Ghandi showed the power of peaceful protest when combined with world opinion. By being willing to sacrifice their bodies, and sometimes their lives, Indians shamed the British into turning the government over to the local population. It didn’t happen overnight, and it took a lot of people willing to stand up for their beliefs, but it happened. Unfortunately, peaceful protest doesn’t always work. The slaughter in Myanmar is highlighting what happens when the government doesn’t care what the world thinks. I heard a CNN news reader tonight state that the first thing a dictator does in the face of opposition is to remove hope.
That got me to thinking of our own government, and how it is that in spite of polls showing that over 70 % of the general population wants a change in the direction of the Iraq war, nothing is being done. On top of that, it seems to be a foregone conclusion that the President will invade Iran before leaving office, even though most of the voters don’t want this to happen. Why do we allow this? Because we’ve given up hope.
Just how long are we going to let this group of thugs bully us? Is this the shining example of democracy that we hold as a beacon to the world? What’s it going to take to wake you up? Do you actually just not care anymore? We might as well forget democracy if we’re going to let the government do whatever it wants.
For goodness sake, I’m only a little bear and even I know we can do better….
