We Can Stop, and We Did Stop (the Government)

This week we worked on reading 'The Virginia Convention' by Patrick Henry, here Henry's zeal leaps off the page at us through his use of diction and rhetorical questions. In the face of political unrest he proposes a plan, a plan that we see he is very passionate about. It is similar to other writings of the time that have to do with politics, such as 'Common Sense' by Thomas Payne and Sam Adams' propaganda newspapers. Henry has a plan and calls us to action, while also igniting a sense of patriotism. Today in America we are once again facing political unrest in the form of a government shutdown. Yet, citizens (myself included) meet this with a rather lax attitude. When asked, many are upset by the fact that a simple disagreement has resulted in withholding pay and shut down of major attraction nationwide. But, when we look at day to day life I have seen little more than a few confused tweets. It looks to the masses as though we all assume the situation will simply fix itself soon enough. It's a punchline for late night comics, and also Miley Cyrus in an SNL skit featuring dancing elephant backpacks to replace her infamous dancing teddy bears and foam fingers. Is it that we have lost patriotism, that there is not a great enough devotion to our country that our citizens demand that we stop the nonsense and return to being an example for the free world. Or is it that we have faith in America, knowing our abilities and quietly believing that all things happen for a reason, and all shall be right again soon enough.