Andrew

Gehrt
6/16/16

American Apathy, Anger and Admonishment

When someone defines another person as an American what does that

entail? A simple question that possesses a myriad of answers, more than likely all of
them correct as well. When someone looks at our history and the successes, failures,
challenges and triumphs of our country there is always one constant, the ideals of
the founding members of our nation.

The founding fathers left us with very specific explanations of the principles

they intended every future American to be able to hold to as their common

denominator in times of the deepest and darkest struggles. They gave us liberty,
freedom and guarantees of basic human rights, all included and protected in the
constitution written some 330 years ago. Since that time much has changed in our
country, some would say for the better and some for the worse. Reflecting on where
we are now we must ask ourselves the simple question: what unifying quality do we
share as Americans today?

The painful, terrible and despicable events that occurred this weekend in

Orlando should serve as a stark reminder that we are a nation of people with
different values and beliefs, different preference and different views and that
difference should be a strength rather than the weakness it is today. So far fifty
American lives were stolen from us that we can never gain back. 50 American
people who were living their own life, the way that they wanted to, towards the
future they decided they wanted and all of that possible because of the freedoms we
are guaranteed as basic human rights. All of those people and their aspirations were
snuffed as a result of one mans decision. This tragedy has become the focal point of
a sharp rift of our nation. Instead of rallying around the victims and their loved ones
to give and gain support and love, we have turned their deaths into a political and
ideological shouting match. We should be outraged and ashamed of ourselves at the
complete lack of respect for our fallen brothers and sisters. Before their spilled

blood had dried there were fingers being pointed, accusations made and politics
played.

A man went to a gay bar and opened up fire on innocent civilians and people

died. This murderer proclaimed loyalty to I.S.I.Si, who then praised his actions and
claimed him as a fighterii. He used firearms to commit the murders, a rifle and
handguniii. He was investigated and later cleared by the F.B.I. and was not on any
current watch list at the time he purchased the weaponsiv. He killed people for who
they were, because of who he was, what he thought, what he believed, and what he
hated; the end result was an attack on the lives of Americans, all Americans. How
did we choose to respond? Surely with respect and lamentation for the deceased is
the only appropriate response; what country would be so cold as to politicize a mass
murder in order to push their policies or beliefs against fellow countrymen?

The sitting President of the United States of America addressed the nation

after the atrocities of Orlando. Historically speaking, a response from the President
after a tragedy is to mourn the loss, lead the nation, quell fear and reignite hope in
our principles. What occurred was a speech in which we saw our President speak
for roughly three minutes and thirty-two secondsv before turning the conversation
away from the victims and to a political agenda. This was followed by elected
representatives of both parties using this loss of life to accuse the other side of the
aisle with the fault for the murdersvi; then the calls for action by threatening the
strength of our constitutionally protected rights by the ones we trusted to represent
us. Our source of news in the nation is blatantly cherry-picking statistics, misleading
headlines and doing the American people a disservice by adding flames to the fire,
all to increase viewership and support political agendas.

Even with all these things that have occurred the most saddening and

worrisome response to come from this tragedy is not from the government, its
officials or the media; the most disappointing reaction to all of this is the reaction of
the American people. We have turned against ourselves to a level of opposition not
seen since the American Civil War; what is worse is we seem we seem not to even
care. We have become a nation so polarized by politics that we have shifted to
viewpoints and proposals that simultaneously threaten the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th

amendments; documents created by the people to protect our rights from

government overreach. We have effectively decided that four out of the first five
amendments that collectively serve as the foundation of American identity are no
longer necessary because we are scared.

Some are arguing that we should allow the government to disregard our

privacy and right to be free from any unreasonable search or seizure. Probable
cause is a thing of the past as long as we advocate for an arbitrary list compiled by
the government of which we know not the qualifications, ramifications or names on
the list in the first place; those placed on the list are not given any opportunity to
appeal, and probable cause was never establishedvii. Somehow we are ok with that
list because it makes us feel safer, its a shame they wasted all that ink writing the
constitution and all the American lives fighting for it, only to be willfully threatened
by the people it was created to protect.

