{"id":61699,"date":"2011-09-07T00:31:50","date_gmt":"2011-09-07T04:31:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/61699\/america-4\/"},"modified":"2011-09-07T00:31:50","modified_gmt":"2011-09-07T04:31:50","slug":"america-4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/61699\/america-4\/","title":{"rendered":"AMERICA"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"I\u2019ve always been a student of history.\u00a0 Ever since I could pick up a book and read about it or watch a PBS documentary, I\u2019ve been intrigued with days past.\u00a0 My higher education is in sociology, and much of that learning has focused on American sociology.\u00a0\u00a0 When I would learn about societies that did terrible things to their own members or to others, my opinion of our American society was such that I never though such things could happen here.\u00a0\u00a0 Be it the oppression of civil rights or the mass delusion of the populace through propaganda and lies, my natural instinct spurred by an inherent belief in American exceptionalism and superiority has always lead me to think our society is immune to such mass hysteria, jingoism and extremities.\u00a0 I\u2019ve always thought that America has been a moderate, civil, rational, thoughtful and progressive (with a small \u201cp\u201d, as in supporting progress) country wherein religious, extremist or tyrannical points-of-view had no place in the mainstream discussion and negotiation of where we are going as a country.<\/p>\n

Ironically, one of the things that compels me to change my mind, one of the things that makes me say \u201csomething is wrong with America today\u201d is the large number of people who are saying \u201cthere is something wrong with America today\u201d.<\/p>\n

My gut feeling is still that we ARE that country that won WWII and then helped to rebuild Europe and our former enemies.\u00a0 We are STILL that country that ended a legacy of oppressing our own minorities and overcame centuries of having an underclass based on skin color.\u00a0 We are still that country that defeated oppressive communism whilst building a basic safety web for our own people that in any other century would have been called socialist.\u00a0 Even going back to 20 years ago, we are still that country that could help unite the world and push back a dictator who invaded a neighbor for no better reason than he could.<\/p>\n

Part of recognizing our achievements as a country implies a trust in the American people, that we could be the driving force behind calling extremist elements on their deceptions and we, as a nation, would not only do the right thing, but believe the right thing. <\/font><\/p>\n

Time and time and time again, outright misrepresentation on what our government is doing gets called out, and yet, still significant leading voices on the right get away with repeating these lies.<\/p>\n

\"\"I remember when the whole \u201cTea Party\u201d thing got started when the Democrats controlled the legislature and executive. The point of the original Tea Party in 1775 was an objection to taxation.\u00a0 I asked my conservative friends to name one single increase in taxes that had come with the Obama administration.\u00a0 No one could name one.\u00a0 BECAUSE THERE HAVEN\u2019T BEEN ANY!\u00a0 Obama has not raised taxes one cent!<\/p>\n

So the \u201cTea Party\u201d changed tack.\u00a0 It became a movement to oppose expenditures.\u00a0 They should really find a different name because the Boston Tea Party had nothing to do with colonial spending.<\/p>\n

If I were to look at the radicalization of the American right wing on a sociological level, I would say that it is a natural dialectic of the election of Obama as president.\u00a0 If you\u2019re not familiar with dialectics (very different than Dianetics, BTW),\u00a0 this kind of analysis came from a guy named Hegel.\u00a0\"\" Basically, what it describes is how any movement in a society naturally creates a reactionary force to counter it.\u00a0 A society starts to move one way, and a opposition to that movement builds strength.\u00a0 Looking to our own time, it explains the election of Nixon as a reaction to the radicalism of the 60\u2019s.\u00a0 It explains the rise of the Reagan right after the permissiveness of the 70\u2019s.\u00a0 It even explains the election of a populist African American after the neo-con militarism of the W. Bush era.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the thing though.\u00a0 The Tea Party reaction to election of Obama has been more of a counter-swing to what Obama represents as opposed to what he has actually done and the policies he supports.<\/p>\n

This more of a question to the men our there who tend to be more competitive with their cars.\u00a0 Have you ever been out on the road and someone speeds past you or cuts you off and then you react irrationally and drive differently just to \u201cbeat\u201d that other car?\u00a0\u00a0 If it\u2019s a Ferrari or a Corvette that does that to you, you\u2019re more likely to just take it as opposed to it being an old Hyundai or Geo Metro.<\/p>\n

\"\"See, because of his youth, skin color and background, many in this country subconsciously see the Obama administration as an AMC Pacer passing up their Cadillac or Lexus.\u00a0 So they get the political equivalent of road rage.\u00a0 They aren\u2019t going to admit to racism any more than the driver who gets passed by an \u201cinferior\u201d vehicle would admit to \u201ccarism\u201d, but I think that is part of why the American right has gotten so vitriolic in their anti-Obamanism.\u00a0 It explains why the man has been categorized as a failing president not because what he has done, but just because who he is.<\/p>\n

Imagine you were made captain of a quickly sinking ship.\u00a0 The Titanic after it has been ripped apart by a subprime iceberg.\u00a0 If you managed to keep that ship afloat, keep it from sinking further, even shoring up critical parts of the boat, would you be a failure for not getting the boat up and moving again?<\/p>\n

