How would you like to go back to black and white movies or TV? It seems to me that a black and white world is what our political system has become. Black or white, Republican or Democrat, White or non-white, Christian or non-Christian, these are the choices we seem to be given. What ever happened to the balance? Our country was designed to be a balance of the opposite opinions; that’s why so many checks and balances were included in our constitution. E pluribus unum or one out of many is found on the Great Seal of the United States. It signifies that we are one Nation coming from many differing peoples. The term United States signifies the uniting of many into one but somehow the recent political system is anything but united.

It seems that both sides have wandered to opposite ends of the spectrum of black vs. white. The compromise is all but gone; and yet if you come to the people when put on the spot, they will instinctively come together for the good of the group. This is as it should be. Look around at the actions of the people in natural disasters; you will find blacks running into burning buildings to save white people. The reverse is equally true. So, why do our elected representatives not represent US!? The reason seems simple to me. They are not there to govern, they are there to feather their own caps. To do this they choose up sides to compete with each other from opposite sides of the fence. Nobody wants to walk up to the fence and offer their hand to a counter-part. They huddle in dark rooms devising plans to defeat the others. But, the others are also us. Just like there have always been good and evil, there has always been fighting in government and most people have accepted the fact;  thinking there is nothing they can do about it.  With the prevalence of wide spread communication from the airwaves to the internet, these teams or gangs of politicians are now trying to increase their gangs strength by enlisting we the people. Is this what we have become? Political gangs?

We the people are NOT really that different. Sure we have differences of opinion and those differences are in degrees but we have been brainwashed to believe our gang is best and the only one that can save the country from the other.

Let’s start with our opinions about immigrants. We all know our country was made up of immigrants. The American Indians are the ONLY indigenous peoples here and at one time I guess they had to come here from someplace. I’m a liberal but I don’t want complete open borders. We do need to provide a fair way for immigrants to escape repression and fear, for a better life in America just like all our forefathers did. We need a fair and equitable way to allow them to find safe harbor here and become citizens. That should be their goal and ours. They should not be supported by the government besides humanitarian aid unless they do become citizens. The fact that they are all getting public aid and such is not factual. Yes, we do provide for illegal alien pregnant mothers because they are carrying future citizens. That is the the current law. We need a system that is not yes, you can move in or no you can’t cross our borders. We need a conditional approach. OK, you can come in to save your self and your children from the persecution in your country but you must become a contributing member of our society or leave after a prescribed time.

How about abortion? I remember running for school board and someone asked me what was my stand on abortion. I paused and replied, ” I would definitely be against it in the classroom!” No, I didn’t win that election! And, No, I don’t believe in killing but I also think a woman has the right to control her own body. Again, it isn’t a simple right or wrong. If we turn to making all abortion illegal, what is next? Will it be all forms of birth control?

Let’s look at the form of government. What do you really want the government to do?  I think most of us want the government to protect us and to provide services.  OK, should those services be actually provided by the government or private sectors?  Should they be capitalistic or  more socialistic? I’m sure many of you cringe at the thought of socialism so you jump to capitalism.  With pure capitalism, all these services would be provided by private firms. Perhaps the Pinkertons could provide police services on a person by person basis. Roads would all be private and would be operated on a toll basis.  No public libraries and the internet would be completely unregulated so things like Facebook might be at additional cost. There would be no public lakes or parks. These are all a form of socialism where they are owned by the government and used by all equally. I think most of us would not want a completely capitalistic system.  It’s just not practical or economically sustainable. How about schools where the poor would have no access. This country used to lead the world in innovation because we had a good worker base that were educated to be able to perform difficult production.  Public education is socialistic. Like everything else socialism and capitalism are not just black and white. The capitalists need to be regulated to provide services and products that are safe  realistically priced and the socialists need to be constrained so as not to take over all production like communism.

Life is not just black and white. It is all forms and shapes of colors and shades.  Our data might have gone binary but our life is far from it.  Rather than yelling at each other over the fence, we need to talk to one another. I’m betting we have far more in common than our politicians want us to believe.  Get out of the political gangs and join the unity of all humanity.

Obviously, this is my opinion. I’m no expert but I do know that the present state of our nation is not good and we need to reign in the hate speech from both sides.

Love and Light