To the Editor:

What will it take for the everyday citizen to become as interested and concerned in the deterioration of our country as they are in obtaining the latest app for their iPhone? Or being as interested in what the president and congress are doing as in the seemingly 24/7 NFL games? Move on, people, nothing to see here, just the country turned upside down from who we were, go back to your gizmos and hoo-rah sports games.

Don’t get me wrong I grew up waiting for Sunday afternoon to root on my favorite NFL team and then spent the best part of Monday morning talking about it. But wait, is there something going on? Let’s see, national debt around $17 trillion; our own government giving weapons and training to the very people they said attacked us on 9-11; unemployment officially at 7.3 percent, though let’s not talk about the number of part-time workers, workers in temporary roles or those who have just decided to quit looking for jobs and the real unemployment rate (not government calculated); 47 million people on food stamps (oh, actually they’re not messy stamps or paper anymore, but slick debit card styles); and there are actually people recruiting for new applicants (recruiting, I said); just over 10 million people on disability; and an education system that “honors” graduates who couldn’t pass an eighth-grade test from the previous century. With the before-mentioned list, it seems we’d be ready to storm Washington D.C., ourselves and put some sense into those buffoons we elected. But we’re not…well, maybe those loony Tea partiers are trying to, but not us regular folks.

Something has gone quite wrong.

We have given up caring for our country.

The majority of us, or at least is seems the majority of us, have no clue what is happening in local, state level or national politics. Politics? What did you say?..sounds boring, yada-yada-yah. Well, I’m doing fine and I still have my job and my kids are getting good grades. I did hear some employees will be cut back in hours to part time so we can get our Obama care coverage. Hhmm, seems small enough sacrifice, they’ll be alright I’m sure. Probably qualify for a free phone. Leave well enough alone, I say. I have mine, so who cares. Neighbor’s son went to Afghanistan and was killed. “Af-where?”

Wake up, America.
Jonathan Varnell Franklin