Government Accountability ...

So I was thinking about a political science class I had a couple of years ago, and a survey which was mentioned briefly during one lecture. There is an international organization out there designed to rate governments on their transparency versus corruption. I don't remember exactly where the US fell (it is 13 right now), but I do remember that Finland was rated to have the least corrupt government in the world. Here is the thing: It also had the most suspicious people in the world. The country with the population which had the lowest opinion of its government also had the least corrupt government. If you think about it, this makes sense. It is a cause and effect relationship. People rule the government in a democratic society, a point which I cannot raise enough. When people are so suspicious of the government that they look for everything it does wrong, that is the healthiest thing possible for a society. When people do that, the government cannot get away with corrupt or dishonest activities. There is a lesson in this. People trusted Obama all through his campaign, with everything he did not say, and every issue he did not address, they trusted him. I did not, but now that is of no significance. NOW, however, NOW they need to start questioning everything he does. Please question. People have already started to excuse Obama's mistakes, and he has not even gotten into office to make them yet! If he goes socialist, it's McCain's fault for calling him one, so the socialists will want that. If he goes radical democrat, it's congress' fault, because they will be pushing him and he might not be able to stand up to them. If Obama makes any mistakes, it is only because he was given the hardest job of being President of anyone since FDR! Obama wants to be a certain thing, but if he is not, it is not his fault! That is not the point, the point is what gets done. People need to elect the person who can help the country the most, not the person who they believe has the best intentions. But you elected him, now HOLD HIM RESPONSIBLE! I understand cutting a person a little bit of slack, "I understand why they made that mistake," but do not blame someone else for the President's mistake. We are taught not to do that for ourselves from such a young age, hold the president up to the same standard you were taught to hold yourself to. Never stop questioning. Never stop thinking of what your solution to problems would be, and questioning why the president's does not match that. You might decide that his solution is better. You might decide that he made a mistake. You must not simply believe that, because the president says it, it must be true. You must not simply believe that, if things go wrong, there was nothing the president could do about it. You must hold the president and the government accountable for their actions and the results of such actions. You must be ever critical, or the transperancy of this country's government is going to decrease tremendously, and once corruption enters, not only is it difficult to remove, but it makes everything else work less well. Even if Obama has good intentions, being critical is going to help. It will keep him trying his absolute hardest. It will give him ideas he never had before, and alert him to problems he may not have seen. Always hold the government accountable; it works for you, you do not work for it.