Dumbing Down America

Okay, finally caught up with emails and some of work. Taking a slight break to write a little rant concerning my observations of this election. In a way, it is a good thing I had these two days to chill.

The buildup to election day was immense. Especially here in Massachusets. This is an historical election. Whether Democrat or Republican the governorship of Massachusets was to be making history. If the Republican won, we would have our first woman governor. If the Democrat, which he did, the first Black governor. Not to mention, that some of our Congressmen would be in charge of commitees if the Dems won. You could feel it in the air, that anticipation of a change coming. So election day, I left work a little early to get to the polls before the rest. In our town, the precincts voted at various locations. Not sure whether it was because of an anticipated low turnout or what but they chose to have everyone vote at the high school. (The resulting traffic jam was a mess, but I am getting ahead of myself.) So I left work and was driving down the highway and decided to listen to the news station to see if there were any early results. Okay, weather, traffic, then a news alert, late breaking news from Hollywood. After this commercial message. Hmmm, was it about Schwarzenegger? Had he decided to step down? Was he even running? Then the news man came back on, Britney Spears had filed for divorce. WHAT!!!!!! (The same thing hit me when I watched the news that night.) Unbelievable. Here we are in one of the most contentious races in a long while. The Democrats looking to regain power which they have not had since 1994. A historic battle for the governorship of Massachusetts. What do we get for earth shattering news??? Britney Spears!!!! (We won't mention that she is still headlining the news because now her soon to be ex has filed a counter suit.)
The Virigina senate race went right down to the wire. One of the closest races and the victory gave the Democrats control of both houses. Yet, we are more concerned about Britney Spears. I tell you, if this is where we, as a society, have set our priorities, then we deserve the government we get. We deserve the taxes, the disregard for our rights and liberties, we deserve to be walked on, no rather stomped on.
It makes me wonder. Is maybe there a conspiracy with the news organizations and the government to dumb us down to the point where we don't understand our government so that they can do or say whatever they want and we are unaware because we just have to know what Britney is doing today?
It is great that the people "have spoken" and that changes are being made. Real change in our government will not come until the people become more educated and start to take control of the government. A government that at one time was for the people, by the people. Okay, so there's a new sheriff in town, maybe changes will happen, maybe not. We may not know as the "news" outlets are too busy following Britney around than telling us what the truth is going on in Washington.
Please forgive me for this rant. I just feel that we all need to get on our news organizations and tell them to leave Britney to Entertainment Tonight and tell us more about this new Defense Secretary Gates. (Hmmm, wonder if he is related to Bill, maybe that is how Bill wants to dominate the world. :-P) We as a people need to know about these bills being slipped through. Not what the government wants us to know, but the truth. The election may be over, but our duty as citizens is not. There is a new sheriff in town, we need to hold his feet to the fire.