Dictatorship or Democracy?

This may sound a little drastic but I'll explain. We live in a democracy- or I guess if you get down to it, we live in a republic democracy. In my communications class we have been discussing the importance and purpose of journalism. The purpose of journalism is to increase the public's interest in what is going on and portraying the facts so that they can make an educated decision.

I will admit, I have a love/hate relationship with politics. I've never been one to get into the news or even newspapers (funny that I am now going into journalism which feeds into the news and newspapers, but I DO like having a voice). Anyways, I have sometimes avoided politics because I felt the system was corrupt. I'm not sure I disagree with this statement now, but I also have grown to love politics. I LIKE being involved and I feel everyone should be.

So onto my title- it may be a little extreme but I think it helps us see the issue at stake. People complain about how Obama is making our country communist, or trying to form a dictatorship. Fears also that have been made extreme to generate a larger audience. The thing is, a lot of people DON'T agree with what Obama is doing, so they create fear in what COULD happen. And I guess it's true, to an extent. But we still live in a democracy, and if we USE that power, then nothing that drastic can happen.

BUT are WE allowing it to go TOWARDS dictatorship by not participating in our democracy? We have a voice if we choose to use it. We can vote. We can write letters to our representatives and senators that we elected (the republican aspect of our government). If we choose not to speak, collectively as a population, then who IS speaking? Only the Senate, the House of Representatives and the President. So maybe not a dictatorship of one person, but if we do not participate WE are limiting the amount of voices in our government.

So going back to my Obama post- instead of taking the time to write and send around hate mail- why not write a letter about WHY you don't agree and send that around, and if people agree MAYBE they'll start sending it into their representatives as well. There are always at least two sides to a situation, but if we never speak up, how can we blame someone else for our government becoming more of a dictatorship for our OWN laziness at being involved? Sending hate mail does NOTHING, and so it is NOT being involved. So be heard, write your thoughts and seek to inform people of your opinion in a way that can actually generate a result, and send it to people who can DO something about it. Hate is not the answer- creating fear in people isn't the answer- or at least I don't think it is. That's how Hitler gained his support- he played on the emotions without INFORMING enough so people could make LOGICAL decisions that could've brought them out of their depression without starting a world war. Participate and don't HATE!