By demanding more from our politicians, for a start. I know, that's a big job, but we have the power to do it. We elect these rascals and cowards, we can un-elect them. Together we have the power to insist upon politicians we can trust.
The power elites count on our disgust with politics. They want us hopeless and jaded because a cynical voter is a docile voter. The very idea of electing trustworthy politicians must be unimaginable to us, hopelessly utopian and idealistic.
But some people are fighting against that bleak vision. Their movement is called "The Politics of Trust." If you want a reason to hope, I suggest you click on that link.
The Politics of Trust is building a community of voters who take a pledge not to vote for self-serving, untrustworthy leaders. It bridges the Snowden divide by reminding us that Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, our views don't matter if our politicians constantly betray them.
Organizing together in groups like the Politics of Trust is precisely what we need to do if we're to be more than data points on some NSA metadata chart.
What we don't need is to make a hero or traitor out of hapless Edward Snowden and we surely don't need to "bring him to justice." What we need is justice for us.
The government we get is the government we deserve. And cynics get even less. We can drown ourselves in cynicism with each new, totally unsurprising, business-as-usual revelation of government wrongdoing. We can continue to feign shock at the latest dirty deed, then vote for the same spineless cowards who acquiesced to it, once again.
Or we can try a little harder to find some honest politicians. We can insist upon politicians we can trust.
At least that way, if our trust is betrayed, we won't have to fake our horror. We'll have earned it.
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