Let me start with an apology. There will most likely be typos and this won’t be my normal quality of rant. I haven’t slept in roughly 38 hours. I’m exhausted. I really needed to get some of this off my chest after a few things I watched last night, though.
America. Land of the Free. Nation of Liberty and Justice for all. Except that it isn’t. You see, there are many hypocrisies in our nation that politicians and patriots try to justify with sophistry. Here are some of the illusions of our nation as I see it. We have the right to own land. Wrong. First off, the land belongs to the universe, not us. Secondly, if we fail to pay our taxes…or rent…to the Government, they take it back. This means we do not own it. We merely rent it. Any attempt to argue otherwise is foolish. I’m not saying that taxes are bad or unnecessary…just that the above statement is a falsehood that should no longer be bandied about as though it were fact.
The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.” This touches two important areas.
Separation of church and state. While this particular phrase is not in the Constitution (it was taken from a letter written by Jefferson), it is there in the concept behind the opening of the First Amendment. If there is a separation implied, then why are so many policies and bills Christianity oriented? For that matter, why are there religious lobbies? The simple fact is that this country is a simple majority rule and Christianity is the majority. This does not mean that other religions are forbidden or that you will be in some kind of trouble for choosing another path, but there is greater scrutiny and less of a chance of favorable legislation (which by all rights shouldn’t exist according to the First Amendment) if you are not a part of the religious majority.
We have freedom of speech. What does this make the FCC? They abridge what can and can’t be said by the media. The popular argument for this is that someone has to protect our nation’s youth from foul and harmful language. I agree. Children should be somewhat shielded from the more vile things that are out there until such time as they have matured enough to be able to look at it without scarring, but the Constitution of the United States forbids the Government from doing that. I also agree with that idea. Parents, take responsibility for your children. To touch briefly on the previous topic of religion (and no, this isn’t a “I’m an abused Pagan” rant by any means), a large majority of the censorship in this country is prompted by the religious majority and lobby groups. Yes, we sure have come a long way from the Middle Ages where the Church told us what to say and to think and to do…haven’t we?
We are not a Socialistic or Communistic nation. Oh really? In that case we need to dump all Social Security, Welfare, and other such Government provided programs. The idea of everyone contributing to the good of all for a matter of equality among citizens is Socialistic or Communistic, depending on the administration of said programs. Look it up if you don’t believe me, Merriam-Webster can explain it to you. These are good programs…abused…but good programs. I do believe that any advancing society should feel a moral obligation to help those less fortunate. Notice I said ‘advancing’…if we were truly advanced, there would be no ‘less fortunate’ ones among us. See, we are a Democracy in the way we elect leaders (in theory). We are a Capitalistic society in that we have privately owned corporations that produce some great (and sometimes terrible) things. Microsoft would not exist in a purely Communist society. On the other hand, there would be no aid for the elderly in a purely Capitalistic society. There is no one right answer for all of the needs at this stage of our evolution. Let’s at least accept the fact that we’re a hybrid nation that uses ideas from several philosophies of government to achieve a greater good for all.
There are so many more of these little gems in our nation. It is a country that was originally founded on the ideals of open-mindedness and acceptance of differences. We are a country of close-minded hypocrites that shun anything that is not like us…and by us I mean the majority. Again, this isn’t a religious rant…the previous statement applies to social, economic, racial, sexual, educational, political and many other aspects of Human Kind. Okay, perhaps I should make that more general…it isn’t just an affliction of the majority. The minorities in this country have the same complex. This just exacerbates an already unstable and potentially volatile situation. We are all so distrustful of each other and so focused on our own little desires and goals that everyone outside that little piece of tunnel vision gets run over. This is not the Liberty we were promised by the Founding Fathers. This is not what they envisioned this nation becoming. How about we take a moment and look around without those rose colored glasses? A couple of minutes in the real world could have some really good effects on this nation and the world.
I say the world because we are pretty much the only ‘World Power’ left out there. Whether we like it or not, we are both imitated and ridiculed for our every action and inaction. What happens within these borders causes waves and ripples throughout the ocean of Humanity. Let’s try to be careful in how we rock the boat, shall we? America was never designated the World Police Force. America was never elected Nation of the One True Government. America was never appointed Mommy and Daddy of Planet Earth. Let’s stop acting like we were. We should not ignore the needs of the rest of the world, but how about spending a little more time fixing the wounds inside our own country first?