I've just realized that i've turned into my dad. Somehow, somewhere along the line, I got sucked into the wonderful world of politics and and couldnt get free of it. How did this happen? Religous watching of Keith Olbermann and Rachael Maddow probably have something to do with it...

What gets me is that I now know not only more about the state of our country than the average 17 year old, but that I know enough to get, and laugh at, the jokes my parents and various other adults make at politicians' expense. Where has my sacrosanct innocence gone?

There are days when i seriously wish I could have that innocence back, because in my travels through the internet, I have come across things and people that make my heart literally ache for my country. From my eyes, we have become a nation of accusers and accused, and everyone is being accused of something at the same time they accuse someone of something else. We are a nation that holds a grudge, not against anyone who has done anything to warrant it, but against the innocent.

Where has the American spirit gone? Are we really so weak that we buckle under the slightest hardship? I think not, not from what is written in the history books. Americans are supposed to be a proud, steadfast, loyal group of individuals, but what i see today are anarchists who have no respect for the integrity of our country, traitors who would turn their backs on their fellows, and troublemakers who do nothing but try to turn us against each other. I ask again, is this what America has become?

I sincerely hope I'm wrong, I really hope that I've just seen things in the wrong light, that I'm just being cynical. But somehow, I don't think I am...