Dividing Ourselves

Go ahead. Name an ideology. Press it in your conversations, your blogging, your political Facebook comments and feedback. Keep at it. Just understand that every ideology under the sun is doing the same. It educates no one. It advances the understanding very little. Attitude drives serious people away from your message.

This is not a left or right political comment. This is across the board ideology. Libertarian? Good luck on defining it so others understand what it is, where it stands, and what it will try to achieve. Far right or soft? Hard left or soft? Democrat or republican? Middle of the road, perhaps, a centrist! If so, how wide is the centrism before it enters left or right territory firmly?

You see what I mean? Political discourse in our country is so fractured there is little chance for cohesion to form during an election that achieves anything of value. The fight goes on and on. Rarely pleasant, often nasty and insulting.

That is why I focus on desired outcomes. Most of the time. Yes, I have my moments of political complaint!

Labels confuse. Progressives? What is that? For some it is a code word for liberal, leftist, socialist, even communist. Hardly accurate extensions of the progressive label. But by now, who cares to articulate? We shake our heads and move on to another post, most likely also divisive.

Ladies and gentlemen, fighting for outcomes is far more productive. Surely, there are people who will dash this to pieces, but they only serve to divide further.

I want justice in our land of the free. Justice means that everyone has equal access to these principles we hold dear:

a.       Education to whatever level of ability the student has

b.       Judicial justice

c.       Pursuit of life, liberty and happiness

d.       Fair pay for a day’s work; fair rewards for a successful career

e.       Healthcare at every phase of human life

f.        Peace and harmony

We claim all the above is available in our country at this time. That claim is simply not true. It is a fine ideal, but we miss achieving them. We think we provide these things, but we don’t stay focused on final results. We do not complete tasks. We throw money at social problems but don’t eradicate or reduce them.

Public policy and programs often are not funded well enough to solve problems. Window dressing is all we provide. If we truly cared about foster children and what happens to them, we would not have child sexual abuse, mental health, youth anomie, disaffection of entire generations, and growing crime. We legislate against legitimate abortions and then do nothing with the kids that are mandated to be born. Where is the follow through on the principles? Why bother with this ineffective regime?

Let’s do something about the quality of life for all children in the US. Too many kids are in bad homes, broken homes, non-homes, and damaging foster homes. This produces enormous social trauma, the results of which we live with and suffer through as a nation for all time.

Isn’t it time we did something about this? Not just play acting?

May 23, 2022

 

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Intimacy

As we mature, we become deeply involved in relationships. Some of this is basic family relations – siblings, parental – and the like. Next is friends who enter our homes and we theirs. Neighbors, classmates, mutual hobbyists and so forth. Then we develop friendships that go much deeper. We comfort one another when we are hurting physically or emotionally. We discuss the matters of life and learn much more about ourselves and each other. We can even anticipate how others will react to various situations and stimuli. Good friendships do not spread to everyone we know. No, good friendships are special, close and deeply personal. We focus attention and brainpower on these few friends. Some special relationships focus on specific topics of interest and importance. Yes, we have specialized friendships. Most common. But one day, we get to know one person very well. An emotional connection forms with deep roots. A need to know the person more fully expands in personal ways. We sense this b...
Read more

Bits & Pieces

Pie: Apple pie more specifically. With Thanksgiving just passed, many of us enjoyed a good apple pie. Sure, there was pumpkin to accompany the turkey, but in our family multiple pies are offered in the holidays. Apple is surely one. Pecan, pumpkin and others, too. But I almost always choose apple. When I was in college, I was asked what kind of pie did I eat most often. In front of my mom, I answered apple, because I was always looking for a pie as good as mom’s own. Of course my mother was pleased, but it was a true statement just the same. When I was married, Ann’s pie was darned good. Her mother’s recipe. But we fiddled with the recipe until it took on its own generational name, and boy, was it good! Today I still order apple pie for dessert because I am always looking for a great pie to challenge our family recipes. I rarely do find such a prize. Do others do the same? Do you search for a great pie of choice, continually? If you do, what’s your story? Why do you do this? ...
Read more

Remembering Tom Sherlock

Tom Sherlock died on Wednesday, April 3rd. He was 65 years old and did not survive a heart surgery. That was his unexpected end and sad enough. But there is more to his story. Tom joined Dan Schuyler and George Safford to create what became the Village Chronicles, a weekly newspaper serving Warrenville, Illinois. That paper expanded to serve Winfield and then West Chicago. The paper published for eight years and built a good reputation for itself. Tom served the paper in several ways. He was our information technology guru, provided hardware and software to support the paper's operations. He was our sole bookkeeper, accountant and financial manager. He designed our distribution process and provided office space for meetings and layout and typesetting. His efforts supported the work of 32 volunteers who wrote and reported on the communities we served.  The newspaper broke even financially most of the time, but it was a struggle. Tom managed to find money to keep the newspaper afloat...
Read more