It
is happening right in front of us. You
are watching it happen. You may even be
a part of the process. I’m talking about
the fall of a nation. Gumby used to say,
“I have found the enemy, and he is us.”
We are all willing and unwilling participants in the fall of the United
States of America. And that has been the
plan for our nation for some time now.
The
first part of the fall of the USA is when the nation was truly divided. We were no longer the United States of
America. We went to war over issues that
divided us. I’m not pro-slavery in any
fashion. But I AM a patriot, and I want
our nation to remain UNITED. To remain united, we need to deal with some
deeply divisive issues. We can’t do that
by disrespecting one another, ostracizing one another, or marginalizing one
another. Those things divide, they do
not unite. Disagreements can best be
handled by “agreeing to disagree” and pressing forward together.
However,
in a nation, it is a bit more complicated than that. Agreeing to disagree takes a great deal of
help when two parties, states, or regions of the country have world-views that
are polar opposites. It is very hard to
do when two parties, states, or regions cannot even agree about what the
problem is, much less the solution. Let
me give you an example. The Christian
believes that there is a God, He sent His Son to die to save man from his sin,
and he rose again from the grave to return again in glory. The Atheist, agnostic, Gnostic, alternative religion, and the humanist all disagree with this perspective. The Christian sees the division problem as
stemming from Satan, who is the spirit-leader opposing God and His plans. All others deny Satan’s existence and so his
methods as surely as they deny God and His ways. These beliefs go to the core of those who
hold them. Agreeing to disagree does not
help us move any closer to solutions agreeable to both parties. The Christian solution is offensive to the
others; and vice versa, the others offend the Christian. Both hold their views as TRUTH. And they are willing to die for it. That does not bring unity.
So
unity in our country needs something else.
We have a Constitution born out of compromise and conviction. Before ratification, it was amended five
times. We call those amendments the “Bill
of Rights.” Now, our nation stands on
the brink of destroying those “rights,” rejecting our Constitution. If our nation’s highest court does so, it
will pull the yarn of our nation apart, unraveling our unity by destroying our
foundation, like a knitted sweater, row by row, coming apart and leaving a ball
of string without form or usefulness.
And
we all play a part of this destruction. We are politically correct, and so
afraid to “offend anyone” except those who we have socially deemed worthy of
offending (Christians, conservatives, and constitutionalists). We are trusting our biased media to tell us
the truth, allowing our ideologies to be shaped by their twisted truth rather
than insisting we hear both sides before coming to conclusions. We are voting for politicians who will
promise things to benefit our pockets knowing that for every dollar they put
in, they take two more as a means of providing the one for everyone. We are easily distracted from the truth by
knee-jerk reactions rather than measured analysis of crises. We have lost our will to succeed, work hard,
and thrive. Instead, we have gotten lazy
and expect others to do for us, to live off the government dole. We hate the word “discipline.” It means we choose what to do without:
entertainments, excitements, etc.
Discipline means saying “NO” to ourselves as we choose the best over the
good. Our education policies reflect a “dumbing
down” rather than a disciplined approach to learning that served our
fore-fathers very well. Our reliance on
technology to do what we used to do the “old-fashioned way” will cripple us if
our energy sources ever dry up. We destroy
our families by redefining marriage, aborting our children, euthanizing our
parents, and legalizing drugs. We have
forgotten the heart of man and fight among ourselves over flags after a
senseless, racist massacre by one man in one town, in a single church. We are outraged over any harm done to animals
while we destroy one another in bitterness, anger, and hatred or we butcher our
babies in the womb for no reason at all.
When we disagree with these things, we turn a blind eye to them and go
on as though they don’t happen. But we
all contribute at some point or another.
When
one side stands and declares “these things ought not to be,” the other side
tries to ostracize, criticize, demoralize, belittle, denigrate and destroy them
for calling them out. Taking sides based
on popularity rather than common sense only exacerbates the problem. We are divided. And Divided we fall! We cannot stand unless we stand
together. Clearly, we are NOT doing
that. And so we will, as a nation,
fall. We all are watching it happen. And we all are contributing – unless we start
working together to deal with our problems as a nation, as states, as communities,
and as citizens. Let’s return to
statesmanship, respect, and integrity in every aspect of our lives. And let’s not wait until our neighbor does
it. Let us EACH choose NOW to be the
time we do it ourselves. I, Greg Yount,
commit to being this kind of American.
Will you, too?
And
that’s America, As I See It. Your
comments are welcome, appreciated, and invited.
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