On a ride from Newberry, South Carolina to a cousin’s home in Rock Hill, my efforts to scout for talk radio stations proved fruitless. It’s not that talk radio was nowhere to be found on the airwaves, but rather that every single talk radio station was discussing Social Security.

That really gives you perspective on the kind of person that listens to talk radio.

But why is everyone obsessed with Social Security? Especially in dealing with people who get denied benefits, I am increasingly disturbed that people rely on Social Security as a pension. Social Security is security in the sense that a second job helps keep you going when times are tough. But that hardly anyone, even in this awful market, has put any planning into retirement is really stupid. Hearing the tales of accomplished individuals who now live on meager budgets because of foresight failure is simply inexcusable, and for anyone who had the opportunity to save income and chose not to do it (that means you, baby boomers), I have no sympathy.

The worst are those who wail on big government and have the nerve to draw a Social Security check. Money’s money, but it’s better where your mouth is than in your pocket. That doesn’t mean Social Security shouldn’t be reformed (it’s obviously a failing system) as soon as possible, but I get the feeling that people don’t even think about how their own ideas would nearly kill them –  including specific people I know who have little to no means of income other than a government check.

On the other hand, those who are truly on low income and are desperately in need of the help certainly have right to complain about being stiffed Social Security, given that they are truly eligible. I think society has failed a lot of our citizens in poverty. This is not an excuse for lack of rational capacity, however. Or gratefulness.

Plenty of individuals feel uncomfortable at the fanfare explosion that typically accompanies Independence Day weekend in the United States. Maybe, at a time when our country is dramatically shifting, we should keep our celebrations respectful, if not somber.

#teaparties and Confederate flags maybe aren’t the best way to celebrate a nation whose hard work has led her to unprecedented success. A nagging sense that America does not have long at the apex of global politics and economy tends to make our cries of “America is number one!” considerably louder, or forced-sounding, than before — or maybe, given our increased consciousness of our arrogant attitude in the face of deposition,  we wish to save the embarrassment of being shoved on our asses after a round of trash talking the rest of the world. Truthfully, however, the rest of the world saves earplugs for our more joyous occasions.

It’s not traitorous or unpatriotic to suggest that we should stop publicly claiming that we’re the best land in the world or, as some would suggest, blessed by god. The reality is that we can make these things clear by our continuing prosperity and a return to the values that led to our success, and not the values that come with success.

Hypocritically, we scoff at other states whose nationalistic pride seems to be the only thing they have going for them. The word freedom constantly lingers on our tongues as a comeback to questions of American integrity. Yet maintaining, furthering the freedom we treasure is a continuous, never-to-be-completed process, which in light of changing political momentum leads a new side of debate to believe that this may be the last Independence Day on which we are truly independent. Obama’s campaign rhetoric of transparency and a nearly complete failure to follow through on that essential promise is frustrating to his most ardent supporters.

For us to continue our independence, we must display and examine everything. Keeping under lock and key the pictures of our atrocities at Abu Ghraib  serves as one of many obstacles to an essential understanding that this great nation has considerable room to improve when it comes to respecting both our own freedoms and those of others. If we continue to defend our  human rights abuses, blatant disrespect for the ethnicity, nationality, or religion of our neighbors, censorship, and right of nations to sovereignty, we ourselves cannot truly be free.

We are not protecting our freedom by attending to foreign threats when a desperate and selfish desire for self-preservation as the supreme nation works to the contrary. The invisible hand should be augmented by a viable framework not only in our economy but in our politics. For every step forward we make in civil rights or liberation of information or ethics standards we inch forward to complacency and a freedom-cancelling paranoia based off of the disturbing conclusion that an America that is not superior in any aspect is not an America worth living in.

Our culture and attitude minus the in-your-face freedom-wagging shit-talking is what leads us to become a more perfect Union. Our reverence for hard work and willingness to adapt to new ideas becomes bogged down by our putting  of finding new uses for the skills of our hardest workers who in turn refuse to leave behind irrelevant jobs.

