An Obligation to Believe

In 2009, when a new president has become commander-in-chief of our armed forces, the war in Iraq will be approaching its sixth year. For six years, Americans will have fought and died for a cause that has become quite hard to define. Now, as we look into ourselves, to our politicians, and to our men and women serving bravely, we see a deep divide over which direction this war should take. Regardless of where each of us stand in this fundamental debate, we cannot ignore the larger war we are fighting at home, a war between belief and despair; between hope and despondency. For if those who have lost all faith remain in control, we have forgotten what it is that our men and women are truly fighting for, what millions before them have died for.

Recently, I had a friend tell me that one can choose not to vote if they so please. And yes, this is true, because if there is anything protected in this supposedly democratic society in which we live, it is that fundamental right to choose. Yet I could not help but be furious at this response. Can we really ignore the greatest right delegated to the people in our constitution? Well, we should certainly feel awfully guilty about doing so; millions of men and women have fought and died for that right and 140,000 are fighting right now (at least in principle) to continue to protect that right, and all the rights of American citizens.

The founders knew that the success of the brilliant system they had created would hinge on the continuing efforts of citizens in making themselves informed and responsible for a country that belongs to its people. Many of them warned against the evils of party and division that could eventually come to disrupt the balance of a democratic system. Yet now, in the most desperate of times, at a point when America’s reputation is nearly shattered, when its economy is tenuous at best, and when its people are divided deeply along fundamental ideological differences, that right which the founders put all of their faith in, has been brought to the brink of extinction by the faithless and despondent.

A divided and ineffective government has led the latest generation into despair and subsequently, many have lost all faith in the efficacy of the system. Can this faith be restored? Can a system, which necessitates enormous involvement and enthusiasm for true success, become reality? If the faithless and despondent are the majority: than the answer is no. How can a nation of hopeless citizens ever hope to change their country? The hopeless complain about the system’s feebleness; about its lack of success in handling economic disparity and addressing division, but the hopeless don’t go to the polls and vote for leaders that will turn it around. They expect results first. They want the system to somehow prove itself worthy of their participation in the system, and this is not only unrealistic, but it is the greatest evil of all. It is apathy and it is indifference.

Finally, there is a candidate out there, who has the ability to capture the minute amounts of hope remaining in the loyal and desperately faithful citizens. There is someone who carries the hope of change, not only the physical change of ending a war and restoring American power, but also that intangible change of optimism and efficiency. There is finally a candidate who can unite the citizens who are desperately hoping for a society they can vaguely remember, a society some have merely read about in history books. We cannot ignore that enthusiasm. Whether you support that man, or even just admire his inspirational zeal, you must, we must, choose to believe.