We the people need to rise up and defend our guaranteed rights as citizens

rather than supporting government officials to further threaten them. We need to

regain our voice in the government founded to govern for the people, not over them.
We need to realize that we are destroying our constitution by supporting measures
created by the very people it protects us from. We have shifted the focus to terror as
the new threat and decided that any pesky amendment in the way is an acceptable
casualty of war.

We are fighting terrorism because those people hate us, hate our beliefs, hate

our government and hate our freedom. The most tragically ironic part of all of this is
that we are the biggest allies in supporting those who use terror against us. We have
become apathetic with our government and angry at each other. We are openly
fighting and threatening each other and our rights are caught in the crossfire. How
can anyone argue that our response to Orlando shows anything other than the
successful result of terror against us? We are so afraid of x, y and z that we dont
care what it takes to make it go away. We are our own domestic agents of terror so
long as we decide to stay polarized without any willingness to work together for
solutions.

How do we heal from this? What could possibly help the people of this

country in a scenario where people hate each other simply because of the party they
vote for? How is it that we have become ok with senators and congressman
representing us for 50viii years straight? Why are we allowing people to spend an
entire career in a position of power and when challenged will lie, cheat, steal and
break laws just to keep that power? The only way for our country to rise out of this
mess is for the citizens of the country to step up and serve their fellow countrymen.
We need people in government that will willingly work together in order to promote
the interests of the American people. The people need to find their voice again; that
will not happen on accident.

Until we realize that we are missing a justice on the Supreme Court because

one party doesnt like the otherix nothing will change. Until we stand up and demand
to end the notion that we should accept a trade agreement we arent allowed to seex,
nothing will change. Until we stop accusing each other of being the problem, we will
not begin to discover the solution. The apathy of American involvement into the
politicians we elect is, at the very least, a direct result of the state of our nation
today.

If we allow the deaths in Orlando to justify the weakening of the constitution

then we have forfeited to terrorism and will never recover. The source of strength of
this great country is the people that are found within it. Our identity as Americans is
rooted in our constitutional rights; never forsake them.


i Evan Perez, Omar Mateen Pledged Allegiance to ISIS, Officials Say. Cable News Network, June 12
2016, accessed June 16, 2016. http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/12/us/orlando-shooter-omarmateen/
ii Ahmed Aboulenein, Islamic State claims responsibility for Orlando nightclub shooting, Reuters,
June 12, 2016. Accessed June 16, 2016. http://www.reuters.com/article/us-florida-shooting-claimidUSKCN0YY0VU
iii Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. Twitter Post. June 12th 2016,
https://twitter.com/ATFHQ/status/742105007693156352
iv ISIS Claims Responsibility for Orlando Mass Shooting, CBS News, June 12, 2016, accessed June 16,
2016. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/mass-shooting-at-orlando-nightclub-pulse-isis-takesresponsibility/
v President Barack Obama, Statement on Orlando (Speech, Washington D.C., June 12th 2016), The
White House, https://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2016/06/12/president-obama-tragic-shootingorlando


vi Kristina Peterson, Democrats Push Gun Control as GOP Blames Mideast Policy in Wake of
Orlando, The Wall Stret Journal, updated June 16th 2016, accessed June 16th, 2016,
http://www.wsj.com/articles/senators-negotiate-over-possible-gun-curbs-after-orlando-shooting1466083656
vii Latif v. Holder, District of Oregon, 3:10-cv-00750-BR, United States District Court District of Oregon
9th Circuit Appeals, (OR 2014), https://www.aclu.org/sites/default/files/assets/no_fly_list_ruling___latif_v._holder_-_6-24-14.pdf
viii Congressman John Conyers, Jr., Detailed Biography, United States House of Representatives,
accessed June 16, 2016. https://conyers.house.gov/about/detailed-biography
ix Joseph Tanfani, McConnell says Obamas Supreme Court Nominee wont even have a vote after the
election, The Los Angeles Time, March 20th 2016, accessed June 16, 2016.
http://www.latimes.com/nation/politics/la-na-mcconnell-supreme-court-20160320-story.html
x Hazel Sheffield, TPP Trade Agreement Text Wont be made Public for Four Years, The Independent,
October 5th 2015, accessed June 16 2016, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/tpptrade-agreement-text-won-t-be-made-public-for-four-years-a6680476.html