Political Participation as a Personal Security Tool

     Political Participation and Personal Security might, on the surface, seem to be completely unrelated concepts, but on the contrary, the two are bound much more firmly than most people can imagine. At one end of the spectrum, Executive Branch elected officials are afforded such a high level of personal protection that, if such a thing had existed in his time, Julius Caesar would have given anything to possess it. At the opposite end of the modern societal spectrum one finds the often undereducated, economically deprived, socially outcast young person, who somehow sees street gang economics and symbolic territorial killings as their only method for attaining personal prestige and significant economic benefit. Quick online research shows the average politicians' lifespan as 83 years, for gang members, they'd be lucky to reach 25. One glaring similarity that just struck me is that the two groups are more similar than most people would admit. Both groups have tended to belong to organized cliques, (Crips/Republicans/Bloods/Democrats/Latin Kings/Tea Party, etc.). Such systems thrive by recruiting anyone who's willing to follow a doctrine of narrow inclusion, to the detriment of everyone else. Somehow, our society became sidetracked, in that our Constitution specifies that all persons are created equal, not just established  members of specific special interest groups. Long ago people seemed to have forgotten that "United We Stand, Divided We Fall".  The problem lies in the fact that gang members are completely wrong in their evaluation of societal systems, and their chosen methods for coping with the situation. Overt violence and negative notoriety simply ensure that the American prison system will remain the most efficient process of citizen imprisonment on Earth. Decades ago, if these people had channeled their illicit profits into paying taxes, supporting positive community initiatives, starting businesses, and educating themselves, they'd be local merchants, bankers, landlords, and true leaders, not a collection of perpetually angry outcasts. The need for young people to form paramilitary local alliances in order to have some degree of personal safety and economic wealth would've vanished like mist, once educational and economic restrictions were overcome.
     Societies that exercise both fiscal and moral equanimity, cannot be negatively influenced from within, or from outside sources. Unfortunately, such societies are few and far between, both geographically and historically.
    I tend to feel that when one consistently treats others in a respectful manner, and refuses to be intimidated or subjugated, then even the harshest dictatorial official or badass gang member has to think twice before committing themselves to an attempt to compromise an honest and truly independent person. If we fail to participate in electoral debate, and in the selection of our elected officials, we may never last long enough  as a society, to celebrate this nations' tricentennial anniversary. Let's not let others determine our future destiny.      

 http://fundly.com/2015-6th-ward-alderman