by Michael Youngblood

There are monsters walking in our midst today. I speak not of the ghosts and goblins that haunt our streets and sidewalks every year on Halloween, extorting us for gum, candy, or other treats to line the pockets of dental practitioners over the several months that follow. Nor do I speak of the more apparent and threatening monsters who torment, kidnap or rape our children, murder our friends and families, or help themselves to the wealth of treasures we keep in our homes.

The monsters of which I speak don’t drape themselves in Spiderman costumes, LSU football uniforms, or rubber George W Bush masks. These monsters are much better disguised. They dress not in the conventional garb of familiar monsters, but rather in the attire of elected and appointed White House officials, czars of various elements of our economy or society that need to be regulated (in their opinion), or as Senators and Congresspersons, or perhaps draped in the black robes of justice. These are much more frightening monsters as well, for they are determined to change the very nature and course of our lives to fit their ideological vision of what is best for us, our country, our world as a society, and our world as a planet.

The monsters of which I speak are out to overrule the Constitution of the nation and the premises on which it was founded. Interestingly, many have taken oaths to “uphold and defend” that Constitution while in reality they either don’t know, or simply don’t care, what it says, for they know, better than did our founding fathers, and better than we, what’s best for us.

They know, for instance, that we can’t provide for our own healthcare and that they need to do that for us without addressing the real problems that exist within that system that make it less affordable than it should be, and less efficient. They know, despite scientific evidence to the contrary, that we need to shun the fossil fuels God blessed this planet with in favor of technologies that aren’t yet developed and that can’t compete economically without their supplementing them with our tax dollars, for they know better than we how to manage our money. They also know that if we make “too much” money they should take it away and give it to those less “fortunate,” read less motivated.

They know better than we how many children we should have, and how those children should be educated, and not just in the fundamentals of math, science and history (we can’t teach them accurate history as it might undermine what needs to be done), but as regards their sexuality and their faith as well.

And as to faith, there are monsters among us as who cloak themselves in the garb of the faithful, be they Catholic elder statesmen, protestant Christian fundamentalists, or Jihadist Muslims, who rather than teaching God’s love and His laws, preach of their own interpretation of what is moral, for they know that we can’t determine that for ourselves if they simply help nourish in us a loving relationship with our God. This group might also cloak itself in the garb of atheism, denying the very existence of a God, which is their right, but as they know better than we what the “truth” is, thus they feel compelled to force it on us, and are enjoying some success in that endeavor within our public schools.

But dare I suggest that the greatest monster among us is the person we see when we look in the mirror? We have embraced the philosophies of “live and let live,” of “political correctness,” and our tolerance has allowed the aforementioned monsters to begin (an understatement?) taking control. Our indifference, our choosing not to be informed, not to be involved, and not to resist those monsters, has singly empowered them to move this nation and world in the direction they are taking us.

Louisiana has one of the worst education systems in this country, but the teachers among us want union protection and no changes to the system that does not work. Louisiana will suffer major budgetary shortfalls in the coming years, but the civil service employees among us don’t want the state to change their automatic 4% annual pay raise. Neither group wants to be subjected to individual performance evaluations nor performance based compensation that the private sector (labor unions notwithstanding) has successfully utilized for years.

Damn the masses with their hand out for their share of the entitlement programs, but don’t you mess with mine!

Yes, there are monsters among us, but the biggest monster of all is the majority of indifferent people who don’t know what’s happening, won’t make the effort to find out, and won’t rise up to fight against it. Segments of American society are waking up, and it’s time for the remainder to. I don’t care (well, I do, but for the sake of argument) if you agree with everything I say, or with none of it, it is paramount that you inform yourself as to what is happening in your home town, your state, your country, and the world, and that you make your position known. It’s time for all of us to listen, observe, read and THINK, then to act on our conclusions and convictions. We have, for the time being at least, a representative form of government in this country, and it’s time for each and every one of us to identify candidates with whom we agree, and to work for their election, and then to hold them accountable for governing as they campaigned. Then after two terms, we need to kick them out and start over.

Wake up, America. The monster of indifference is allowing the monster of “hope and change” to change us into mediocre wards of the state.