I admit it - I was far too easily distracted by news of veteran actor Randy Quaid’s arrest today on charges of intent to defraud.  I was conducting research for the topic of this blog and was hoping to find something that hadn’t already been “done to death” by the media regarding the G 20 summit that’s currently in full swing.  I realized how frustrated I was over the same old, same old “he said, she said” accusations that rule today’s political headlines.  I realized I was burned out.  Then it occurred to me the dangers of being burned out. 

If our collective society realizes it’s burned out, sick of the bickering and accusations between this country’s leaders, we run the risk of losing what little control we have over important issues that affect not only us, but our children and grandchildren too.  By allowing ourselves to become non-plussed, we’re basically throwing our hands up and declaring an “Ugh! Fight it out on Capital Hill!  I’m going on a Starbucks run!”  And it’s when we leave these elected officials, many of whom are clearly lacking in any sense of self-decorum, self-respect and self-restraint, to do as they will with their very selfish motives.  It’s almost as though the political machine has become too big to rein in - and that’s dangerous too. 

It’s not as though John Q. Citizen is asleep at the wheel, he’s just tired.  He’s tired of sixteen sentence replies to questions that simply require a “yes” or “no” answer.  He’s sick of the very real issues that demand solutions being strong-armed onto the back burner so that room’s made for accusations of everything from racism to media-inspired political brawls.  Whether or not he’s Republican, Democrat or something in between just doesn’t matter anymore - and that is yet another danger.  This country’s built on freedoms - the freedom to proudly declare one’s political views, the freedom to demand changes and expect not only those demands be heard, but be addressed with real solutions and the freedom to kick political butt when the leaders become worse than two and three year old siblings fighting for the last Yoo Hoo in the fridge.

As my Grandma used to say, “Someone’s gotten a bit too big for her britches”.  I think I learned my lesson after the first couple times of being on the receiving end of her evil eye and fair warning of noticing my britches.  Maybe it’s time for a few evil eyes and declarations of my own towards those who have clearly outgrown their political britches.