My inner sociologist is scrambling madly to make sense of current events.
Let's see...
1. Close the borders! Make the rest of the world fear the USA! Everyone is scared of Russia!
So you'd rather be like Russia? Throw everyone in prison who has said anything semi-bad about the president (published via social media, email, newspaper, etc.) Divide all privately owned property among every citizen, because it's communal property now. Throw out every multi-national company within our borders...Goodbye Nissan, Toyota, VW, BWM, Novo, Shell, Unilever.....Hello massive layoffs from manufacturing to trucking/shipping to white collar jobs. Furthermore, let's see some of you white boys go pick tobacco, vegetables and fruits, mow lawns, clean horse stables, or work in housekeeping. Too good for that? But, you want to close the borders! Who is going to do the jobs you don't want to do? Do you understand the ramifications of what you're saying? We are part of a global economy. In order to make money, in order to trade with other nations, we have to get along with them. Respect is not fear and fear is not respect. Multi-national cooperation is not a pissing contest.
2. Gay marriage is wrong.
OK, that's a belief. Legal protection under the law is guaranteed by the Constitution via the 14th Amendment, so says the Supreme Court in its interpretation. Therefore, gay couples are afforded the same LEGAL rights as hetero couples. No one asked if you thought it was right or wrong on religious grounds. No one is forcing a preacher to perform the ceremony. I can't imagine a gay couple asking a non-gay-friendly ordained person to marry them. It wasn't too long ago that a mixed-race couple didn't dare get married outside a very small circle. Think about that. Furthermore, if you are going to quote chapter and vers of the Bible on one hand, then excuse a litany of behaviors on the other, it seems to me that your own faith needs some introspection. You want to see a life that's black and white? You either live by it to the letter, or you don't; you don't get to pick and choose which parts appeal to you and throw out the parts that don't.
3. Health Care
The majority of the "civilized" world provides some level of health care to its residents. Canada, Germany, France. Oh, even Russia (maybe you SHOULD move)....See map for reference. If you quote the Bible chapter and verse, you also have read the parts about providing for those less than you. That should include medicine for pregnant women and infants, should it not? That should include helping make sure someone who is dianosed with cancer doesn't lose everything they have in the midst of fighting for their life, don't you think? If we thump our chests and call ourselves the best country in the world, don't you think we should catch up with these other countries in how they care for their citizens?!?
4. The Land of Opportunity
This has never meant 'for people who look just like you'....while at the same time, it has. Black people never asked to come here, and racism is an ugly undertone to many decisions that are made - black or white. Japanese were held in camps, here in the US, in World War II due to our fear after Pearl Harbor - didn't know that? Look it up, review your high school US history. Our latest target is anyone who we 'think' might be Muslim. Even though there is only a small segment who comprise ISIS, those are the voices who speak loudest. Not the Kurds who have fled Iraq, not anyone who heard the stories of America, saw our TV shows, learned our language and risked everything to come here. Not only that, but we look sideways at Hindus and Budists because they are also, by and large, 'brown skinned'.......It wouldn't hurt anyone in this country to learn a little bit about other religions so that they could make educated decisions instead of just repeating hate-laced backlash.
I truly believe it comes back to education. If you attend school and learn how our government is designed to work, how complex our economy is and how our financial health is tied to other countries - and other countries to us (as it has been since we were colonies), how we are a very young country compared to the rest of the world.....If you are taught science and biology and sexual education (not 'abstinence', but actual conception, STD's, how our bodies function, etc)....If you are raised to formulate cause-and-affect, if you are taught to reason answers to questions, to question and research and read, not just "Hate this person because they are different" and "We are awesome because, 'Merica" -- Then you understand how actions taken today can have a far-reaching ripple into the future. You question, you seek, you can see how the 21st Century is not the 18th Century, nor can we continue blindly on some of the paths started in the previous 20 years if we hope to have prosperity, health, contentment or - let alone - peace, in the next generation. It's kind of the same mentality used to justify keeping a dog or horse intact. You want him to have his nuts. No good reason why, no care if he 'accidentally' sires some unwanted animals, you just want him to be a man and you don't want to 'take that from him.' Same mentality, applied to situations across the board.
I probably read three times the news that the average person does, because it is part of my job. When I read something that seems outlandish, I do additional research. Especially before sharing it on social media. I don't blindly believe every posting I see (especially on social media). I believe in learning from our history. What we did, what motivated the decision-makers, what were the outcomes, what could've been done differently, and why. Let those moments be guides to similar situations. Otherwise, we as a nation don't learn, and we don't grow.
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