You’ve gone soft, America.

Almost 240 years ago, you declared independence for yourself and booted a tyrannical government from your land. These days, a great American political movement most likely refers to an election with an unusually large voter turnout (looking at you, 2008).

For all your talk of independence and anti-authoritarianism, you’ve been pretty quick to surrender civil liberties throughout this decade without even the hint of a struggle.

Today, May 1, is May Day, or International Workers’ Day, and it could be the first opportunity to buck that trend.

May Day is an annual event marked by mass global protests and strikes celebrating the working men and women of the world and calling for political change.

Occupy Wall Street, which has emerged as one of America’s most popular political movements, has called for a nationwide general strike today, and marches are planned in major cities across the country.

This is a good opportunity to challenge the perception that American protest movements are ineffectual, as the world has shown us up in that department in the last year .

Last year’s Arab Spring demonstrated how a mass movement could ignite a change: Protests took place across Europe over budget cuts and austerity measures, and just in the last month, 300,000 of Montreal’s college students demonstrated against their government’s plan to raise tuition fees by 75 percent over five years.

Even Occupy Wall Street hasn’t had the scope and impact of some of these movements.

Hopefully today, things may begin to change.

You might be turned away by the socialist roots of May Day, but there are plenty of reasons to join in on the action today and protest for political change in whichever way you choose.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act, which allows private Internet companies to monitor their users and share the data they collect with the government, was recently passed by the House of Representatives.

The recent National Defense Authorization Act officially codified indefinite detention into law and was passed by the Obama administration late last year.

Even the Supreme Court’s recent ruling allowing law enforcement to strip search anyone for even the most minor offense is enough to warrant taking direct action for change.

Yet I still don’t expect most people to go out or to even stay informed.

Instead of actively attempting to improve and strengthen our government, we’ve delegated ourselves to the sidelines, transforming politics into a spectator sport run by entrenched political parties, parties which have done more to cater to their chosen interest groups than preserve civil liberties and improve peoples’ lives.

We pick a side, root for our team and when both teams agree to strip a few of our rights, we sit in a corner accepting our overlords’ new rules without a fight.

Don’t get me wrong. This isn’t to knock those few Americans who have gotten out and actively attempted to make their country better. However, massive changes require mass movements, and we’ve become an apathetic bunch.

Some might argue that Americans don’t demonstrate and protest as much as other countries because there are outlets to express political opinions in this country. You can contact your representative or organize events – freedoms limited in many countries around the world.

However, when political power is entrenched in the hands of a selected few individuals and economic power is consolidated as well, the average American’s voice tends to become drowned out in a deafening cacophony of money and handshakes.

So what happened, America? Where’s the fight?

Has being the reigning superpower gone to your head? Do you view yourself as so invincible, as such a pillar of freedom and goodness, that you’ve been oblivious as citizens’ rights have deteriorated before your eyes?

This is supposed to be the country of Thomas Jefferson, who fought against the excessiveness of government throughout most his life, and Henry David Thoreau, who literally wrote the essay on civil disobedience.

Maybe if you get back in touch with the defiant and independent spirit that defined American self perception, things can start to get back on track.