Speak up. Speak out. Speak often.

This past weekend, I organized my second protest against potential military conflict in Syria. But I’m not writing to convince you of a certain viewpoint on the crisis.

No, I’m here to convince you to develop your own viewpoint and then share it with everyone.

Regardless of what you think about something, anything really, if you don’t share your thoughts, then no one will ever know.

Our country requires an engaged citizenry for it to work. If the people don’t speak their minds to their representatives or their peers, then the general consensus won’t be known.

This is where terms like “the silent majority” come in. Why be silent when we live in a nation so adamant about expression?

We the people have the power to shape our government into the mechanism we want it to be.

Without our voices present to offer direction, our Republic will falter. This is not a country of congressional committees and presidential appointees. This is a country of the people.

The most amazing thing about the United States is how easy it is for us to share our thoughts.

Even this column, this very thing you’re reading now, is just me sharing my ideas with you. And it’s not a very hard thing to accomplish.

I was shocked at how easy it was to organize a protest. I called Monroe City Hall just to be sure I didn’t need any special permits.

And do you know what they told me?

“No, you don’t need anything like that. Just stay on public property.”

It’s that easy.

My group of pro-peace protesters showed up Saturday morning, and we stood outside our congressman’s office with signs in hand.

We ended up making the front page of the News-Star and the evening news on KNOE. Even the Hawkeye came out to cover the story.

All of a sudden, my idea was being beamed across time and space and into the living rooms of people all across Northeast Louisiana.

And to those of you who are too nervous to put yourself out there: people are going to hate your guts and talk about you anyway, you may as well give them a reason.

When I woke up the day before the protest, I had no idea what I’d be doing that day. And when a buddy called me and said we should have a protest, I started making phone calls.

I threw together this demonstration with Facebook and my iPhone. And when everything was set, I had to wonder: why don’t more people do this?

I mean if it was this easy, then there should people out protesting all the time. There’s no shortage of things our government does that need protesting.

Then I thought, “Well maybe people just don’t know how easy it is.”

I’m here to tell you, it’s easy, so easy that I decided to do it again.

So whether you’re for or against something, let it be known.

The U.S. requires its citizens to speak their minds. We need to add to the meaningful public discourse.

How else will we reach a decision on something? How else can we make our forefathers proud? What better way than flexing our first amendment rights?

So speak up. Speak out. And do it often.