Independence

Today is independence day and with our country in an economic depression, BP destroying one of our coasts and our country still denying its people basic rights I've been asking myself are we really free? This isn't about left or right, liberal or conservative, Republican or Democrat, this is about the UNITED States of America and its people, all of them.
Most of us are being terribly lazy. We are allowing corporations to take over and misuse our land (BP isn't the only company doing this). Greed and convenience are the weapons of choice with these corporations use so that they can monopolize the economy. Now I'm not going to pretend I'm into economics because I'm not, but I do know that when this country got its start we made everything we needed here. The founding settlers worked hard and earned each cent they got, and there wasn't a wal-mart in every town, just little small businesses where the food came from the local farmer down the street. We need to take back our businesses from large corporations, and our jobs from China. I want to see made in the USA stickers on everything, not made in China stickers.
This isn't just about the economy, its about our people. The way we are treating the people in our country is disgusting. Who are we to decide who can marry whom? I know how I define love but I also know that there is no set definition of what love is and that each person defines it differently. Government has no business telling people who they can marry. (and it has nothing to do with your religion either.) Whatever happened to taking care of each other? You can tell about the character of a country by how it treats its poor. Thousands, if not millions of people are with out health care, shelter and food. Our country is making budget cuts in all the wrong places, cutting education cost is not making a smart investment in our future its writing a death sentence. If you don't invest in the knowledge of our youth then we have no future.

I love my country, and for the most part (even though I swear I don't like people) most people here are pretty fucking fantastic. We just need to stop being lazy and make our voices heard. If you're not already registered to vote, do it now (here's the website to do it: http://www.fec.gov/votregis/vr.shtml) I know politics is dirty, and terrible to keep up with, but if you don't then they will continue the path of greed we're on. If you are registered to vote make sure you actually go out and vote. I am 25 and haven't missed a chance to vote once. Vote in local elections as city and county officials are more likely to listen to you directly than any other elected official, vote in state elections and email them about issues you are concerned about, someone in their offices is reading all those emails. Try to buy things made in the USA, or if you can go even more local than that check the labels and find the closest place to where you live. The closer it was made the fresher it is, the more likely it helped your local economy and the less fuel was use to transport it. Support local businesses. Shop at local shops, eat at local restaurants. We can turn things around, we just need to stop being so lazy and know that every little step you take is a step in the right direction and all those steps combined will make a huge impact.