What upsets me most
I had always looked at America as a land of freedom and opportunity from what I had read, seen and heard. After I came here that feeling was reinforced. I have always felt that one of the most wonderful American values is tolerance for ideas other than one’s own. It is this value that has drawn so many immigrants and made this country a melting pot. I’ve always thought that this value was responsible for people of diverse cultures and religions living here peacefully, without rioting. What upsets me is that this election, which was based on fear and intolerance, shows a complete move from this value. Let me end by quoting Tom Friedman, who put my thoughts into words so clearly in his column- “But what troubled me yesterday was my feeling that this election was tipped because of an outpouring of support for George Bush by people who don't just favor different policies than I do - they favor a whole different kind of America. We don't just disagree on what America should be doing; we disagree on what America is. Is it a country that does not intrude into people's sexual preferences and the marriage unions they want to make? Is it a country that allows a woman to have control over her body? Is it a country where the line between church and state bequeathed to us by our Founding Fathers should be inviolate? Is it a country where religion doesn't trump science? And, most important, is it a country whose president mobilizes its deep moral energies to unite us - instead of dividing us from one another and from the world?”
posted by mightypen @ 4:15 PM
1 Comments:
It seems to me to be a battle between those with a certain version of what they think the country should be, and those who want it to be what it used to be (or an idyllized version thereof). This author, while he has an idea of what he thinks the country *should* be, is lying to himself about what this country has traditionally been.
Yes, there is a difference between some of the core philosophies presented by our Founding Fathers and what was actually implemented in our government. Now we have a whole battle of which one they really intended for our nation.
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