them is a good one. We have to prioritize staying informed if we want to retain our freedom.

In the age of the internet we have literally millions of sources of information at our fingertips at any time. While some of the sources are clearly unreliable others are much more reliable if a bit more labor intensive. For every Fox News or MSNBC there is an unbiased source of information out there to keep track of what our government is doing in our names on a daily basis. One exceptional source of information is the actual Congressional Record where votes are recorded and legislation is housed in its entirety. When you go to this source there is no question about who voted for or against what and what the legislation actually says. There is no interpretation or spin. It is as the expression goes "just the facts".

Beyond the actual Congressional Record there are other reliable sources of news to consult if you want to avoid spin and punditry. The NewsHour on PBS has been a source of journalistic excellence for decades. It provides coverage of the events of the day uninfluenced by advertisers or shareholders. As one of the last sources of news without any corporate ties PBS and NewsHour represent a lifeline of information for people interested in preserving our freedoms.

In being vigilant you do need to know what is being said by the more biased media sources so it is also important to follow the clearly biased sources of information such as Fox News, MSNBC, Jon Stewart, Stephen Colbert, Rush Limbaugh, etc. While they are biased, they also give you insights into the liberal and conservative talking points that are influencing the actions of the politicians in power. Because the biased media has so much influence on public policy you have to understand the agendas being promoted by the mainstream media to be able to work for the interests of the people. It is important to be able to compare the words with the deeds of the people in power if you are to make informed choices about who to support.

Freedom is not a gift. Freedom is a job. If you want to be able to enjoy the freedoms our ancestors fought and died for, you have to hold the decision makers accountable for their decisions. That is not easy to do. Power is best served by secrecy so people in power will do whatever they can to hide the truth of their actions from the people they oversee. It is the job of the patriot to expose the truth to the light of day and force their leaders to be accountable for their actions.

Troy Wilson-Ripsom | Staff Writer | E-mail Comments on this column. | Click icon to Digg this article

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