Twisted, but accurate.

[qwlauren35]

I've heard the sound bites from the RNC, and the more I listen to them, I see them as a spin on the truth.

- We do want to reduce the number of guns, we want bans on assault weapons.
- We do want people to have the constitutional right to protest, and we have seen that some protests turn violent.
- We do want immigrants in our country, from all over the world, Muslims included.
- We do want people arrested from minor drug crimes to be released, and we want to see the end of private prisons, we want more fairness in sentencing - and all of those things would lead to "emptied prisons".
- We want low income housing in nice suburban neighborhoods.
- We want women to have a right to terminate pregnancies, which means the death of a fetus.
And some of us would like to see cities' police budgets redistributed into areas that have a more positive effect on struggling communities.

SO! The America we want is not without problems. The America we want is not necessarily the America they want.

And I think about this, and I think that we will continue to be divided, no matter what Biden brings to the table.

And I am very saddened. I am tired of the divisiveness. I am tired of the fighting. I want peace. And it really does mean making sure that white people are at the table along with people of color. Men are at the table along with women. We are not trying to exclude, we want to include. But we have to make sure that everyone sees that.

I think about the whole "white pride" thing. White people have done good things. Yes, if you want to, you can point at something and say - "Hey, a white person did that". Like Thomas Edison or Ben Franklin. Like Abraham Lincoln. I don't think I want to take that away from white people, if they need it. And apparently, some white people DO need to be able to feel proud. They feel beaten when they are forced to look at the dark, ugly side. The truth does not seem to be setting them free. And while I *could* say, and haven't you made us look like shit, like 3/5ths of a human being, like chattel, for 400 years, I'm not going to say that turn-about is fair play. They go low, we go high. I don't like white supremacy. But if you want to take pride in your accomplishments, like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution - a living document that occasionally needs modification - go for it. White people came up with these documents. White men came up with these documents. Props for them. Yeah, some of them were slave-holding hypocrites, but that aside, they were good documents.

At any rate, I want us to all get along. And I am afraid that we have become two Americas and cannot be civil.

That is not what I want for my country.

[Karadeniz]

1. Yes, white people did good...no one else was given the opportunity. But let's look closely.

The founding fathers generated freedom, liberty. That was difficult, being on a national level and required...how many years? A few...and they had help. But freedom was and is an individual asset. A two year old wants to be free to pull the cat's tail, throw its food out of the high chair, bite that new baby competition.

You won't find many two year olds who want to give away their toys. They'll share an ice cream cone with Rover, but may voice a degree of fury when Rover runs off with the whole thing. Equality is wanting for others to have what you have.Equality demands empathy, unselfishness, sharing.

So, developmentally freedom/liberty is a more immature goal than equality.

The US has both goals. Eighteenth century whites secured one goal, leaving us an amendable constitution so that future generations could work on the hard part.

For the hard part, equality, African Americans have led the way. The completion of America's Spirit will be due to the efforts...how many years?...led by our citizens of color. The whites may do the law thing, but they never would have except for this second revolutionary war.

Whites did not found the country we have. They half founded it, even as judged by their own better instincts. Blacks will be our second founders.

[qwlauren35]

2. Interesting.

So, developmentally freedom/liberty is a more immature goal than equality.

I don't think I'd say "immature" because that is often used to put people down.

Freedom/liberty is the first step on the profound journey of a new nation, and it grows into the understanding of the importance of equality for that nation to prosper.

Many new nations struggle in that they don't move toward equality. There are have's and have not's, and the inequality is crippling. Sometimes, the inequality is imposed on them, as we see in some African countries where American conglomerates have raped the land, and left the people destitute. Sometimes inequality comes from within. As we have seen in America.

And sometimes, those of the have's try to label equality as bad (socialism) because equality means sharing. Another concept that one "grows into".

There are some people in America who are going to fight tooth and nail against equality. These people are hierarchical, which Octavia Butler claimed, that when combined with intelligence, was a genetic failing of human beings. I used to think they would die off. But I see that will not happen. Now, my hope is for more intermarriage. It's funny how the power of grandchildren can soften the hardest hearts.

Without a revolution, we cannot force the rich to give up their wealth and move toward financial equality. We can have some philanthropically wealthy individuals vow to give away their money. But they are few and far between. People who have money like it. I know I do, and I don't have that much.

So, if we can't have financial equality, we have to try for a cultural equality, racial equality AND occupational equality. We have certainly seen how we depend on some occupations that have been horribly undervalued and underpaid.

Now, the really sad thing is that the have's must be convinced that equality has benefits. There is so much beauty and love and strength in diversity. But if someone doesn't think that they have ANY place, if they cannot have a place above others, it is a hard sell.

Tell me, how do you approach this hard sell? For it is the lynchpin of the American divide.

[Karadeniz]

3. Well....we had a post once about a DUer's repub neighbor who changed his mind for 2020.

He told the DUer, "I'm tired of the hate.". I loved that, so simple. It would make a good basis for an ad series. No thinking required. No real knowledge needed. Just a gut wisdom that hate is not constructive, not helpful, an exhausting emotion that accomplishes no worthwhile purpose.

However, any permanent improvement such as you discuss would take time. The teaching of American history/govt is pathetic. We need two years in high school for each. Right now, history is propaganda. Imagine raising a generation who understood that we've always supported inequality, financially and legally...who understood the disadvantages of allowing an oligarchy, apartheid, fascism to replace a democratic republic...a generation who knew how to understand and analyze facts from propaganda...who knew how to untangle the daunting challenge of American politics...a generation which understood that they're vital, needed. That generation in the voting population could elect legislators to deconstruct the current ability of Money to dominate politics to serve itself.

I won't go on and on. I doubt we can ever expect wealth and power to limit itself for a greater good. They've replaced soul with materialism and most of them are incapable of interest in anyone or anything beyond self interest.

It would be helpful if media would have to prove it dispenses provable, verifiable information rather than lies or half truths and I suppose that's the most difficult mountain to surmount in a society of free speech, so abused now.

Thanks for the great read!