We are saddled with a set of politicians that divide us whenever possible only to further their political aims and gains. We are saddled with a set of politicians that have hijacked our election processes so that the voice of ordinary Americans is drowned out and washed away by big money from unions, corporations, lobbyists, and PACs. We are saddled with a set of politicians that view our current laws, government processes, and the Constitution as merely a set of suggestions that can be followed or ignored at their whimsy.
However, I still maintain, as I did in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," that America is still the best country on earth with the best citizens, the best history of democracy, and the greatest guidelines for government every written, as laid out in the Constitution and the Bill Of Rights. Unfortunately, America cannot attain its optimal state of prosperity and liberty since it is currently served by an inferior political class that believe they are more important than these concepts of America.
This situation was graphically and effectively laid out in one of our most popular blog posts of all time from November 18, 2010, "The Freedom Pyramid: Where it Should Be Vs. Where It Is Today" (http://loathemygovernment.blogspot.com/2010/11/american-freedom-pyramid-where-it.html). Although these graphics laid out the deterioration of our democracy vs. what our democracy should look like, I thought some words that I came across recently might do a better job of picking up our spirits today in the face of the the major problems we face.
Please read the following observations from an Australian dentist. Hopefully these words will renew your faith that we can get through our problems together, with or without the help of our current set of politicians:
Written by an Australian Dentist
To Kill an American
You probably missed this in the rush of news, but there was actually a report that someone in Pakistan had published in a newspaper, an offer of a reward to anyone who killed an American, any American.
So an Australian dentist wrote an editorial the following day to let everyone know what an American is. So they would know when they found one. (Good one, mate!!!!)
An American is English, or French, or Italian, Irish, German, Spanish, Polish, Russian or Greek. An American may also be Canadian, Mexican, African, Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Australian, Iranian, Asian, or Arab, or Pakistani or Afghan.
An American may also be a Comanche, Cherokee, Osage, Blackfoot, Navaho, Apache, Seminole or one of the many other tribes known as native Americans.
An American is Christian, or he could be Jewish, or Buddhist, or Muslim. In fact, there are more Muslims in America than in Afghanistan. The only difference is that in America they are free to worship as each of them chooses.
An American is also free to believe in no religion. For that he will answer only to God, not to the government, or to armed thugs claiming to speak for the government and for God.
An American lives in the most prosperous land in the history of the world.
The root of that prosperity can be found in the Declaration of Independence, which recognizes the God given right of each person to the pursuit of happiness.
An American is generous. Americans have helped out just about every other nation in the world in their time of need, never asking a thing in return.
When Afghanistan was over-run by the Soviet army 20 years ago, Americans came with arms and supplies to enable the people to win back their country!
As of the morning of September 11, Americans had given more than any other nation to the poor in Afghanistan ...
The national symbol of America, The Statue of Liberty, welcomes your tired and your poor, the wretched refuse of your teeming shores, the homeless, tempest tossed. These in fact are the people who built America.
Some of them were working in the Twin Towers the morning of September 1, 2001 earning a better life for their families. It's been told that the World Trade Center victims were from at least 30 different countries, cultures, and first languages, including those that aided and abetted the terrorists.
So you can try to kill an American if you must. Hitler did. So did General Tojo, and Stalin, and Mao Tse-Tung, and other blood-thirsty tyrants in the world. But, in doing so you would just be killing yourself. Because Americans are not a particular people from a particular place. They are the embodiment of the human spirit of freedom. Everyone who holds to that spirit, everywhere, is an American.
Great words and an inspiring tribute to America and Americans. Notice in the words above, there is no mention of politicians, Democrats, Republicans, government agencies, government bureaucracies, and government organizations. There is no mention because they are not what makes America great. They are supposed to support the concept and virtue of America but they have all done a very poor job of that over the past few decades.
In fact, these entities have done their darnest, especially the political class, to undermine the very concepts that make this country the best hope of humanity. Rather than lead and unite, our politicians divide and conquer.