The folks who put the ship in the path of the iceberg, the folks who MADE the iceberg in the first place are now trying to blame the captain put in charge of that sinking ship for not fixing the huge gash in the hull.\u00a0 Is that fair?<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve spoken in this blog of why the right wing is wrong in it\u2019s condemnation and reaction to the current administration.\u00a0 To conclude, I want to look objectively at some of the charges thrown out by the right and show how they\u2019re misguided at best, propaganda at worst.<\/p>\n

THE AMERICAN WAY OF LIFE IS IN PERIL<\/strong>:\u00a0 As I said, I think the peril to America is in what we might do as a reaction to this sentiment.\u00a0 How much political capital has been dug up by the right in symbolic opposition to Sharia Law in America?\u00a0 It seems to me that there is a basic misunderstanding of the what is meant by \u201claw\u201d.\u00a0 We have never, and never will, allow religion to be the dictator of law.\u00a0 Are Mormons allowed to be polygamists because their religion says it is okay?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 Does the Biblical tenet of an \u201ceye for an eye\u201d require states to allow the death penalty?\u00a0 No.\u00a0 It\u2019s something that each state decides democratically. Does Sharia Law have any chance of becoming a legal standard in ANY jurisdiction in the USA?\u00a0 Absolutely not!\u00a0 Bizarre right wingers like Herman Cain who use the opposition to Sharia Law for political capital might as well be taking a stand against the torture of kittens.<\/p>\n

Furthermore, how often has this argument been made?\u00a0 Going back to the days of the Tea Party, one thing those Anglo-Saxon colonial founding fathers were afraid of was the influence of all the German immigrants to the New World.\u00a0 Those guys were worried that German might become the language of the USA.\u00a0 I\u2019m guessing that most of the people reading this have a little German blood in their ancestry.\u00a0 German people are the top contributors to the melting pot of America.\u00a0 Me, I\u2019m more than half German.\u00a0 When considering the anti-immigrant stances of today, remember where we came from.
\n
\nTAXES ARE TOO HIGH:<\/strong> Personal income taxes are lower than they\u2019ve been in 50 years.\u00a0 Fact.\u00a0 They\u2019ve never been lower for the top income bracket.<\/p>\n

THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT IS TOO INFLUENTIAL IN OUR LIVES:\u00a0 How so?\u00a0 Can you give me an example?\u00a0 I\u2019m much more pissed off at my local government and their imposition of driving regulations than I am with anything the federal government has done!<\/p>\n

\"\"WE SPEND TOO MUCH ON FOREIGN AID<\/strong>:\u00a0 The ironic thing is that the folks who say this are more likely to be fundamentalist Christians.\u00a0 Foreign aid makes up about 1% of the US budget.\u00a0 It\u2019s duck feed.\u00a0 Let me remind my Christian friends of Matthew 25:35 which reads: \u201cFor I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36\u00a0I was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me.\u2019
\n
\nCONGRESS IS BROKEN<\/strong>:\u00a0 Approval ratings for the US Congress are at all-time lows.\u00a0 This wouldn\u2019t have anything to do with the Republican take over of the House of Representatives, now would it?\u00a0 It is SO easy to blame \u201cWashington\u201d for everything.\u00a0 The Republican front runner for the presidency wrote a whole book railing against \u201cWashington\u201d\u2026\u00a0 Umm\u2026 People, who elects Congress? WE do!\u00a0 Who is \u201cWashington\u201d?\u00a0 It is US!\u00a0 Particularly in the House where we get a chance to pick someone new every two years, what better representation of democracy is there than Congress?\u00a0 If you\u2019re disapproving of Congress, you are disapproving of democracy!<\/p>\n

Ever since the advent of democracy in Ancient Greece while working with would-be benevolent dictators like Themistocles and Pericles, there has been an understanding that a benevolent dictatorship absent corruption is a superior form of government in terms of getting things done than is democracy, at least in terms of getting things done.<\/p>\n

Why don\u2019t I like blaming \u201cWashington\u201d?\u00a0 Washington is US!\u00a0 We decide who sits in Congress!\u00a0 The blaming of Washington is universally done within the context of blaming \u201cthe other\u201d\u2026 blaming something that is outside of the people\u2019s will when in truth, there is nothing more representative of the people\u2019s will than the US Congress!!!<\/p>\n

\"\"Is the people\u2019s will always the best thing?\u00a0 Ask Themistocles and Pericles.<\/p>\n

Is democracy always going to produce the best result?\u00a0 No.<\/p>\n

\u201cDemocracy is the worst form of government\u2026\u00a0 except for all the others that have been tried.\u201d -Winston Churchill<\/p>\n

What I am hoping for in 2012 is that we remember two things as Americans:\u00a0 1. We are a rational electorate; 2. America is still a great country. <\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I\u2019ve always been a student of history.\u00a0 Ever since I could pick up a book and read about it or watch a PBS documentary, I\u2019ve been intrigued with days past.\u00a0 My higher education is in sociology, and much of that learning has focused on American sociology.\u00a0\u00a0 When I would learn about societies that did terrible […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1428],"tags":[81,4187],"class_list":["post-61699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics-2","tag-joko","tag-youre-damn-right-ill-put-my-name-it-the-damn-tags"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=61699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/61699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=61699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=61699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/friendburst.com\/blog-new\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=61699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}