CARLTON FLETCHER: We’ve traded in our activism for apathy

This land fed a nation, this land made me so proud. Son, I’m just sorry, they’re just memories for you now.

— John Mellencamp

There are only a few pages of dictionary definitions between the words “activism” and “apathy.” But their meanings are worlds apart.

There was a brief flurry of the former as the country tried to dig its way out of a crippling recession that hit seven or eight years back — and let’s not be fooled by the big numbers on Wall Street, the effects of that recession are still being felt — but there’s been a whole lot more of the latter as we’ve settled back into the standby blame-it-on-the-other-guy mode.

It seems like only a little while ago that the tea-partiers were dressing up in New England Patriot mascot uniforms and staking their claim to the country, that “occupiers” were settling in at various strategic locations in an effort to disrupt the flow of commerce making its way to those dreaded 1-percenters, that young people were registering to vote in record numbers, ready to flex their newfound political muscle.

Now it seems the only people willing to get up off their duffs and take a stand are people who are either upset over the criminal activities of sworn police officers or are looking for an angle that will allow them to make money off the grief of people who have a legitimate reason to be upset over the actions of those law enforcement officials.

That’s the way it typically goes in our country these days. We’re generally either a) too busy to be bothered, b) not willing to take a stand or c) think we’re doing our part by tweeting or Instagramming or Facebook-messaging all our friends how angry we are about what’s going on around us.

Meanwhile, our do-nothing Congress keeps doing nothing, our most prominent politicians are too busy running for president to concern themselves with the business of the country, the greedy titans of industry keep buying up politicians who will do their bidding, and the president who rode the winds of change into office keeps fiddling away as the country crumbles around him.

There are no jobs here because we don’t make anything anymore. When businesses are allowed to proclaim their “home offices” in foreign countries just to avoid paying their fair share of taxes here — and they’re applauded for their “business acumen” by congressmen and -women hoping to claim a place in line with the other pigs at their money trough — “Made in America” can take its place alongside such other quaint but outdated slogans as “A little dab’ll do ya …” “It’s the real thing …” and “My country, right or wrong.”

The dramatic Republican takeover in Congress has amounted to nothing more than a role reversal in the halls of government. Now it’s the Democrats threatening a filibuster at every new piece of legislation and the Republicans whining about how unfair — and, get this, how “unAmerican” … yeah, right — these stalling tactics are.

“Radical” politicians who vowed — even took an oath — that they’d never ever, ever cast a vote to raise taxes have come up with new “fees” to balance bloated budgets that they couldn’t find a way to sign off on without even more money, primarily from the middle class.

Truth be told, there are local-interest issues aplenty — from political shenanigans to corruption to fraud to greed to crime to money and education woes — to stir up enough hornet’s nests to keep elected officials and government employees endlessly swatting. But, alas, who wants to expend their energy knee-deep in some that’s-just-the-way-it-is-today scandal when they can tweet about it … in 140 characters or less.

Email Carlton Fletcher at [email protected].