A Quick way to thank those who protect our democracy at home

This memorial day I am reflecting on the soldiers and politicans who work every day dedicating their lives to a cause bigger than themselves. I am very thankful. My grandparents immigrated here and fought in the world war. They saw first hand how dictatorships and totalitarianism can destroy communities and countries. Our democracy is a fragile idea with a noble ring to it. It takes all of us to keep it safe. With the recent people running the White House, congress and courts, I am struck even more by the need to step up and be a good citizen.

My mother's side of the family has been here for many generations and my great grandfather started newspapers. His sons ran and published many more. And until I was a young adult in the 1990's, our family was in the news business. The DesMoines Register was, and still is, an strong investigative voice in a sea of celebrity worship. I am very proud of the ethos of community responsibility that pervaded both the journalism and our family's culture. My family, under the matriarchal and patriarchal leadership, cared about their neighbors and sought to educate about the larger world issues. In full disclosure, the trend to infomercials and infotainment came with Grandaddy's Look Magazine and a little weekly "for busy readers", Quick.
But, I digress! I am today no longer in any news business except as a consumer... looking for a way to stay an informed citizen. It is not easy to know where to turn. In the midst of strong bias on both liberal and conservative sides I am very happy to know of FAIR- an organization that works as an unbiased watchdog pointing out the misleading focus of our current media. Fairness and Accuracy In Reporting is doing the soldiers work in keeping us aware of what lousy information we are being fed. They are a small group of readers who work on a shoestring and...they are my Memorial Day heroes. I am sure even my granddaddy would be a fan.
Please consider supporting our troups and also looking up FAIR and supporting them. They work to keep democracy as a viable idea and, if we pay attention, we can all keep democracy as a system of governing.