This blog is supposed to be primarily about my books. Many times, I stray from that purpose and wander into the field of politics. I wish I could tell you that this shouldn’t happen, but nearly forty years ago I was told by some much wiser than myself, “Politics is a part of everything.” This friend wasn’t just talking about the kind of political theater we are subject to from Washington or the state and local level, they were also talking about ‘office’ politics and the politics of romance. That may seem odd, but if you look up the definitions of politics, one of them is, “the total complex of relations between people living in society.” In this sense, my books are filled with politics.
I, like everyone else I have ever met, have strong opinions on some subjects. Most of these opinions differ significantly from my family upbringing. I love my father, stepmom, brothers, sister, aunts, cousins, nieces and nephews fiercely, but we are on completely different pages when it comes to national, state and local politics. The one thing I know though is that each and every one of them loves the United States of America as much as I do. I have never heard a single one of them say anything negative about our military or our first responders. We may differ on a lot of issues, but I know that my family cares about our country and people just as much as I do. I firmly believe that most of the country feels the same way. So, why is there so much division?
For one moment, let’s set aside the individual issues; abortion, border walls, free everything for everybody, etc. Those are issues, they are not people. What I see happening is hatred, raw and ugly hatred, for people who have a different opinion. It is coming from both sides, and it needs to stop. This isn’t who we are, it is what someone is purposely making us become. And I am pointing my finger directly at the press.
The idea of the press manipulating Americans isn’t new. Let me give you just one tiny bit from Wikipedia concerning the Spanish-American war, “It was the first conflict in which military action was precipitated by media involvement. The war grew out of U.S. interest in a fight for revolution between the Spanish military and citizens of their Cuban colony. American newspapers fanned the flames of interest in the war by fabricating atrocities which justified intervention in a number of Spanish colonies worldwide.”
Yup, they lied to sell more newspapers. I look and listen to both Conservative and Liberal media today, and I find them, if not outright lying, purposely slanting what is happening in order to play on our emotions. I have covered this to some extent in the Senses Novels. I don’t care if the subject is guns or healthcare, the media has one goal, to influence all of us into thinking what they want us to.
Here is what I believe, most of the prominent politicians want to have favorable press because this will likely gain them an advantage when it comes to swaying voters to their side. Truth doesn’t matter anymore, it’s whatever will make people keep them in office. Let me explain this another way.
We have the right to own firearms in this country. This has been reaffirmed by the Supreme Court more times than I can count. Yet, it would appear that certain very high-profile factions in D.C. want to take that right away. Does anyone really believe that these people can just ignore the fact that quite literally one-third of the citizens of this country own guns? I honestly DO NOT believe that the person in question made the statement in such a manner, I think they were trying to make a point. Otherwise, it makes as much sense as the New Green Deal saying that we need to tear down or refurbish every single building in the U.S. within the next ten years. There are over six million commercial buildings in the U.S., and probably along the order of over fifty million residential. Even if we call each of these building to be a cost of only $50,000, that is $280,000,000,000,000.00…that is two hundred and eighty TRILLION dollars. That’s about $933,333.00 per every man, woman, and child in the country. Raise your hand if you have a million dollars to help refurbish every building in the country. And, by the way, that is only the start. That is insanity.
What has happened to not just common sense, but common decency? I don’t care if you are for or against building a wall on the southern border, are you for or against letting anyone who wants to come into the country do so without any kind of vetting at all? I believe the words on the Statue of Liberty, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!” My father came to this country and was a beneficiary of those words. But he did it legally. Don’t we need to know who is coming in, and to follow our own laws to allow them all that this country has to offer?
It seems that the most basic courtesies have been subtracted from our society. Road rage is the norm. Verbal abuse abounds everywhere you turn. Did you know that there is a sign in every Waffle House that I have ever been that says, “Profanity will not be tolerated.”? I love that. Maybe we should have billboards every ten miles on every interstate that says the same thing?
I wish I could tell you that I think things will suddenly change. I don’t believe that it will matter who we have in the White House or who we have in Congress, we have traveled too far down the road for us to suddenly see our beloved country switch back to a kinder, gentler time. What I do see ahead of us is more ugliness. I pray that our politicians come to their senses and realize that they are pushing this country in a direction that no one really wants to go. That won’t happen until the day a broad bipartisan coalition stands up and says, “Hey CNN, Fox, MSNBC, and the rest of you, start telling the straight facts or your licenses to broadcast will be revoked.”
Will those of you who pray take a moment this week and pray for the healing of our country? Will those of you who do not pray, and/or do not believe, take a moment and make a wish for the same? It has to start somewhere, why not with us?
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