There’s a growing number of people that believe the nation is falling apart due to our political divide. But we’re a nation build on rebellion. We left Great Britain to create a new nation. We went west, rounding up and driving out the indigenous people. We went to the moon first just to beat the Russians.
For some reason we’re (as a nation) proud of these things. Does it really matter who rules? England and America are pretty similar. Was it really a good thing to nearly wipe out the people that first discovered these lands? Definitely not. Why we got to the moon was a moot point, but getting there was great, as it gave us new science and tech that lead to where we are today.
And these are the two I’d like to focus on this Fourth of July: America’s colonization of what is now the United States versus putting men on the moon. In a poll from January of this year, 79 percent of Americans stated the U.S. should secure its borders. That’s funny, since I’m pretty sure the majority of Americans came here when the borders were left open. Why should we close them now?
Probably because the new “native Americans,” the white people living here for generations now, are fearful of karma: foreigners coming in and taking our lands, our jobs, our women, and whatever else these people are fearful of losing so badly. And the fear of terrorists coming here and attacking is also prominent.
And these are the exact things our ancestors did to the Native Americans. We know what it looks like, and we don’t want it to happen to us.
But there is a way we can open our borders and still be safe. The problem is that it’s not anything the American people want to do.
“Behold, this was the iniquity of thy sister Sodom, pride, fullness of bread, and abundance of idleness was in her and in her daughters, neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy.”
-Ezekiel 16:49
We definitely do sound like the sister of Sodom. We’re rich, yet we don’t care for the poor. No, we don’t need the rich to buy the poor everything they want — but we do or should expect the rich to pay their fair share of taxes to keep the country afloat. And by “afloat,” I’m not talking about the national debt. I’m talking about the educational deficit. The U.S. ranks at the bottom of the top 35 first world countries. How can we be great without an educated workforce?
The wealth gap in the U.S. is simply ridiculous. According to New York Times columnist David Brooks, “Housing and construction rules that keep the poor and less educated away from places with good schools and good job opportunities…have a devastating effect on economic growth nationwide.” The nation’s wealthiest, many of whom inherited most of their wealth, are filled with bread and “idleness” — refusing to insure the next generation will do as well as they have.
When we put men on the moon, education was a focus. Colleges were actually affordable. Businesses paid a living wage. Yes, bigotry was still high, and it should be pointed out that there were other negatives. Yet an educated populace helped to end segregation, and a more enlightened nation worked towards peace between races. While things weren’t quite where they needed to be, for a time they were getting better.
When people come here from war torn countries (many of which are war torn because of the U.S. military) — only to find America is just as bad, or in some cases worse than where they came from — they want to work to make this country a better place for their children. And thus, we are being colonized by the very people we’ve displaced. We’re coming full circle, and the only way to fix things is to work together by putting aside pettiness.
“Through this Golden Door, under the gaze of that Mother of Exiles, has come millions of men and women, who first stepped foot on American soil right there, on Ellis Island, so close to the Statue of Liberty.
These families came here to work. They came to build. Others came to America in different ways, from other lands, under different, and often harrowing conditions, but this place symbolizes what they all managed to build, no matter where they came from or how they came or how much they suffered.
They helped to build that magnificent city across the river. They spread across the land, building other cities and towns and incredibly productive farms.
They came to make America work. They didn’t ask what this country could do for them but what they could do to make this, this refuge, the greatest home of freedom in history.
They brought with them courage, ambition and the values of family, neighborhood, work, peace and freedom. We all came from different lands, but we shared the same values, the same dream.”