A quick thought before I start. Everyone knows the phrase:
give them an inch and they will take a mile. The origination of this phrase
goes all the way back to the caveman era. It started when the first cave
husbands where asked by the cave wives to stay home one Saturday to perform one
task around the cave. He agreed thinking it was okay to miss whatever version
of caveman golf existed at the time for one Saturday. So, he agrees to the one
task around the cave and half way through the cave wife starts adding to the
list and before he knows it he has spent the entire day in the cave. He grunts
out the cavemen noises for inches and miles and hence we have the saying.
Who made American great? The irony is that the answer is
included in the infamous post 2012 election results for the Republicans.
Remember they put together a review of how they failed and were going to
implement it going forward. Like everything else worthwhile politicians soon
forget what they promised.
Our history is filled with monumental greatness and almost simultaneously
horrific deeds. One day we will learn to separate the two and take giant leaps
forward for civilization. For now, though it helps to remember who made the
great part of America.
It even starts from the very beginning. The Pilgrims came
here for religious freedom, suffered, made new friends and ended up creating
what we now know as Thanksgiving. They were immigrants coming for something
they didn’t have and eventually built something they felt was better for
themselves.
And from that start America grew. This growth was constantly
fueled by immigration. These same immigrants then their descendants became
everyone from entrepreneurs to laborers to professionals to artists that built
this country. And we could not be where we are today, nor have the potential to
be even greater without the diverse group of people who came here to build a
better life.
There were also the immigrants of the 1800’s such as the
Irish, Eastern Europeans, and Asians on the West Coast. Each of these groups
suffered some abuse and eventually through their communities survived then
thrived. And each of the immigrant groups built businesses, usually family businesses,
some became large corporations through the work of the family, others the
descendants became Doctors or Professors because they were given a value system
not just of hard work, also of self-worth.
Also throughout our history is one group of people
exploiting other groups to achieve great wealth and power. The next step then
becomes the exploited group rising and establishing their identity and working
within and sometimes outside of the system. Sometimes the exploited group had
help, sometimes they did it on their own. The most obvious examples are the abolishment
of slavery due to the Civil War: the late 1800s when workers started their
riots for better working conditions; and most recently the Civil Rights
movement. After each event there was improvement in the quality of life.
After people immigrated they assimilated in some ways and in
other ways they kept their original culture hence the little Italys; China
towns; and other ethnic areas dedicated to shops, restaurants, entertainment
from the original native land. America became this infamous melting pot we read
about in history books. And this melting pot built us into the zenith of the
American dream.
For generations we have watched each group of immigrants add
to the power, the diversity, to businesses, to culture, to art, to education
and to our greatness.
And now we elect a President who wants to make us great
again. And in doing so, we are failing ourselves by doing the exact opposite of
what made us great. All these groups had desire, drive, ambition, etc.. they
wanted a better life for themselves and for their children. Now a select group
of Americans think they are somehow better. One group is the infamous one
percenters, people who feel they are better than others due to their wealth. We
have seen this before in the late 1800s and the 1920s. The other group is the
people who feel their world is faltering and they need someone to blame. They feel
superior in their blame. This is the same group that once they assimilated into
our country blamed the next group of immigrants for their problems. And each
time we overcame their controls and fears, we became better as a country.
The good news is you probably knew this before you read this
post. Our history is well documented. Our greatness is because we recognized what
all who have come before having done and then contributed our self. So, to continue
to be great we need to overcome these two groups and replace the class society
and the fear with what our ancestors brought forth to this country. A desire
for something better.
Who made America great? It was you and I and our
forefathers, our ancestors, the person that arrived one day and dreamed of a
better life and then built that life. It was not the entitled, the feudal rich,
hate mongers, the ignorant, the bigots etc… They may control the conversation
in the government right now, yet they do not control the destiny. The destiny
of our greatness lays in our own hands.
Happy Thanksgiving all
On a side note:
Back to the first paragraph about the Republicans; they were
to become more inclusive. They completely forget most Americans of all races,
creeds, colors are more conservative than liberal. The Republicans had an
opportunity to become inclusive and if they put the middle class first would
have taken this country to new heights, instead we have sunk to new lows. And
you wonder why I say we need new parties to represent us.
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