Why is it so easy to pander to our fears? The week’s headlines are a great example of this. Every day, the newspaper spouted doom. But, isn’t the real issue lack of accountability and taking up our own responsibilities? Now that we’re in an election year, it is even more popular to pander to our fears. The media has long held the mantra, “If it bleeds it leads,” but the question I have is, “When will we say enough is enough!”?

Between all 305 million Americans, shouldn’t we have some better ideas about how to manage our country? Collectively, we know a heck of a lot. You betcha! We have plumbers, electricians, car mechanics, bike mechanics, bus mechanics, bakers, English professors, writers, journalists, carpenters, inventors, seamstresses, designers, architects, cooks, chefs, the list goes on… Between us all, shouldn’t we be able to figure out how to make things run without adding more to a deep deficit?

My mother used to tell me (often) as a kid, “Get your priorities straight!” Now, I hear those words echoed as I read the daily paper, listen to the news, and see how embroiled we are in this Culture of Fear. Let’s do as Peter Finch as Max Schumacher did in Network and declare, “We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it anymore!”

There is a better way to run our lives, and the sooner we realize it the sooner we can stop playing victim to the idiots in Washington or others who think they run our country.