Revolution – Part One

Image by gui.tavares via Flickr

John Lennon and Paul McCartney Sang About It

The economic, cultural and social state of the United States is in a depression. Do not assume that the “recession” bit is for real. Look about you. The only ones getting anywhere in this current state are the landed gentry; those who were well-off before the floor collapsed are the only truly seeing a dynamic increase in their economic recovery.

Culturally, America is one of the most diverse and “culturally affluent” nations in the world, yet; fewer and fewer students in this country are being taught about art, philosophy, literature or history outside of the “prescribed parameters” of the National agenda. The cultural lag is forcing students to accept that they are being taught more science and math and that these “arts” programs must take a backseat; however, we still fall critically short when compared to developing and third world countries in terms of overall education.

Socially, we are, as always a melting pot. A conglomerate organism made up of literally every other culture and ethnic background on the planet, yet; intolerance and separation haunt us at every step. We are a nation founded on the principles that “freedom”, “justice” and “equality” are the cornerstone to human existence. Let’s start living that.

The Beatles sang about Revolution, studying their music ideology, I don’t believe they were indicating an armed uprising; instead, they were telling us to give up this petri dish mentality and start to think of ourselves as a whole. The time for Revolution is now.

America – What it could and should be

Starting over from scratch would be wonderful, however; not practical for any number of reasons. We must beginto think of ourselves as a nation again. Not a collection of different ethnicity’s, religions and ideologies, but a functioning society made up of different individuals.

The poem “New Colossus” that is emblazoned on the Statue of Liberty says it best, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…”  This country, this nation is founded on the belief that we all make up this great civilization. The days of bigotry, discrimination, intolerance and wide-spread hatred that seem to permeate our lives must be done away with.

Each individual, each section of the whole, must be accepted, included and be made a functioning part of our identity. I have stated several times, we all came from somewhere else, even the Native Americans are immigrants to this land. Only by learning to accept each other with dignity and cooperation can this country ever truly develop its full potential.

My opinion is, anyone; regardless of religious, ethnic or national background who comes here to be a working, functioning and productive member of this society should be embraced as a brother. We can no longer pretend that it is acceptable to discriminate against someone because of where they come from, the color of their skin or the religious ideology of their beliefs. America is not just a Christian nation, not just a Caucasian nation, not just a European nation. WE ARE a melting pot, and, often stew is some of the best stuff in the world.

For the next several articles I will attempt to explain this philosophy in greater detail. A short summary would be this, “All citizens of the United States of America, have a responsibility; that being, to live in accord with all other citizens in a conscious attempt to promote harmony, National Pride and the ultimate goal of making this the nation it was intended to be.”