Rather than support the concept of diversity and freedom of speech, our politicians demean and slander those with a different viewpoint of the world. American citizens have recently been labeled racists, un-American, Neanderthals, barbarians, terrorists, gerbils, Nazis, a__h___s, sluts, and Klan members by current politicians, simply for having a different viewpoint. That is not leadership, that is destructive and subhuman behavior.
So, heed the words from Australia. We are still a great people with a great country, and a great heritage of freedom... that are being poorly served by the politicians that are currently in charge. Rather than feel sorry for ourselves, may I suggest that each of us undertake the following steps in our lives to live up to the high expectations in Australia, around the world, and here in the United States:
1) Respect different opinions of others in our nation. Respect the diversity of experience, expertise, and viewpoints that they can bring to a problem's solution. No one has all of the answers to the great issues of our times. No one knows where an answer might come from. By disrespecting and shutting out the opinions and viewpoints of others, we dramatically reduce our chances of resolving an issue.
2) Be passionate about your viewpoints, not emotional.A passionate person will usually promote their positions and the reasons for their positions in a positive, coherent, and logical manner. An emotional person will usually negatively and loudly promote their positions not by stressing their views but by denigrating both the other person and the other person's contrary views.
Yelling at each other in a highly emotional state will never bring us together to solve the problems of our times. All that does is play into the selfish aims of the politicians, as they use our emotional outbursts against each other to "energize their base," not solve our problems.
3) Please join us to impose term limits on all Federal politicians, as proposed by Step 39 in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government." That effort has already started with an online petition effort at the following website page:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/united_states_of_purple_015.htm
4) Dante once said: "The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who in times of great moral crises maintain their neutrality." If you see another American being attacked for simply having an opinion, even if you disagree with their opinion, I believe it is your duty as an American to defend that person's right to have a contrary opinion.
It is a fundamental right of our democracy and if we allow personal attacks on other Americans for simply having an opinion, at some point in time those attacks will surely come around and be aimed at us. For example, even if you are a Democrat and a Democratic politician calls a Republican an a__h___, a slut, a Neanderthal, or other slur, it is your responsibility as an American to call that Democratic politician to task for the attack.
5) Finally, we ask that you consider helping to fix our broken political processes that we have allowed our political class to control and abuse. Many of these fixes were laid out in "Love My Country, Loathe My Government," and include such fixes as term limits, election campaign money restrictions, stopping the gerrymandering of Congressional districts, higher moral standards for elected officials, the strengthening of election campaign laws and enforcement, etc. By not getting involved in these fixes, we end up abdicating our citizen responbilities and the associated democracy and liberty that comes with these responsibilities.
What is an American? An American is generally a great person, a compassionate person, living in a great country with a great heritage of freedom that is so poorly served by its politicians and those that live off of those politicians. We can be great again but it requires us all to be more respectful, kinder, hard working and great listeners while being ever suspicious of anything a politician tells us, especially when that politician's message is one of hate and fear against those Americans with a different opinion.
We invite all readers of this blog to visit our new website, "The United States Of Purple," at:
http://www.unitedstatesofpurple.com/
The United States of Purple is a new grass roots approach to filling the office of President of The United States by focusing on the restoration of freedom in the United States, focusing on problem solving skills and results vs. personal political enrichment, and imposing term limits on all future Federal politicians. No more red states, no more blue states, just one United States Of America under the banner of Purple.
The United States Of Purple's website also provides you the formal opportunity to sign a petition to begin the process of implementing a Constitutional amendment to impose fixed term limits on all Federally elected politicians. Only by turning out the existing political class can we have a chance of addressing and finally resolving the major issues of or times.
Our book, "Love My Country, Loathe My Government - Fifty First Steps To Restoring Our Freedom And Destroying The American Political Class" is now available at www.loathemygovernment.com. It is also available online at Amazon and Barnes and Noble. Please pass our message of freedom onward. Let your friends and family know about our websites and blogs, ask your library to carry the book, and respect freedom for both yourselves and others everyday.
Please visit the following sites for freedom
http://www.cato.org/
http://www.robertringer.com/
http://realpolichick.blogspot.com/
http://www.flipcongress2010.com/
http://www.reason.com/
http://www.repealamendment/
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