Have you kept up with the war?

I have a bad feeling about it.

Doesn’t anyone else?

Don’t you?

Even if you don’t, hear me out.

Now’s the time to wake up and wage your own personal investigation with the intent of developing your own answer to why our government is so particularly concerned with Iraq’s political situation.

Most of us get our occasional glimpse of democracy’s progress in the

desert sands through CNN or Fox News. And that might make you think you’re informed.

We see the advertisements seeking soldiers. And we learn to respect their brand of bravery. They choose to serve their country. It bothers me, though, that our friends and family in the military might be coming back in body bags. For what? Why are we at war?

King George II continually attempts to rationalize spending thousands of human lives for the sake of stabilizing Iraq. Now Bush is pushing to deploy 30,000 more troops. Just how many more piles of people is this going to cost?

You might argue that this is our own fault because we elected Bush to make these decisions. In fact, we chose Al Gore. George Jr. wasn’t elected until his brother Jeb recounted the votes.

What is democracy, anyway? I feel I have to look this up because I just don’t know anymore. OK. Dictionary.com defines democracy as a “government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the

people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral

system.” Really? No, really?

It seems we’re getting warmer with this one: “a governmental system led by a dictator having complete power, forcibly suppressing opposition and criticism,

regimenting all industry, commerce, etc., and emphasizing an aggressive

nationalism.” This one’s fascism, by the way. Really.

I didn’t just turn cynical toward our government overnight. It’s been a

frustrating journey from one suspicious fact to the next.

There has to be a moment when the heap of suspicious coincidences gets piled so high, it spills over and buries you in logic.

Here, start your own pile if you haven’t already:

– Dick Cheney stepped down as the CEO of Halliburton Oil in 2000.

– George W. Bush’s daddy owns

Zappata Corp, formerly Zappata Oil.

– Now drop some of those imaginary weapons of mass destruction on top.

– Use a couple tons of shredded

top- secret documents to decorate it.

Now you’re getting it.

The abuse of power is getting out of hand. We need to get uncomfortable about what’s going on over our heads. Use the Internet – it has more to offer.

We’re barely whispering to each other now, but we can build from that. It’s going to take a lot of hostile citizens getting very loud and upset for some changes to be made. Let’s get started.

Always read between the lies.

Go after the whole story.

Educate yourself.

Never stop.

Dig deeper.

And get agitated.

Ryan Szymczak is a senior English major and columnist for the Daily Kent Stater. Contact him at [email protected].