Recently I've been monitoring an ongoing protest movement in which many of you, my fellow internet denizens, have been

eager to share links, videos, and other thoughts from. This movement, known as "Occupy Wallstreet", is a loose confederation of protestors that are experiencing a swell in membership and media traction as their message of anti-business resonates with a population mired in the deep slump of a stalled recovery that is continuing to slide back into recession. It comes on the heels of another popular grass roots political initiative, known as the "Tea Party" (though the two are not related outside of popularity and indeed trend towards different political alignment.)

This is not a new phenomenon. Often in times of economic malaise, the populace searches for an individual or entity in order to fulfill that ever desirable urge to find out whose fault was it. Whose fault was it? How many times has something bad happened to you or someone you know and experience this as the first reaction? I am willing to wager that it occurs often. The desire to blame is a simple truth of human nature.

Now, let us return to the matter at hand. The American economy is mired in a deep slump due to a variety of factors (deficit, housing bubble, and war are common talking points) that all add up to one thing; The average American citizen is being paid less (or unemployed) and having to spend more on goods, and is being taxed more but receiving less from the federal government. These are excellent reasons to protest! As an American citizen, it is your ABSOLUTE RIGHT to hold the government accountable for its actions, and I think any sane citizen can look at the last decade and see that mistakes have been made, perhaps more egregious than at any other point in our nation's history.

But who is to blame? Isn't that all that matters? Who led us down this path of national decline and economic ruin? Who allowed the government to become so radicalized along two opposing ideologies that the art of the compromise has been lost? Who let American jobs go overseas and allowed government policies and allotments to infringe on the average American's employment? Who is to blame? Who? Who? WHO?

You did.

That's right people; this is the answer that no one wants to face. You, the American citizen, are responsible for what our country is and why.

But that's crazy! I'm just one person, alone, trying to live my life! How is it MY fault that the Federal Reserve de-coupled our currency from the gold standard? How is it MY fault that the country is burdened by a crippling deficit? How is it MY fault that corporations and CEO's drown themselves in profit while citizens go hungry on the street?

It's quite simple really. You forgot what government is, and you forgot why it exists, and you forgot WHO holds it accountable.

Abraham Lincoln knew who controlled the government. He knew that it wasn't an electoral college, or Congress, or even the high Office of the President of the United States of America that held the power to enact change. He stood on the smoldering embers of a battlefield where thousands of citizens died on the orders of two governments, and reminded us that this is a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

You turned to people you didn't understand and didn't believe in to run it for you, so you could focus on your life, your family, your little slice of the American dream. You allowed those people to organize, to form political parties, caucuses, lobbying firms, special interest groups, and unions. You, the citizens of the United States of America, a nation formed in the boiling crucible of the oppression of a totalitarian state and an iron monarch who ruled from afar, a people that rose up and broke the chains of taxation and governmental oppression in the name of LIBERTY have allowed these men (and women) to toil under the guise of serving you whilst instead serving their own interests.

These people, if we can be allowed to extend that term to them, created a self-perpetuating system of government that breeds, selects, and presents political figures that resonate with the masses during the idyllic courtship of the electoral process, and show their true colors once they have gained office. The average citizen doesn't know anything about these men and women, where they came from and why, and who is guiding their political aims.

Let me give you some examples, my dear readers. Barack Obama has and continues to be portrayed by the media as a working class man who rose from the Chicago streets into political life and ascended to the Presidency on a swell of hope and optimism not seen in the political process for some time. But who is he really? Does it surprise you to know that Barack Obama has been in politics and community organization since the age of 20? Does it concern you to know that Mr. Obama has NEVER worked in anything except law and politics?

Don't even get me started on George W. Bush, a blue blood product of an elitist family masqueraded as a working class stiff and cowboy hero to the people who knew little and less about the machinations of government than he did about the proper protocol needed to swallow a pretzel.

How is it that we willingly hand the keys to the most complex economy and government on earth to men and women who have never held REAL JOBS, who don't understand worrying about the price of milk and the worrying sound of a child's cough in a family with no medical coverage? Why did CITIZENS stop governing this country, and why has an elitist caste taken over in their stead?

