Twice we have literally saved the nations of our forefathers from the forces of tyranny which were about to overtake them in World Wars I and II. Even now in the midst of one of the greatest economic hardships in our history, we continue to pour billions of U.S. Dollars into the economies of the other countries of the world to keep the countries afloat and to help keep their people fed and safe.
The United States of America is not now and will never be a perfect place, but it is the best of places the world has ever seen. All of our people are not perfect either. We have our religious bigots. We have our freeloaders who refuse to get an education or to support themselves preferring to beg or demand handouts from those of us who do work. We have our criminal elements who steal what the rest of us work hard to gain. We have our selfish self serving politicians who care not one whit about you and me or the country. They use their offices only to line their own pockets and spout Party ideology rather than to help solve the problems of the country in a bipartisan manner.
But in spite of all of that, the country is so strong and so basically well founded on the bedrock of our Constitution and the overall goodness of its people that it still survives as one of the greatest countries the world has ever known.
Today is the day we thank God that as homosexual and bisexual men we can increasingly live openly and freely and successfully in a land that is filled with people who are willing to accept us a friends, colleagues and neighbors.
Today is the day we thank God for the fact that we live in a nation that even though it is almost evenly divided by those who support President Obama and those who support his rival Mitt Romney, no one is going to resort to violence to get their way. Republicans, even though they see it as a National necessity to take the White House in November will attempt to do that only with their votes. Their will be no revolution to force their will. Their will be no military coup. We are a nation of laws. The will of the people is the ultimate imperative. That is the greatness of this country.
Happy Birthday America! Long may you endure and may your basic goodness and honor increase with every year.
Jack Scott
Jack this is a good posting and I agree with much of what you write...however I do have reservations when you write "The will of the people is the ultimate imperative." With the recent ruling by the Supreme Court allowing Big Business and the superpacts as a Constitutional right to give untold amounts of money to a campaign takes away and minimizes the people's will.....I also believe the popular vote should be the correct way to acknowledge the will of the people. The electoral vote doesn't do it.
ReplyDeleteI always enjoy reading you. Thank you for being you.
Thanks Vinmor for your comment. I was beginning to think I was not going to get a single comment on this blog piece and that was disappointing. To me patriotism, or the lack of it, is such an important thing in our lives.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, many youngsters are no longer being taught patriotism and many older people have become so cynical because of the political divisions within the country that patriotism and an appreciation for our country is at an all time low.
I admit that I battle cynicism too. In fact, when I said that "the will of the people is the ultimate imperative," it was not without some mental reservation on my own part. That statement should be and in the best of worlds would be a true statement, but in the USA we live in you are right to have your own reservations about it.
Big business and the superpacs are reason enough for reservations. But to the list one can add highly paid lobbyists who have money to burn. Just as importantly one must now add to the list that about 50% of the people in the USA get a vote but they have no skin in the game. They don't pay any taxes! That tends to sway their vote to the person and the party who is the most likely to keep their unearned benefits flowing. People like me and probably you are forced by the government to transfer a large part of our hard earned income to those who have not earned anything. My tax bill is my largest single outlay each month. It is more than my mortgage and I live in an almost 4000 square foot house. It is more than both my car payments combined. In fact my tax bill each month is larger than my mortgage and my two automobile payments all combined. It simply should not be this way. Although there is no doubt that I fall into an affluent class, I am far from what is considered wealthy even by President Obama's definition of wealthy.
You are also right about the electoral college. It is an relic from our history that has no place in the modern world. It distorts the will of the people. Hard working tax paying citizens tend to spread out across their states to be where the jobs are.
The cities find themselves the home of a great percentage of the unemployed or the underemployed. These people contribute much less comparatively than suburban people to the nations economy, but the consume relatively more tax funded services. Because they are concentrated in urban areas and tend to have higher birth rates, they make up an every increasing percentage of the population and thus skew the the electoral vote. At a time when the country is almost equally divided between liberal and conservative voters, it is more and more likely that the electoral vote can and will go one way while the popular vote goes another way.
All of this is simply one indication that what I said is true. The USA is not and is likely to never be a perfect nation. That said, it is still and is likely to continue to be the most exceptional nation the world has ever seen; and we should all be proud to be Americans.
Jack Scott
Thank you Jack! Like I told you I do enjoy reading you. I am 75 on a fixed income and I do understand and appreciate your comments. I know I would love to read your biogrophy...
ReplyDeletewould you kindly send me your email ....to furrypop@gmail.com
Vince
Vinmor, the closet thing I have to a biography are the posts in this blog. I think there are about 108 of them at this point. As a whole the blog post give a great deal of insight into my life and the way I have dealt with my bisexuality.
DeleteBecause I give so much detail, a few non essential points of information are changed to maintain my privacy. However, no pertinent facts are ever changed. What you read is reality. Times, places and names may not be.
My email address is readily available to you and to anyone reading this blog. Simply click on "Contact Me" at the top of this page next to the "Home" button. I'd appreciate hearing from you and other readers of the blog.
Jack Scott