Talk, talk, talk.

What actions can we take to lead to massive political change in the face of a system that is rapidly dismantling the basic rights that were codified in the U.S. Constitution?

Talk is one of the most powerful tools that we have. Talk is not "just talk." It may be true that talk is cheap, as people often say, but talk is also powerful: when we say that the pen is mightier than the sword, we are not really talking about the pen itself, so much as we are talking about the power of words. Words have great power. We have to put them into action.

One of the big problems that the world faces is that the conversations of the world are dominated by the voices of the major corporations that own the big mass media outlets. These media are not telling a story that is designed to help people--or at least not the vast majority of people.

No one person has the voice alone to change the debate and to shift focus onto stories that really matter, or to shift the tone of the stories being told. But if we all are telling the real stories, then, maybe, we could change the debate.

Once upon a time--not so long ago--the U.S. made a claim to having a good human rights record, and if history didn't bear that out, at least there was a legal code that could support that claim. And that legal code was a support for moving towards a nation with greater liberty and justice for all.

Then we got the George W. Bush administration, and we got laws justifying warrant-less wiretapping, and memos justifying the use of torture, and now we've got the NDAA of 2012 which allows for the indefinite detention without trial of anyone the military wants.

These are not things that any U.S. citizen who believes in the U.S. Constitution should accept. The Constitution, flawed though it is, is a foundation for government that is worthy of respect. It sets forth rights that are worth defending.

The elected officials of the nation swear to uphold and defend the Constitution. They are not doing a good job, and now is the time to talk about that.

Republican, Democrat, Libertarian, Green, right-wing, left-wing: who wants the government to be able to lock people up with no trial? Is that a free nation? Each of us can act to defend the constitution just by talking about it. Of course we have to talk about it a lot to spread the word, but it shouldn't be a polarizing conversation. Political conversation is often difficult because of conflicting opinions. But this should be one political conversation with almost no disagreement:
"Should we preserve the right to a speedy, public trial, as guaranteed in the Constitution?"

Now is the time and the action that we each can take is to talk. Each of us talking alone is not that big a deal, but like the old ad said: "If you tell two friends, and they tell two friends, etc...."

If everyone talked about how cool the 6th amendment of the Constitution is (the right to a public, speedy trial), our combined voices would be loud enough to drown out the corporate media that would love the right to throw anyone they want into jail.

Talk may be cheap, but it's also powerful. If everyone does it, it's loud. Wouldn't it be great if everyone stood up against the continued erosion of our legal rights?