subject: Referendum America [print this page] Referendum America Referendum America
America's biggest problem is not
Barak Obama nor Nancy Pelosi.
If this is true, the how do we distinguish what the problem is and how to address it? The answer to this question is well within our grasp, to address it will take commitment and guts, of which we have plenty, but have forgotten how to use. The answer is simple, it is called American Values,
Since 1775 there has been a set of values built into the fabric of America that over the years has worn thin and lack the luster that made being an American the best thing that humanity ever conceived. When we began to relinquish these values, we began to loose our identity as America.
The things our Founding Fathers worked and risked everything for became mundane and archaic. This of course had to be modernized and brought up to date in order to be open to more and more people, or so we are told.
The fallacy in this line of thinking is readily decipherable in the events that are transpiring today. Our democracy is slowly being edged out by elitism. Instead of We the People to the government, it is now becoming the Government to We the People. Large government getting larger is simply not the answer to today's problems, and it is intrinsically against what the United States of America is all about.
There are movements that are active in promoting lifestyle changes in the United States that are designed to benefit only a select groups of the population, but if we as the general public disagree with them we are accused of hate crimes.
There are groups of people who are not even citizens of this country demanding equal benefits that the citizens of this country have worked for and earned, and now watch as the Administration gives it away to other who have not earned it, who are not citizens and do not deserve it, and who threaten and cajole in order to get it, and an administration more than willing to give it to them.
Every immigrant who has ever gone through Ellis Island or other Port of Entry and complied with the Immigration laws, and become citizens has always been given the opportunity to do whatever they choose to with their lives, they earned the right to be called Americans. To my way of thinking, citizenship in this country is a privilege, not a right. As a privilege there is also a responsibility, that responsibility is what is missing.
Where does this responsibility start?
In the home, the values of America are not being passed on to new generations, the basis of who and what we are is not being taught or shown in the home, when a child leaves the home he or she has nothing to compare to when they are taught in the schools. I know this sounds mundane and esoteric, but without the basics of who and what we are, how do we decide where we need to go?
My chief concern is that we will be doomed to remake our past mistakes simply because we are not aware enough about what is going on within the United States.
The two documents that serve as the guidelines of these values are the Declaration Of Independence, and the Constitution of the United States, when read they are two documents, when read and understood they are the defining qualities of this country,
The Pledge of Allegiance takes on a whole new meaning when you look at it word for word. In these words is the birth of our nation a birth, yes, in fire and blood but the birth that polarized a world full of people who were oppressed, who had other standing with a boot on their necks, to leave everything they knew and come to the "New Land" with their families in tow to start fresh to have a part in building a nation that was second to none on the face of this earth.
And, they succeeded, by their sweat and blood they succeeded. They put together a nation where everyone was given a chance, they erected a monument to the dignity of man, no matter who.
They ratified a government "OF THE PEOPLE, FOR THE PEOPLE, AND BY THE PEOPLE"
Those ten words are what set us apart from the rest of the world. Think on those words,
OF THE PEOPLE, that means all the people, black, brown, red, yellow, white, male, female, young and old, uneducated, highly educated, all the people, no one left behind. The make up of the government is to be representative of the people in the broad view, not in a select view.
FOR THE PEOPLE, the government not only reflects the people it is to be responsive to the people. The people are the basis for government, it is not the other way around, all direction for governing comes from the people who are governed, not from the government governing the people, the government then becomes a dictatorship, that is not America.
BY THE PEOPLE means exactly that, nothing is to be done by the government to override the wishes of the people, government is designed to serve the people who have authorized it.
Over the past 60 + years that I have been around I have seen some remarkable feats accomplished. But by far, the worst thing I have seen is a proud nation succumb because of the lack of a value system that built the most powerful nation on earth in a matter of two hundred years, I have seen our economy drop, I have seen our social values all but disappear because of a few loud mouth individuals who want everyone to see things their way with no exceptions. I have seen the world's hope (The United Nations) rendered insignificant because they could not agree among themselves.
I have sat and thought how could this be? The conclusion is the "Rest of the Story"
It is not because of stupid laws, of which we have plenty (if you can't handle a situation, pass a new law), it is not because of the governance we are subject to, nor of the ones we appoint to govern, it is the direct result of the citizens of this country abdicating their responsibility.
With the freedoms we have been given there is a direct responsibility to ensure the same freedoms for the following generations.
This is where the problem lies .
As a people we have altered our paradigm, where we used to look out for each other, we now look out for #1, our focus has become what can I get for me as opposed to what can we do for each other to ensure our mutual benefit.
This is the essence of what made us the power to be reckoned with on the world stage. The basic principals we were founded on were put on the shelf in favor of a more enlightened viewpoint that emanates from a select few who have decided they know what we need far better than we do so they will dictate what will happen.
If you think this is but the musings, think again.
What happened with health care? What is happening with immigration?
The biggest flaw I see with the people today is the turning away from our basic values which included God. "One nation under God", "God bless America", "in God we trust" I have always been taught that there are four levels of commitment to this country, my God, my family, my country, and my service. We have all but run God out of this country, we have re-structured the family unit ( the basic building block of this country ) by forcing both parents to work in order to pay the expenses associated with the governing of the United States, my service has been denigrated to something the elderly do to stay active until they die.
If any of this makes sense to you than maybe it's time to get up off our collective butts and do something. The polarization of the general population to again resume their responsibility as citizens of this country is what is needed. Let the government know of your dissatisfaction with their performance, and if they don't improve their standards of practice to reflect their service to the citizen of this country, they will be replaced. That also is a right we have, if the government does not reflect our values they can be recalled.
But we have to recommit to these values ourselves before expecting others to follow suite.
