What Are We Doing

Just one question, are you better off than you were four years ago. Ronald Reagan came up with probably the best question ever for a political candidate could ever. Are you better off?

Some of you, hopefully can say yes. Personally, I wish that everyone could answer yes to that simple question. Now, I don’t care if you are a Democrat or a Republican. I honestly would wish that everyone would be doing better, but this is certainly not the case. For most of us, yes myself included, is not better off. I am among those who have somehow missed a chance to enjoy the American Dream, whatever that may be.

Usually, I am not political, although a registered Republican, but the conditions that this country is under has made the avoidance of giving my two cents, has made that avoidance impossible. These are very dark days for the United States of America. Even if those reading this right now do not agree or see the dark future coming before us, it is still there.

A house divided cannot stand. That is the future that will soon be our present and as great as our nation has throughout history proved itself to be, it does have a kryptonite like weakness. In the past when our nation has been threatened, its ability to come together and fight its enemies as one nation has enabled it to remain the great nation that followed the vision of our founding fathers. Division, which is not new to the United States, has taken a different turn in recent years. Division in politics, economics, race, religious and social beliefs have taken center stage that without any check will lead to our downfall.

Let me delve into these divisions in greater detail.

A division in politics is nothing new. It has been and will always be characteristic of a government which consists of multiple political parties. However, it is not party politics that is the enemy here. It is normal and rather important for having opposing views to ensure natural debate and open discussion. Currently, this is not the case and to further state the move from what our founding fathers believed in. To give a little background into myself and why I think and believe how I do, I must explain what I experienced during my childhood. I was born in Massachusetts, not terribly far from where the Revolutionary War began. I am not sure if this fact made any influence on my thinking but I have always felt that being a patriot was of utmost importance. The fact that the Bicentennial was very actively celebrated in my family. As far back in my memory, I knew the most direct reason why the colonies made the grave choice to separate from England. Taxation without Representation was not tolerable to the colonies. A seemingly simple argument to fix by the English, but we all know how that worked out. Our founding fathers went to great lengths to make such a condition to not occur. Admittedly, as just a system Democracy can be, it is in effect a majority rule. Imperfections in politics, even with the best intentions, would always exist. Modern divisions between the political parties in the United States has grown far past majority rule. Representation so it seems is only an important factor to a candidate is before and at the time of election. After obtaining office, the candidate then adheres only to party positions for no longer is the constituency of any importance that is until reelection. Party and special interests take center stage and this we have come to take as the norm. The voice of the people has been silenced and the only voice that can be heard is the voice of the party.

The state of the economy is one of the most interesting concepts that I have ever come to hear. While statistics and information concerning economic indicators have great importance, it means very little to the average citizen. Even unemployment numbers have a low importance. Average citizens know if they are employed or not and I will go further to say that they know whether people they know are employed or not, so the unemployment figures, while important to economics, means very little to average people. The same goes to indices concerning the stock market. Whether if the markets are up or down, matters very little. This may sound unbelievable since many have retirement savings in the stock markets so they should take an interest. To most who have retirement accounts, to which companies that capital is flowing to is unknown, so while should the market averages rise, it does not mean that the stock that is in their portfolio has. Something that I have always found to be a better indicator of how the economy is doing is to just take a ride around and observe or just to talk to people, they will usually let you know if things are going good and make it clear in other ways if not so much. It has been my observation that for many of us, those who do not have to worry of capital gains taxes or whether a wealth tax will get passed, things aren’t that good. Average Americans are not enjoying the fruits of the most powerful economy in the world. The strange thing about this is that there is a whole section of the United States whom stand in favor of the status quo rather than vote for changes that would benefit their lives. For them it is more important to live under the “Golden Rule” or he who has the gold makes the rules. It should be remembered that tyrants don’t do well with the people of the United States, be that a single person or class.

Xenophobia, homophobia, gender bias, race discrimination and any other social division is not acceptable for this country. How fast we forget that those who first colonized this land were people seeking religious freedom from their home country due to persecution. I am not saying that since they first arrived here that persecution has not existed. It has been prevalent and common throughout our history. I am not sure that there is a single group in this country that has not been on the receiving end of persecution. Some most definitely much worse and still ongoing compared to others. It does seem strange that we can get along better with nations that we openly fought a war with rather than be one nation for all citizens. Maybe someday we will stop talking of majority and minor groups but only Americans

Let it stand as a warning. This beloved nation of ours is at risk. The great American experiment that a brave group of colonists began two hundred and forty-four years ago, hopefully, is not coming to and end. Maybe, to keep this country as a whole, we need to create a new experiment. With all the tools we have at hand, why can’t we, as a whole, leave old ideas that no longer work for all of the citizens, and decide how we can make it a nation that the world has never seen or could ever imagine. We can do just that. We are Americans and everyone knows Americans can do miracles when they bind together as a whole. We have done it before when conditions were not even close to the power that we have today. All it takes is for us to decide.

One nation for all never a nation for a few