Being An American...

According to the latest estimates, Caucasians will be a minority in America sometime around 2040. Sounds like a long time off but the years between 2000 and 2010 passed like a blink of the eye. It is not that I mind being a racial minority. I guess I knew that someone is always on the lesser side. I have come to ponder that the very thing that made America great may now be the thing that irreversibly changes us. The world gave us her poor, tired and hungry and they now want America to be more like where they came from.

My first awareness to this phenomenon was when we lived in California. Among the many things that you can say about California is that it is a very diverse place with peoples from all over the world. I seem to remember that the voting ballots in California were printed in 27 languages the year that I left there. It seemed odd to me that English was no longer a requirement for voting. Not that I want to deprive anyone but we have just become so accommodating that we had lost something that unified us.

I tend to think that people are united or divided along socio economic, cultural, religious and language lines more than along racial ones. Some racial groups tend to try and maintain the purity of their races as well as some religions. I can remember when a non-Catholic would have to convert to marry a Catholic. Gentiles almost never marry Jews but interracial marriages are so common that no one thinks anything of them.

One hundred years ago there were less immigrants and those that came were seeking this America that was known around the world. We accepted people who accepted us. If you wanted to become an American we wanted you regardless of where you come from. Today we still accept you, even if your commitment is to only living here and not being one of us. So many of you wish to keep your culture, your language, and your race pure by isolating yourselves here. You live in America but you are not American. You haven’t been taught nor do you have the love for what made us special. Our Constitution is not sacred to you and you know nothing of how we got here. All you know is that we opened our doors and you came in.

I don’t blame you. It is we that allowed, even made this to happen. We continued to lower the standards of our educational system until we no longer lead the world but lag far behind. We found your countries could make our products cheaper and so we gave up our jobs in favor of profits. We make so little here anymore but we buy everything and our very economy is based upon us continuing to buy what we do not make with money that is printed but has little value. It was we that chose to believe lies rather than to stand for the truth. We have tolerated abuses when times were good because it was easy. Surely, we set ourselves up for this but we did not see it coming. We were too busy enjoying the good times.

To all of America I say that the answer lies in our past. The ideas of this modern age is not what will make America great again but rather the old ideas. Those who came here to enjoy Americas bounty must now learn where that came from. Those of us who know must return to those values. Those who would have us go the way of the rest of the world should leave here and return to that world. It is our Constitution that made us all free. It was that same Constitution that made everyone come here seeking liberty. And, it is that Constitution that can return us to greatness. It is not our differences that are dividing us it is our lack of a common belief. No other nation has survived, even excelled like the United States of America. It is our Constitution that made that possible and it is our Constitution that will restore us.

So what lies before us is the continued greatness of America as a Nation. Any other choice is unacceptable. Will you be an American or merely a resident alien? You don’t have to be from someplace else to be un-American.

Reflections upon Discrimination and Prejudice

One would have to pretty simplistic in their thinking to believe that America has not gone through great pains because of prejudice, racism, and discrimination. In fact, I dare say that anyone who is different in any way will be singled out and treated differently. It was true for the Irish, the Italians, and the Vietnamese. It has been true for every tribe or nation that has chosen to live in our great nation. Humans seem able to discriminate on any imaginable basis including race, gender, creed, national origin, and yes even Vietnam Veteran status.

As a child I wittnessed discrimination and even participated based upon the whomever seemed vulnerable at the time. Attacks were made on the poor, the homeless, the obese, and those who were just a little more different that others. Surveys and studies have shown that "pretty and handsome" people have better chances at good jobs and obtaining help in times of need such as when a car breaks down. People having a bad hair day or no hair are the brunt of jokes. Having bad teeth or a cleft palate will surely end your hopes for an acting carreer.

To be sure, many of the reasons why people are discriminated against can be helped. Sometimes surgery or new set of clothes, or learning to speak in a socially acceptable way or using the proper language at the proper time would be of help. Some could loose weight, put on weight or get a tan. Others might try practicing casual or business communications to help aleviate some of the pressure. Many may they have little they can do, however I suspect that everyone can do a little something to lessen their plight.

