I just don't get it. I don't. Does anyone here?

Here we are, a community of over a million crackpots and conspiracy theorists, going insane on every "World Is Gonna End" idea that comes up, taking every hint that terrorists WILL ATTACK NOW, and trying to find the tiny little illegalities that have popped up that the government is behind.

Some of us are pissed because Bush was made President by the vote of Presidentially-Appointed Judges. Some are pissed that we aren't allowed onto Area-51. Some that there's Flu Vaccines, or that we don't know everything as soon as it happens.

Well, we should logically be a lot more pissed than we are, shouldn't we?

A 'democracy' - by the people for the people? Isn't the government _our_ tool to keep _ourselves_ safe? I thought it was. That's what a democracy is by the 'official' definition.

Governments keep countless amounts of information from the people. Secret military endeavours are run, secret locations are created, secret files stored, secret this, secret that. Well I'm #ing tired of this. It is our government and we run it. We are allowed to see whatever the # we want to see. Who are we hiding documents from? Ourselves? Not likely!

Area-51's simply shouldn't exist. The instant the FBI confiscates a security tape you should be able to call upon your rights and your control over their jobs, then go make a copy, give one to them for official records, and keep one yourself.

The whole "Black-Ops" thing shouldn't exist anymore. The 'Cold-War' is over. If anything, freedom of information is now our ally more than secrecy is. If everything is a secret, then no one is prepared. The government will be 'telling too much' and making us too scared, because suddenly, and without warning, we're being told about these horrible things that have been going on around us forever. If they 'tell us too little' then they tell us to late, or don't give nearly enough warning, until KABOOM!

- Bottom line is, if they won't make an announcement and say "We're making a change. We're telling you everything we hear, the files are open." - then we should be able to demand it, and the re-taking of control over our own tool seems worth a revolution to me. A world-wide revolution, even. I'm Canadian, and my government doesn't hide _that_ much from me, but I'm still pissed about it. I can't imagine being an American, who doesn't even know what exactly his troops are going through without the media stepping in. Who doesn't know what is on a piece of government property in his country without resorting to some foreigner's passerby satellite pictures.

1% Of the world is pissed off about stuff that is absolutely unbelievable - 100% should have gotten pissed the second anything unlikely started happening. Don't you agree?

Or am I completely insane?

[[For The Record: I would think this is the best forum for this, but I'm just not sure. If it isn't, then I'm sorry. I just started thinking and writing, and .. yeah. Judgement lapses when you're thinking about how angry you should be.]]

Problem is, the government is too far governed by itself for a chance for any one of us (or the collective) to do anything about this. .. if that makes sense.

The problem started with the cold war, the military race and the secretive nature of our government. People stood around and shrugged it off and now everything that happens is completely out of our control.. shrug.. too little too late

Well, i agree with you. We, the people pay our government and fund missions to Mars, the moon, etc, and what do we get? Fuzzy pictures, lies about what is found, etc. We pay our government to protect us and our rights and freedoms and what do we get? crapola
I dont know about other countries, but this one is way out of hand and going down everyday. Its the fault of the citizens as a whole, they're blind or dont care at all.
Elections are also an illusion and the people still believe that casting their vote will help pick the president.
NOTHING IS THE WAY IT SEEMS- wise words

What this nation needs, is a candidate that will run for president, say all the right stuff, do all the right things to impress 'big corporate' and once he becomes president he does a 180 liberal backlash and gives the government back to the people..

tired of these #ty candidates that say one thing, become president and do nothing.

I can agree somewhat.

Interesting that one of the more powerful civilized ways of expressing being pissed is by voting your heart out.

And this election seems to be changing a trend that was negetive for so long. For many years, the young voter's (18-29), were very complacent and if they did vote, basically used TV and maybe newspaper's, as well as peer pressure, to decide their vote.

This is changing this year it appears, and is not being yet reported as something significant. (which it should be).

Even four years ago, ATS was not near the community it is now. You can tell now that ATS is actually a great place to begin to sort the fact from fiction. Many people here that vote, are going to be expressing issue's of concern unlike the 'average' voter. Some things that seem to be getting louder and louder with every passing year.

Some interesting fact's, that are actually becoming real easy to find on google....


edit - du-oh,.. hit post instead of preview (I will append what I was going to finish with)

[edit on 23-10-2004 by smirkley]

Regardless of how deep the rabbit hole is, it simply shouldn't exist.

Whether there's 100,000 votes thrown accidentally into a Candidate's ballot, or whether the new President was decided on almost a year ago, none of it should happen.

Whether there's aliens on the moon and here on earth, or whether we just don't know enough about what we do in space, we should know it all.

This isn't too little too late. How 'much' this is is how much you make of it.

It's never too late.

The Founding Fathers of America knew what had to be done. They had seen and felt the outrage, and they created something better. They believed that not a single right should be cast aside from anyone in the name of protection. That freedom was a right beyond all others, and that if any government decided not to honour that, it should be brought to its knees in violent revolt.

The governments of the world have sacrificed rights for years. They have stolen freedom for decades. They have betrayed the trust of the publics that they serve. If it is 'too late' to simply say "Change" and receive it, then it is time to start saying Change, and making it happen.

(here is the rest, before I screwed up my post )



Profile of Young Voters in 2004
With the 2004 presidential elections just weeks away, there are unprecedented efforts to turn out young voters and indications that they are paying closer attention to the campaigns than they have in years.

"This is the largest potential youth voter population in 20 years. The youngest generation is more favorable toward government action and more socially tolerant than older generations."

There are approximately 41 million eligible 18-29 year old voters in 2004 making up one-fifth of the voting eligible population; this includes 28 million 18-25 year olds.

81 percent of young registered voters say they are paying attention to this year�s campaign compared to 63 percent in 2000. Of this group, 34 percent say they are paying a lot of attention compared to just 16 percent in 2000.



Now those number's alone suggest the increased level of knowledge, intelligence, and concern. It seems that that could be a 'generational' change of an age-group that is definetly showing their interest, or dis-interest with current events. Before, it seems that the apathy was borne out of a feeling of no control over the future.

Maybe this is changing.

[edit on 23-10-2004 by smirkley]