Other recent articles under: Bi-partisanship as of Mar 4, 2010
Topic: Bi-partisanship
...and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation under God
My thoughts on the state of America today. by Micah Rowell
(libertarian)
Thursday, March 4, 2010
Something that I just realized today, although I've noticed it for quite a while, is the division in America. It really, really makes me mad at times. We are so divided by a constantly growing margin. I'm not 100% sure why that is, but I think it has a lot to do with not understanding (or even knowing, God forbid) our nation's history. Nobody talks about our history or our great Americans anymore in the context in which it happened. Everything is political. People pick and choose whatever advances their ideology and leave out the parts that not only don't help, but are completely contradicting! It's become so bad that we can't even stand side by side during war! War! Our fellow citizens are going out beyond the safety of our borders, to a foreign place, and DYING to ensure that we live another day in safety and freedom. It doesn't matter in the slightest whether or not you believe we should be there in the first place! What matters is that this is where we are. The solution is not arguing about your ideology or if you think it's right or not. The solution is to pull together and find out the quickest and best way to end it! Nobody likes war.
America has become a land of politicians and bureaucrats. America once was a land of free people, a renegade bunch of rebels who stood firm in the face of destruction, took on responsibitlity in their own lives, and because of that built the greatest country this world has ever seen. I say all this to make a simple point. No matter what ideology you hold, regardless of your past or beliefs, remember this first: you are an American. As such you are responsible for the future of this country. Your actions are not only making an impact on your own life but on those around you and even those you wouldn't think or imagine you could impact.
Back in the day, on a certain July 4th, we stood united against the then current world power as "farmers with pitchforks" and defeated them. After we secured our independence we sought to make a free society. We fought and died for liberty and we were gonna get it. Back then it wasn't a question of whether or not we should have guns, if we could say whatever we wanted to say, if we could protest without fear, if we should abide by Judeo-Christian values, or if we could enjoy a free economy. The question was, how are we going to do it? Should a big, powerful central government secure our freedoms? Or should a loose collection of independent States secure our freedoms? No one questioned the freedoms we were to enjoy. It wasn't the ends that we argued it about, it was the means. Each one of our founding fathers, if brought to the present time, would be ashamed to see where we have come. Those who argued for a very strong central government did not argue for that government to intrude into our personal lives, they argued for that government to prevent it. I don't want to be "the guy with all the answers" or even presume to be that. I want to encourage all of you to thoroughly study our history in an unbiased way. Drop your ideology, stop looking through your political lens and simply study what happened. I just want to provide a place to start. So, here it is:
The first government we tried was a Confederacy. Our founders understood the dangers of an all-powerful bureaucracy but made the mistake of getting as close to anarchy as possible. The idea of the Confederacy was great, but the execution was not.
Since that failed, we learned from our mistakes and created a Republic confined by a Constitution. We realized the need for a stronger central government but still also realized the importance of restricting that central government as to not overpower the individual states and persons.
I want to make sure everyone understands the difference in the divisions in America today and the divisions in America at the start. It would seem to me that these days we not only disagree on the means of how to get things done, but also what actually gets done. Nowadays it IS a question of whether or not we should have guns, free speech, Judeo-Christian values, or a free economy. It makes me wonder, can we learn to pull together again? What does this mean about fellow American citizens who oppose these things? Should I vehemently oppose them? Are they even American in their beliefs? I firmly believe in the freedoms our Constitution guarantees us, the values our Creator has impressed into us, and the Capitalist economy that has brought us to the very top of the world. Call it Republican, Democrat, conservative, liberal, moderate, whatever. I call it American.
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The views expressed
in this article are those of Micah Rowell only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Micah Rowell is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
I have and I understand Americans have always been passionate to a fault about what they believe but besides the Civil War we have almost always been able to come together when needed as Americans. I think the reason is what I said in my post. Back in the early years of the nation the types of disagreements were different. It was about how to secure our freedoms, not if we should have them. Today it is about if we should have them. When the differences you have with someone are about the means only, you can usually pull together because the ends are what we agree on. Nowadays people disagree not only on the means but the ends as well. That was the point I was trying to make.
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