Saturday, April 27, 2019
An American Culture?
Multiple
Cultures and Factions Prevail.
Our culture is sliced up into many pieces or
factions; so much so that the common elements are very few. Consider the following
slices and dices among many:
Rich Man/ Poor Man
Democrat/Republican
Democrat/Conservative
Democrat/Progressive
Liberal/Conservative
Liberal/Progressive
Republican/Conservative
Republican/Progressive
Democratic/Libertarian
Republican/Libertarian
Radical Right/Radical Left
Educated/Uneducated
White collar/Blue Collar
Religion I/Religion II/Etc.
Religious/Non-Religious
Christian/Atheist
Christian/Non-Christian
Truth Teller/Habitual Liar
Patriot/Non-Patriot
Elite/Non-Elite
Givers/Takers
Ethical/Unethical
Moral/Immoral
Cultural Snob/Cultural Boor
Pro-America/Anti-America
Intelligent/Unintelligent
Strong/Weak
Military Experience/No Military Experience
Pride in Birth Area 1/Pride in Area 2,3...n
Ordinary Citizen/ Elite Citizen
Ordinary Citizen/Politician
Ordinary Citizen/Congressman
Ordinary Citizen/ Entrepreneur
Leader/Follower
Statist/Federalist
Federated Republican/Collectivist, or Humanist, or Socialist or Communist (who
adopted the term "Progressive" to disguise their affiliation, which is
becoming more and more obvious every day!)
Management/Workers
Business Man/Others
Citizen Today/Citizen Past/Citizen Tomorrow
Lawyer/Citizen
Fluent in English/Not Fluent in English
Born American/Immigrant/Illegal Immigrant
Upstanding Citizen/Criminal
And all shades in between, with many gradations and combinations!
It is little wonder that we continuously have
serious conflicts, clashes in beliefs, and ultimately nasty invective between
opposing views, particularly when beliefs run so strongly, often challenging deeply
held religious, emotional, inherited or reasoned beliefs! Many times the
opposition uses unfair tactics to shut the citizen up and denigrate him, hoping
to send him away.
We
are a multicultural hodge-podge living our separate very uniquely human lives,
and many, many different lifestyles, but held together socially by at least eight
or so very strong beliefs and common goals:
The
value of strength in numbers;
the
rule of law;
the
joys of our freedoms;
The
economic system;
the
best place to raise our children;
the
opportunities for betterment,
a
compelling work ethic, and in,
the
love of this country. (There are more reasons, of course…)
All of our diverse cultural components contribute to a peculiar synthesis one
might call an “American Culture,” but if examined closely, it quickly dissolves
into some or even all of its constituent or factional parts, and even harkens
back to quite different historical origins and allegiances. I suppose that if
there must be such factions, it is a real
blessing to have so many factions that their opinions and strengths tend to
cancel each other out!
How
many discussions or arguments between two people have been completely biased by
their opposing factional belief systems, preventing any mutual understandings?
For that matter, do we know all of the factions and ideologies our adversaries
hold close? Most likely not!
The
remarkable thing is that this federated, democratic, republican form of
national government, with its written Constitution as the Law of the Land, has
successfully held together for nearly 240 years, despite many sweeping ideological
differences along the way. The differences have persisted to this day and have
again become a serious divisive force in the nation.
It
is time for those who believe in America, its Constitution, its common laws and
its founding principles to stand up and fight for them!
Multiple
Cultures and Factions Prevail.
Our culture is sliced up into many pieces or factions; so much so that the common elements are very few. Consider the following slices and dices among many:
Rich Man/ Poor Man
Democrat/Republican
Democrat/Conservative
Liberal/Conservative
Liberal/Progressive
Republican/Conservative
Republican/Progressive
Democratic/Libertarian
Republican/Libertarian
Radical Right/Radical Left
Educated/Uneducated
White collar/Blue Collar
White collar/Blue Collar
Religion I/Religion II/Etc.
Religious/Non-Religious
Christian/Atheist
Truth Teller/Habitual Liar
Patriot/Non-Patriot
Elite/Non-Elite
Givers/Takers
Ethical/Unethical
Moral/Immoral
Cultural Snob/Cultural Boor
Pro-America/Anti-America
Intelligent/Unintelligent
Strong/Weak
Military Experience/No Military Experience
Pride in Birth Area 1/Pride in Area 2,3...n
Ordinary Citizen/ Elite Citizen
Ordinary Citizen/Politician
Ordinary Citizen/Congressman
Ordinary Citizen/ Entrepreneur
Leader/Follower
Statist/Federalist
Federated Republican/Collectivist, or Humanist, or Socialist or Communist (who adopted the term "Progressive" to disguise their affiliation, which is becoming more and more obvious every day!)
Management/Workers
Business Man/Others
Citizen Today/Citizen Past/Citizen Tomorrow
Lawyer/Citizen
Fluent in English/Not Fluent in English
Born American/Immigrant/Illegal Immigrant
Upstanding Citizen/Criminal
And all shades in between, with many gradations and combinations!
We
are a multicultural hodge-podge living our separate very uniquely human lives,
and many, many different lifestyles, but held together socially by at least eight
or so very strong beliefs and common goals:
The
value of strength in numbers;
the
rule of law;
the
joys of our freedoms;
The
economic system;
the
best place to raise our children;
the
opportunities for betterment,
a
compelling work ethic, and in,
the
love of this country. (There are more reasons, of course…)
All of our diverse cultural components contribute to a peculiar synthesis one might call an “American Culture,” but if examined closely, it quickly dissolves into some or even all of its constituent or factional parts, and even harkens back to quite different historical origins and allegiances. I suppose that if there must be such factions, it is a real blessing to have so many factions that their opinions and strengths tend to cancel each other out!
All of our diverse cultural components contribute to a peculiar synthesis one might call an “American Culture,” but if examined closely, it quickly dissolves into some or even all of its constituent or factional parts, and even harkens back to quite different historical origins and allegiances. I suppose that if there must be such factions, it is a real blessing to have so many factions that their opinions and strengths tend to cancel each other out!
How
many discussions or arguments between two people have been completely biased by
their opposing factional belief systems, preventing any mutual understandings?
For that matter, do we know all of the factions and ideologies our adversaries
hold close? Most likely not!
The
remarkable thing is that this federated, democratic, republican form of
national government, with its written Constitution as the Law of the Land, has
successfully held together for nearly 240 years, despite many sweeping ideological
differences along the way. The differences have persisted to this day and have
again become a serious divisive force in the nation.
It
is time for those who believe in America, its Constitution, its common laws and
its founding principles to stand up and fight for them!
