Americans can alter course of nasty politics

Bernie Layne, Las Vegas

Friday, May 7, 2010 | 2:03 a.m.

Wake up, America! What happened to crowning “thy good with brotherhood, from sea to shining sea”?

When did we decide to close our hearts and minds to our fellow men? When did we decide to abdicate our responsibilities to think and evaluate instead of marching like lemmings to the tune of the media Pied Pipers into the sea of ignorance and intolerance?

Don’t we recognize how radio and television hosts, for example, are becoming multimillionaires because we are too lazy to think for ourselves? Must we allow the Murdochs to convince us that what is best for them is best for us?

Can’t we recognize that naysayers and rabble rousers aren’t commentators at all but are self-serving agitators? Anyone can write anything on the Internet and e-mail and we must understand that most of the garbage is just that, figments of the imagination and vicious garbage. We must consider the source and motivation of our information.

We haven’t lost our freedom to think and the right to vote and express our opinions at the polls. Are we so fearful that we have to rely on guns instead of ballots to defend our true freedoms?

Our real problem is with ourselves, not our representatives. We send them to office and we decide what our preferences may be, and we can change them periodically if we are not content.

It is time for the polarization to stop. It is time to think of country and neighbor instead of only what is best for the political party. It is time to stop lying to ourselves in trying to justify our own prejudices and pettiness and think of what is best for the future.