We’re a nation where countless poor minorities are taught as children that they will never succeed through agonizing experience in a world decaying around them because of this same, self-perpetuating attitude. We argue against the “rationing” of rudimentary rights such as healthcare when in fact, healthcare, education, and even opportunity are rationed based on our wealth.

May our July fireworks set off fireworks inside the heads of our future great thinkers. I’m confident that we will meet these challenges as we have met every other.

The most commonly overlooked aspect of American government is that laws are separated by locality. It seems obvious to us when we think about traffic laws, gun laws, or age of consent — but when we need help, that distinction never seems to cross our mind. When people have a problem with government, they go to the government. But people often aren’t approaching their issue at the right level of government — namely, people contact the federal government regarding problems over which the federal government has little to no jurisdiction.

Here’s one quick question that people can’t seem to answer consistently: If you have a problem with the Texas Workforce Commission, who do you call?

The answer is obvious — and in the name. You call Texas government, because the organization is run by Texas.

So what makes so many Texans think that federal government (namely members of Congress) will be able to help you solve a problem handled by the Texas government?

One conversation I had when redirecting a constituent to his State Represenative went roughly so:

“Sir, the Texas Workforce Commission is a Texas agency. I can redirect you to your Texas State Senator and Representative, who may be able to help you.”

“Well I contacted them already… but I thought maybe if you got Charlie (Rep. Charles Gonzalez, D-TX) to bring out the big guns, things might get done faster.”

“I can take note of your complaint, but it would be inappropriate for the Congressman to step outside of the limits of his office.”

“Well let him know, I’m sure when he hears this he’ll get on it. You know, I met his father…”

Seriously? Is this how uneducated the citizenry is? I get calls about City Public Service, local/state crime (those incarcerated in state detention facilities love contacting US Congressmen to ask for pardons), neighbor complaints, and all sorts of bizarre things that have nothing to do with the federal government and probably never will (despite complaints that we’re becoming some sort of socialist state, we enjoy remarkable freedom of self-government).

The next time you want to call an official, think: on of what level of government does your agency sit?

Then call.

Calling one’s congressperson is for obvious reasons the most effective way to participate in American political discourse. Yet with each Representative representing some  500,000-600,000 constituents, it’s necessary to keep a realistic (not pessimistic) perspective on how much your opinion can affect policy. There are a couple of obvious things — if your congressperson is not middle-of-the-road, asking him to transgress party platform lines is not going to change his opinion. Additionally, responding to legislation that has already passed means you’re too late right off the bat. Does that mean you should’t call? No. You should call even if you will not get your way, because that is how you are heard, and that is how we know that constituents are not complacent.

By far the worst sin concerned Americans make when taking action is calling the congressperson of a district in which they have not established constituency. Reasons for doing so include ignorance, and more justifiably, calling regarding a committee. However, there are a number of tools to help you check constituency; here in San Antonio we usually use the Bexar County election’s homepage because the vast majority of misdirected calls are due to changing district lines.

That is no excuse. If you are calling because you want to know who your congressman is, that’s fine, and we’re more than happy to get you where you need to go. Otherwise, it’s time to go back to government class.

America is a Representative Democracy.

If you are not a constituent of a congressperson, they do NOT represent you. They are not obligated to listen to you just because you pay taxes. Individuals with limited sight get pissy and tell all of their friends when I explain to them that their taxes go toward their own representative. You don’t vote for 434 of 435 Representatives, and you don’t vote for 48 out of 50 of United States Senators. They really don’t have to care about you outside of the possibility that you might come campaign against them — and that’s a job done by party organizations, anyway.

That isn’t to say there aren’t times when it is totally appropriate to contact other congressmen — but it’s worth knowing that nine times out of ten, you’re going to get redirected back to the office you should really be calling.

I’m working for Representative Charlie Gonzalez (TX-20) at his District Office in San Antonio. Thus, I found material for this blog!

From now on, you’ll see posts about interning in a Congressional Office interspersed with political commentary coming from that perspective.

I’m small game in the political world (if you can call answering the phone and writing letters participation), but I this is an important perspective — not from the outside in, or from the inside out, from from the bottom up.