With Election Day right around the corner, there have been a lot of opinions shared and a lot of mudslinging about the state of the country. I could not help but laugh at the naiveté of some, as I have stumbled on the above painting floating around online in the past few days. Take a look at it. Observe it closely. 
 
I won’t lie, for many the painting is sure to stir up poignant emotions. Let’s walk through it together. The sky seems to be darkening over the White House, as a lone man sits on a bench in despair. The American flag is flying at half-staff. The Founding Fathers seem to be looking on in shock and loss, while some of our modern-day Presidents seem to be clapping in self-congratulatory reverie. Money is strewn about in careless abandon as the current President of the United States, Barack Obama, stands defiantly with his foot over the Constitution of the United States of America. 
 
The painting speaks well to the feelings of many American’s but the fact is, such a painting is a sorry misrepresentation of the facts. However, I will also tell you that it is not difficult to provide a picture of what the above painting should really look like. 
 
Let’s walk through it together.
 
The sky seems to be darkening over an island in New York/New Jersey. The pedestal on which Lady Liberty once stood is empty. Lady Liberty herself sits, hunched over on a bench, her torch extinguished and tears rolling down her copper face. The Founding Fathers stand behind her with the same looks of shock and loss. On the other side of them stand the members of our modern-day Congress. One is holding the Constitution of the United States of America high above his head. Close to those Congressional members stand the justices of the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice has the other side of the Constitutional document in his hands. With looks of fury, we can see the Constitution of the United States being torn right down the middle. Oh, lest we forget, the President of the United States is lying on his stomach, reaching up with outstretched arms, grasping at that last corner of the Constitution as members of Congress step on his back. His face can remain anonymous. It doesn’t matter who he is.
 
What of the man on the bench? Where is he in this new and correct interpretation? He stands in the background, watching the entire scene with a sense of pathetic apathy with others of his fellow citizens. Indeed, he seems oblivious to the struggle around him, and the few that do take care to notice are content with laughing at and mocking the leader of the free world while Congress and the Supreme Court stomp him to the turf. 
 
This is the true state of our nation.
 
I am not one who can offer grand solutions to the nation’s problems. Solutions are especially hard to come by when there is no one to listen. I can say however, no matter what ones political standing, it is time to take off the fetters and shackles of ignorance. Come to know the issues.  Come to know your candidates for political office. Most importantly, come Nov. 2, exercise your right and privilege to vote. Raise your voice. This is an opportunity we all have as citizens of this country to shed our apathy. 
 
For every vote we cast, we may, at the very least, place our hands on the shoulders of Lady Liberty in comfort. Perhaps, if enough of us take the time to vote, and to care, we may restore Liberty to her proper place on her pedestal.
 
For information on your candidates, local officials, where to vote and more, visit www.vote.utah.gov.