What we are seeing play out in D.C. among liberals on the Left is pure outright disrespect and lack of honor for the United States of America. The list of Leftist lawmakers is growing who are showing their true colors this week: colors of Dishonor of what our Nation stands for.
Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson added her name to a growing list of Democratic lawmakers who say they are fed up with President Trump and will boycott his State of the Union address at the end of the month. Wilson, who was elected in 2010 and made headlines last year for fighting with Trump over his telephone call to the widow of a fallen soldier, cited the president’s “recent racist and incendiary remarks about Haiti and African nations” for reasons why she wouldn’t be attending the Jan. 30 speech. “For the first time since I began serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, I will not be attending the president’s State of the Union address,” Wilson said in a statement late Sunday. “I have no doubts that instead of delivering a message of inclusivity and an agenda that benefits all Americans, President Trump’s address will be full of innuendo, empty promises and lies.” Wilson joins Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.; Rep. John Lewis, D-Ga.; and Rep. Earl Blumenauer, D-Ore., in boycotting the event.
These lawmakers and many others on the Left are illustrating in the most remarkable and obvious manner the explanation of what the Democrat Party is using as their message to Americans: NO SUBSTANCE — ONLY SYMBOLISM. Their target is solely Donald Trump. And as their daily chants against the President and the Trump agenda for which 60+ million Americans chose him as President rise to the sky, those chants echo the hollow claims that we’ve heard ad nauseum for years: “Democrats know what is best for Americans and are the only party that can give Americans those things.”
Racism
The cries of racism have filled the halls of every American institution for decades — and rightfully so. Unfortunately in any society where exists a plethora of ethnicities, each complete with a diverse set of cultural and social morays, racism is inevitable. Human nature unfortunately dictates there will always be in such a society those who feel (and therefore implement a culture based on those feelings) one culture is superior, better, more worthy, more righteous, etc., than others. And for that reason, throughout human history nations and cultures of all kinds struggle to find ways for diversity to be achieved. Unfortunately such success is seldom actualized. And strife and anger that too often result in civil unrest and sometimes physical unrest are almost always the products of that struggle.
Let’s face facts: America has for centuries been no different than other countries throughout history. America has racism. And because of its racism, its people live in a perpetual state where those who are victims of racism spend far too much of their lives fighting to get through racial barriers to achieve all in their lives possible in spite of the racism they face. Doing so is an unfortunate barrier to every member of any minority. It’s a fact. And it is unrealistic for anyone to believe there is any utopia on Earth in which there are majority and minority residents who do not face racism of some kind.
A dream of eradication of racism is just that: a dream. However, all is NOT lost. There is hope. And while there is hope, we must find ways to exist dealing with problems — ours and others. There is a greater good. We must find ways to concentrate on that greater good: making America the best we possibly can. That means working together, putting aside personal agendas, biases, and preferences to find and implement those things best for the greater good.
In America, that greater good always has been — and hopefully always will be — “Liberty and Justice for all.”
Half Empty or Half Full
Which is your perspective? Far too many Americans carry around a half-empty glass. And they act accordingly. Why aren’t our glasses all half-full instead?
Thankfully through the first two centuries of American existence our ancestors possessed half-full glasses. That perspective gave them the energy that fueled their desires to build a better country with a better People. Their expectation was those together would create that greater good American settlers fled Western Europe seeking. And it worked.
Who knows what started the slide toward pessimism in the nation. But it started — and it not only still exists, its power is strengthening. That pessimism is slowly destroying the American spirit that fueled the nation’s growth and prosperity of the 20th Century and into the first two decades of this century. It is OUR responsibility to stop it. And stop it soon we must.
Summary
Who can stop it? Who must stop it? Everyday Americans can want that to happen all we want. But the Representative Republic we call the United States of America empowers 535 people to bring ideas to their group for discussion, negotiation, and either implementation after agreement or moving on to another topic.
Men and women who walk the halls of Congress: your job in the Capitol is NOT about your wants and desires. Your oath of office was to serve your constituents. You were NOT elected to serve Party or personal ambition or agenda, but to serve those in your district you represent.
Disagreement is part of the process! Don’t think that because of disagreement agreement cannot and should not be ultimately achieved. It MUST be achieved. The only way that can happen is as it did beginning in Constitutional Hall in Philadelphia. Our founders disagreed vehemently on numerous issues. But they discussed, persuaded, negotiated, and reached conclusions. How? They laid aside personal agendas in respect of the promise of our nation: “Liberty and Justice for All.” That Liberty and Justice comes ONLY through one opinion — one vote. Those together have established a country of people and those people the laws which govern American lives. Like them or not, they are laws duly established by the Constitutional process chosen and established by those people — the first Americans.
Members of Congress: like the laws? Then let’s live by them. Dislike the laws? Change them. There are processes put in place for each.
America is not about self. America is about “the other guy.” “Do unto others what you would have them do unto you.” That’s pretty sound teaching. And you know what? It works!
Please, please, please: let’s do the one thing we all have the power to do together — let’s together act like Americans, talk like Americans, and be Americans. Though our roots may be in 190 other geographical locations around the globe, if we are Americans, we should act that way!
“Liberty and Justice for All”
