Let me say how my thoughts and prayers go out to the victims and of the Fresno shootings and their families. The victims who's only "crime" was being white. I'd also like to say how I'm happy the perpetrator is in custody and not lose to continue with his "hate crimes" not his "random acts of violence" as officials are calling it. (Kinda funny how Dylan Roof's were deemed a hate crime immediately while this guys are random violence. Just sayin.)
But his clearly bigoted and racist acts are not what I want to talk about nor do I wish to discuss his radical Islamist ideology. What I'm concerned with is how we got to the divided country we find ourselves in. One where people think of themselves by their self identified group instead of as Americans. Where did the "United" States go and who/what sent it there, because I want it back.
I would dearly love to lay my hands on the SOB who started this loyalty to this grievance group or that over loyalty to America. That or those bastards have done more harm to America than any outside force in my lifetime.
I remember when peoples ethnicity was nothing more than casual banter to be discussed on St. Patrick's Day or Columbus Day or whatever. It wasn't people's driving force, because being American trumped all of the other qualifiers. It didn't mean anything of importance if you were born in another country or if your parents or grandparents were born in another country. We were all Americans first, last and always.
Since 1776 we have been a nation made up of folks from all over the world. As Bill Murray put it in Stripes: "We're all very different people. We're not Watusi, we're not Spartans, we're Americans. With a capital "A", huh? And you know what that means? Do you? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts." Our origins were and are inconsequential. It's where we are now. As long as we have people with more loyalty to some subset or grievance group than to our nation as a whole we will continue to slide into the abyss. The nation that became the envy of the world will slowly (or maybe rapidly) fall apart and the world will lose the one true beacon displaying what a nation can become when being more interested in what its citizenry can accomplish as individuals than what one group or another can get from the government.
I believe it is every true American's duty to promote OUR nation first and foremost over any grievance group claiming special status. This country didn't develop by catering to grievance groups but rather by offering equal opportunity to all those willing to take a chance and put the effort in.
This nation offers you the opportunity to pursue your happiness. There are no guarantees of outcome. The Declaration of Independence says we are "created" equal, NOT we shall be "made" equal. We are offered opportunity not outcome as long as the country remains true to its founding ideals.
Or so it seems to an old farm boy.
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