Because they gave you what you wanted.

You wanted education, so they gave you public schools. You wanted bridges, so they built them for you. You wanted colonies, land, and resources to build with, so they went to war for you. You wanted healthcare, energy, retirement, wages, statues, buildings, jobs, and the list goes on and one. You wanted these things but forgetting the spirit in which our nation was founded, you wanted all of these things GIVEN TO YOU.

You wanted education, but our public schools are the laughingstock of the world. My parents spent twenty thousand dollars a year to send me to a MILITARY BOARDING SCHOOL, which includes room, board, a laptop, and a world class education that statesmen and dictators alike recognize and send their children to partake in. The average cost to educate a PUBLIC SCHOOL STUDENT in my home county in New York is twenty five thousand dollars a year. You wanted public schools so you wouldn't have to pay to send your child to school, but you pay more in taxes now than you would to send them to a private school. Are you getting your money's worth?

You wanted bridges and public works built for you, but you allowed politicians to build them to nowhere through pork barrel spending, while levies failed and PEOPLE DIED in New Orleans.

You wanted healthcare, so the government reformed it. The average rise of healthcare prices before the changes was roughly 2%. The average rise in health care prices this year? 9% Are you getting what you wanted?

You wanted cheap energy, so the government subsidized it, giving oil companies tax breaks that are the envy of corporate America. Exxon Valdez recorded PROFITS OF 10.7 BILLION DOLLARS last quarter, while your gas prices climbed north of four dollars a gallon. Did you know you probably paid a higher percentage of your income in taxes last year than they did?

You wanted the government to manage your retirement for you, and they used the money you put in to pay for it for their own discretionary spending in their home states and districts in exchange for votes. You wanted the government to regulate wages, and create jobs for you, but you didn't realize that in doing so it would drive jobs out of the country and allow for loans to companies like Solyndra, the solar panel manufacturer that received over 500 MILLION DOLLARS from the federal government and is currently bankrupt.

You wanted everything and anything, you wanted it bought and paid for and handed to you on a platter by a smiling politician with slicked back hair and blazing white teeth who would pat you on the head like a dog and tell you "Good boy, now off to the election booth with you!" and what you got was a rotten mess akin to the final days of Rome, Greece, and every other Republic where THE CITIZEN HAS ABDICATED RESPONSIBILITY.

The man I consider our first citizen wrote once of what would come to pass if this happened. He foresaw the ease in which the citizen would be seduced by the promise of organized men and women who would softly coo into their ears about what they would bring home to you if they and their party were elected. This humble man warned of the dangers of entangling our fates into a political party system that would radicalize and deify people and objects as a sleight of hand to perpetuate their power, and we ignored him.

Who was this wise sage?

GEORGE MOTHERFUCKING WASHINGTON.

Why is the "Tea Party" and "Occupy Wall Street" such an irritation to me? Because you, YOU, THE PEOPLE are rising to rally together, to fight for what you perceive to be injustice in solidarity with your fellow men and women, a DUTY that all American citizens have, but

YOU ARE DOING IT FOR THE WRONG CAUSE, FOR THE WRONG REASON, AGAINST THE WRONG ENEMY.

Wall Street isn't at fault for the state of the economy. The state of the government isn't the fault of the Democrats or the Republicans, or the god damned Whigs if you want to take it back that far. The blame doesn't lie with an organization, a party, or any other solitary individual or entity on this earth except the person whose eyes now rest on this modern truth:

YOU, THE CITIZEN, ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS GOVERNMENT AND THIS COUNTRY.

So ladies and gentlemen, friends and enemies, before you pick up your placards and sandwich signs with witty sayings in hopes of seeing yourself on Foxnews, before you chain yourself to a brokerage and sing Kumbaya in hopes of making the editorial page of the New York Times,

BEFORE YOU EXPEND ENERGY TO EXERCISE YOUR POLITICAL WILL, YOU MUST FIRST REALIZE THE PROBLEM BEFORE ATTEMPTING TO FIND A SOLUTION.

And the problem is you.