Knock, knock....

Who's there?

It's your conscious.

What?

Your conscious.

But, I don't understand....

That's obvious.

Okay, what do you want?

I'm here to remind you about your rights.

What rights?

The rights that thousands of your forebears bled, cried, fought and died for. The rights that your forebears believed were the gift of God.

Yeah, so?

They left those rights in your care; to defend and uphold them. So that you could pass them on to your children and their children after them. They wanted you to be vigilant againt any attempt by your hired servants to encroach upon them.

Yeah, but isn't that what our hired servants are supposed to do? Besides, I'm busy. I have to work in order to pay my bills and put food on the table! And then I need to unwind by watching my favorite shows, and going to my baseball and football games.

Yeah, the Romans called that "bread and games" [panem et circenses]. Which were intended by the tyrants of that day to destract the freemen from their duty. As Marcus Tullius Cicero had noted:

   "The evil was not in bread & circuses, per se, but in the willingness of people to sell their rights as freemen for full bellies and the excitement of the games which would serve to distract them from the other human hungers which bread and Circuses can never appease."

Yeah, but I work hard. And I need to relax after working all day. Besides, like I said, aren't my hired servants supposed to "secure" those rights for me?

Does it make any sense to you at all, that the ones which are most likely to have an interest in removing your rights are the safest hands to put them in?

Well no, now that you mention it. But still, what can I do about it? I'm only one guy.

It is your duty to awaken yourself out of the slumber you've been in. As well as to awaken your fellow citizens out of their slumber. And as Samuel Adams noted:

   "It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people's minds."

Okay, I can see that. But still, those hired servants of ours have all of the arms!

Not true, We The People are the most heavily armed people in all of the world. But your duty doesn't necessarily involve the use of those arms. As is noted by Thomas Paine:

   “The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian; while on the other hand, arms, like law, discourage and keep the invader and the plunderer in awe, and preserve order in the world as well as property. The balance of power is the scale of peace. The same balance would be preserved were all the world destitute of arms, for all would be alike; but since some will not, others dare not lay them aside. And while a single nation refuses to lay them down, it is proper that all should keep them up. Horrid mischief would ensue were one-half the world deprived of the use of them; for while avarice and ambition have a place in the heart of man, the weak will become a prey to the strong. The history of every age and nation establishes these truths, and facts need but little arguments when they prove themselves.”–Thomas Paine, “Thoughts on Defensive War” in Pennsylvania Magazine (July 1775); signed “A Lover Of Peace”.

Yeah, that makes sense. But it doesn't seem to be hindering our hired servants from carrying out their designs.

Obviously you still are not paying attention. Look more closely at what Mr. Paine had written; "The supposed quietude of a good man allures the ruffian...". The threat of arms is meaningless unless the tyrants have a valid fear that those arms could be used against them....

Well how do we do that?

The angry concerted scream of millions will open even the dullest of ears....
 Man, I thought "knock, knock" jokes were supposed to be funny!