If you want a better world, you have to work for it

Stop asking Joe Biden (or any politician) to fix everything, and then blaming him when it isn’t fixed in thirty days. Problems are always with us, personally and as a nation. Our best solutions are always forged and achieved (even if only partially) with other people. Why don’t we discuss our issues, realistically, without hyperbole, and try some small steps towards a better community?

If you want better border security, then be prepared to pay more for goods and services. Because the corporations want cheaper labor, paying for as few benefits as possible, they line politicians’ pockets, and then border security is “surprisingly” lax.

If you want a more just society, attend your local town council meeting and demand that law enforcement be trained and held responsible for their actions.

If you want better schools, and hopefully better citizens in the future, then stop whining about every tax increase that supports public schools.

If you want action on climate change, then drive an electric car, don’t buy a new cell phone every year and make sure your food is sustainably produced.

Finally, if you want a responsive government (local, state and federal), then don’t just vote, but inform yourself about who you are voting for.

Don’t vote for people who are primarily looking to consolidate their power and line their pockets.

If they become unresponsive and self-interested, then throw them out in the next election. This is our country; it doesn’t belong to the president, the Congress or the Supreme Court. They are individual citizens, just like you and me.

They have no more power than what we temporarily grant them — when they serve our interests!

We will only save our democracy and our country by taking personal responsibility and working on these issues together.

— Candace Smith, Boulder