I love my country, my United States of America, warts and all. Yep! We do have quite a wonderful history. But my problem? In my opinion, too many of my fellow Americans seem completely unaware of our internal warts and cancers that we have also created and failed to treat in an effort to make us an even better nation.
Think about it. Yes, we have had glorious successes as a nation, but we continue to be a country with the highest homicide rates on earth, the largest prison populations, the lowest numbers for healthcare for our lower- and lower-middle-class citizens, the ever-widening financial gap between our wealthy and poor to middle class citizens, and more. How about our many African American communities? With our American history of 300 years of slavery and 100 years of segregation followed to this day by racism – among a minority of us, it's true, but still too many of our citizens – who can explain why my America has never once sat down as a community to help cure the difficult problems found in African American communities, problems that were created by my America?
Where do we go from here, from this day forward? Some are arguing that we have to expand our military as if we are not still the most powerful nation on earth. But in my opinion, we have already tried to do what every other great power before us failed to do, and we apparently have learned little to nothing from our experiences in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. To put it bluntly, if the British Empire could not overcome our founding 13 colonies, what makes us think we can be the police officer for the world?
I believe that my America should be leading not with power, but by example. Let us return to the community we were in the 1940s when we all came together to overcome the challenges brought on by the Nazis and their allies. Let us return to the days when the poor and the middle class worked hard on behalf of us all and when the rich and wealthy did the same and paid their fair share into our tax funds so that my America could afford to pay for the solutions that carried us forward.
I love my country, my United States of America, warts and all. I’ll love my country even more when my American community cures our internal warts and cancers.
Think about it. Yes, we have had glorious successes as a nation, but we continue to be a country with the highest homicide rates on earth, the largest prison populations, the lowest numbers for healthcare for our lower- and lower-middle-class citizens, the ever-widening financial gap between our wealthy and poor to middle class citizens, and more. How about our many African American communities? With our American history of 300 years of slavery and 100 years of segregation followed to this day by racism – among a minority of us, it's true, but still too many of our citizens – who can explain why my America has never once sat down as a community to help cure the difficult problems found in African American communities, problems that were created by my America?
Where do we go from here, from this day forward? Some are arguing that we have to expand our military as if we are not still the most powerful nation on earth. But in my opinion, we have already tried to do what every other great power before us failed to do, and we apparently have learned little to nothing from our experiences in Vietnam, Iraq and Afghanistan. To put it bluntly, if the British Empire could not overcome our founding 13 colonies, what makes us think we can be the police officer for the world?
I believe that my America should be leading not with power, but by example. Let us return to the community we were in the 1940s when we all came together to overcome the challenges brought on by the Nazis and their allies. Let us return to the days when the poor and the middle class worked hard on behalf of us all and when the rich and wealthy did the same and paid their fair share into our tax funds so that my America could afford to pay for the solutions that carried us forward.
I love my country, my United States of America, warts and all. I’ll love my country even more when my American community cures our internal warts and cancers.
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