It seems unlikely that individual efforts will ever make a permanent and lasting change. People are just different and no sooner that you think you have seen it all and you will see something new. Someone will find that new thing something they can discriminate against. For those people it will be as if they are an alien race setting foot on the planet for the first time. Even those who have been discriminated will line up to discriminate against these. It would appear hopeless.

Today President Obama spoke to the NAACP. Part of what he said follows:

"But make no mistake: the pain of discrimination is still felt in America. By African-American women paid less for doing the same work as colleagues of a different color and gender. By Latinos made to feel unwelcome in their own country. By Muslim Americans viewed with suspicion for simply kneeling down to pray. By our gay brothers and sisters, still taunted, still attacked, still denied their rights.

"On the 45th anniversary of the Civil Rights Act, discrimination must not stand. Not on account of color or gender; how you worship or who you love. Prejudice has no place in the United States of America."

President Obama's words call for an end to pejudice and discrimination and while he cannot mention everyone, leaving out anyone is regrettable, particularly if you are that one. You cannot help but notice that he mentioned today only the minorities he hopes to favor. If you are one he has ignored, the middle ager who has lost their job because their age, or if you are a Jehovah's Wittness and people find you offensive to work around. For every people there are differences. You can make laws and circulate petitions. We have these things now yet another speech.

Some will make speeches or write blogs and some will do nothing. Still others will continue to discriminate using none of the above, but using their place and power in life to deprive others of their freedoms. Some, because of the lofty stations can minimize and even ignore the "dull and ignorant" masses, feeling superior in intellect and therfore worthy to control our destinies. In truth all of these forms of discrimination originate in the minds of people. It is those minds that discriminate and since we all have a mind it is possible to imagine that we all discrimate and are discriminated against.

To single out a race or a religion, a people or a concept and point the finger of blame is to discriminate. Declaring your neigbor a racist, is that not discriminatory?
So who then has the right to accuse, to chose what is right, fair and just. Who can say? Whatever you choose to say or not, write or not, do or not do, nothing will happen until the heart and conscience of the hater stops hating. The solution lies within the spiritual side of man. To date there is no law that can correct that.

America is a Christian Nation

God is alive and well in America.
For some the issue of religion is a difficult subject. Still, there is no denying that the US was founded using Judaeo / Christian principles. To this day we are a largely Christian nation and the polls bear this out. One of the most wonderful concepts found in Judaism and Christianity is the concept of Grace. It is this concept of Grace that gives America its religious tolerance. It is what makes it possible to believe whatever you like and remain here. Tell me that exists in other nations and I will show you a basically Judaeo / Christian nation.

Tolerance is what makes it possible for agnostics and atheists to believe or not to believe whatever they want. It is this tolerance (Grace) that made it possible for Jeremiah Wright to preach his gospel of hatred and do so without fear of reprisal. In America you can believe whatever you like. You can even believe that we are not a Christian nation as stated by president Obama: albeit incorrectly.

On this Judaeo / Christian foundation a nation was built that prospered as no other in the history of man. Doubtless, America is the greatest nation on earth. Yet, even now Grace is at work allowing every citizen of this great nation to believe as they wish. For some that is not enough. For some they must have control and every American must be forced to believe as these people do. They are forever bringing lawsuits to take God out of schools, out of the Pledge of Allegiance, and out of the very fabric of our culture, if that were possible.

In my thinking I am content to let you believe whatever you like. That is, until what you believe begins to infringe on my right. Once you cross that line then I no longer am bound to think kindly of you. You are no longer allowing “live and let live” but are trying to dictate life on your terms. This is totally unacceptable, not only to me but to millions of Americans. To be sure, we will stand up against you.

You do not have to pray my prayers nor worship my God. You will however respect my right to do so wherever I go and as I see fit within the bounds of Grace. When you wish to remove God from my schools, my books, my government, or dare say my Constitution you shall find a much less graceful adversary.

Be advised. I and millions of Americans choose to leave peaceably with all men. Take it at that, but be not deceived. We will stand for God and Country. In our minds it is God that gives us Country. Should you find this hard to hear let me suggest one thing. Trying to destroy Christian principles is to destroy your freedoms. That’s insane.