It’s easy to surround yourself with people who look and think and worship (or not) and vote like you do. It’s simple. Convenient. Easy.
It’s also easy to view people who *aren’t* like you, who live outside of your insulated world, as different and wrong and bad and dumb. Even evil.
I was raised in a conservative family in the Deep South. To this day, with the exception of a couple nieces, they’re all republican voters and politically conservative. And that will never change.
I married a democrat from NJ and, thanks to going to college to learn how to think differently and deconstruct and accept alternative viewpoints, I became a fiercely unaffiliated independent voter who definitely skews liberal. That doesn’t mean I’m liberal. Or democrat. Or want to steal from the rich. But I do believe in the idea of SOCIETY, and don’t believe our current system is equitable so that all of us have the same opportunities. I also believe that we’re being fleeced by very powerful forces who control the narrative to drive a stake between us Americans. To keep us distracted from the truth.
I DO NOT THINK ONE POLITICAL SIDE HAS ALL THE ANSWERS. I ALSO DO NOT HATE CONSERVATIVE REPUBLICANS. I love you. Because I know you. And I also know that this republic is STRONGER with a balanced approach to managing it to the benefit of the majority, not the very, very few (of which none of us belong).
That said, I loathe Donald Trump. And it has absolutely nothing to do with his professed political affiliation. I hope we can get past him. He’s not a republican. He’s a carnival barker. His priority isn’t America. It’s Donald Trump. We can, and need, to do better.
Together.
***
Darren Reeves
Oct 15, 2019
Amen
Cristian
Oct 26, 2019
Hello Jim. Very insightful.
I woluld like to comment on the equitable system part
I´ve heard a lot of US citizens complain about it, specially from the Liberal side.
Being myself from a third world country I find it contradictory. you live in the best country in the world. Everybody wants to migrate to USA, but you just don´t see it. Of coarse it could be better, but please don´t lose the perspective. Travel to socialist countries and see it for yourserf. Socialism (claimed kings of equiality) is a scam.
Regards from Argentina.
Jim Mitchem
Oct 27, 2019
Thanks for the comment, Cristian. I hear you. I do. And you’re right, I have no personal reference point to living under a socialist regime. But I do have experience living under a capitalist regime. And I’m pretty sure the extremes in both cases don’t work. I am a white male. I have it made. Right? Just stick to my ethnicity and don’t rock the boat and I should be very happy living in the United States. Only that’s not how I am. I believe people matter more than corporate profits. More than money. And while I definitely think that extreme socialism doesn’t solve the problem of equitable humanity in the same way extreme capitalism doesn’t solve it, I do believe we must keep trying. For you to think the US is the greatest country on earth is complete whitewashing of the idea of America. We have more people in prison than any nation on earth. And it’s mostly brown people (I assume like you). 50% of our nation’s wealth is owned by 3 people. Three people. Meanwhile we keep pouring our taxes into our war machine which is the largest in the history of the planet. Why? Because of corporate greed. We are walking zombies here, man. The ones who constantly struggle (the non-white poor) have adapted to this system. And the white poor blame the non-white poor for all their problems and have NO idea they’re being fleeced by the ultra wealthy 1%. Yes, in most of the US we have clean water, adequate infrastructure (but deteriorating fast and with no plan to fix it), and we don’t have a foreign enemy bombing our cities. But don’t believe for a second that this place is some utopia.
I believe we can do better as a species. Way better than what is held up currently as this great democracy in the US. I hate that we’re so numb to everything we’re, mostly, just accepting that this is as good as it can get. That’s bullshit. We have 40% of the population who actually believe TURNING BACK THE CLOCK to the past is the best road for going forward. What the hell even is that? But that’s what we have here. Stupid, insulated, dumb population who are dogmatic to the core and believe the narrative that the rich are pumping out.
We can do better.
Thanks again for your comment.
Cristian
Oct 29, 2019
Hello Again!, thaks for your reply. Just for the record, I´m not brown. I am also a white male.(It´s a common error usually inspired by prejudice) Let me tell you again, you are beeing unfair with your own country, believe me I´ve lived in US for 2 yeras , I´ve been in many countries in the world.
You should travel more! and then, compare. For instance, do you have any country in mind in terms of your model of utopia?
BR.
Cristian
Jim Mitchem
Oct 29, 2019
Oh ok so we are doing this. I am a prejudiced stupid white man from the US who doesn’t travel. Ok. I get it. That’s the cliche.
I lived in Asia for a year and have traveled around the Caribbean and Central America. Asia was in service to the country I love but whose politics have allowed a clown as president. And with two kids and not having a bank job where I can swindle fellow Americans, we can’t afford to travel more than Mexico Belize and some of the islands. But it’s more than 90% of my fellow Americans because I still have it “better off” than people who are brown and poor.
Your two years of rose-colored glasses here are tainted. Come back. You’re white. You’ll be fine if you play your cards right. Lots of people to exploit here. Come on back. You can make money.
Isn’t that what you’re really complaining about anyway? You can’t make enough money to be happy there because they give it to poor people who don’t deserve it? Or have I been sucked into a cliche too.
Sorry about assuming you were brown (or rather non-English speaking American)
Cristian
Oct 29, 2019
First of all, I said “..usually inspired by prejudice” ,didn´t say your were prejudiced, but I´m starting to think that you really are,and in a number of ways.
For your record, I´m not complaining about money (is it reaaly what you think is all about?), it´s not about that. Values held in a Liberal Republic are much more than the pursuit for money. On the other hand If you take off your prejudiced glasses, you will see that the ones who claim to distribute weath, they became rich themselves by means of corruption (and usually invest in Real Estate in USA and Europe, not CUBA or Venezuela).
Finally, I will(like many others) have to deal with my own situation in my own country, but I don´t see millions of USA color or white, people running into our borders to get a better deal, so if we hold on to facts, your point of view must be wrong.
Over and out
Jim Mitchem
Oct 29, 2019
If you don’t think all we think about in the US is money (especially after electing a billionaire carnival barker for president) then you really do need to spend more time here to get a taste of what it’s like. You have no idea. But come. See how it works out for you. And if you’re driven by greed you’ll do well.
Thanks for the insults by the way. You’re just like them. You’ll be fine here. Flourish, even.
Jim Mitchem
Oct 29, 2019
Additionally for you to imply that we should not endeavor to become a more just and equitable society and should let greedy capitalists decide what’s best for us is insane. Again, if this is who you are you should come to America. But hurry, the tide for that kind of ignorance and greed is turning.
My novel – Minor King
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