In my earliest days in the 1960s after I had finished high school and college, I defined our America in my mind as a nation that for almost 200 years had been walking on a high wire, and for a good part of that time, staying on that wire with only one foot as our national body swayed back and forth and was lucky enough to have not fallen off the wire. The above description is how I currently see my country.
I now find myself wondering why my country appears to be so oblivious to the obvious, to the reality that in the long term, we are doing ourselves a disservice when we ignore the very basis of the creation of our nation; that we are a united community, multiple states and all, and that we have done well as a nation because when it really was necessary, we as a people jumped into all of our challenges on behalf of all of us.
Today, the cry from those on the extreme right of our community revolves around their fear that we could become a socialist nation if people like Senator Bernie Sanders had their way. But don’t all of my fellow Americans understand, I ask myself, that we have always been part capitalist and part socialist in our endeavors? Truth be told, in the main, our major successes as a country have come because of the willingness of the rich and wealthy among us to pay a higher percentage in taxes so that our nation could afford to pay for the remedies needed so solve our problems be they for the military during wars or expenditures for our national infrastructure of roads and bridges.
When every worker in our great country is earning enough to pay for all of their needs for themselves and for their family, every person in our country benefits including those at the highest end of the economic scale. We need all of us, working together, to make a positive difference.
Yes, I am disappointed these days in my country because of the constant refusal by too many of us to see ourselves, our nation, as a community, but I'll continue to do what I can to keep us from falling off the wire, and I'll keep hoping for the best.
I now find myself wondering why my country appears to be so oblivious to the obvious, to the reality that in the long term, we are doing ourselves a disservice when we ignore the very basis of the creation of our nation; that we are a united community, multiple states and all, and that we have done well as a nation because when it really was necessary, we as a people jumped into all of our challenges on behalf of all of us.
Today, the cry from those on the extreme right of our community revolves around their fear that we could become a socialist nation if people like Senator Bernie Sanders had their way. But don’t all of my fellow Americans understand, I ask myself, that we have always been part capitalist and part socialist in our endeavors? Truth be told, in the main, our major successes as a country have come because of the willingness of the rich and wealthy among us to pay a higher percentage in taxes so that our nation could afford to pay for the remedies needed so solve our problems be they for the military during wars or expenditures for our national infrastructure of roads and bridges.
When every worker in our great country is earning enough to pay for all of their needs for themselves and for their family, every person in our country benefits including those at the highest end of the economic scale. We need all of us, working together, to make a positive difference.
Yes, I am disappointed these days in my country because of the constant refusal by too many of us to see ourselves, our nation, as a community, but I'll continue to do what I can to keep us from falling off the wire, and I'll keep hoping for the best.
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