Who are you? If asked, most Americans would respond, “We are the good guys.” That would be a popular self-image, but one that reality and facts call into question. Famed Harvard political scientist, Samuel Huntington, is most noted for his classic work, Clash of Civilizations addressing the post-Cold War realignment of power.[i] Lesser known is his prescient book, Who Are We? Published in 2004, immigration was the theme, but the bottom line was that we are no longer who we were and that the America dominance of white Anglo-Saxon influence was in jeopardy. Specifically, Huntington noted the effects of the influx of Hispanic cultures and language. That alone has struck fear in too many people.
The historic gateway into America from Europe is marked by the Statue of Liberty. Held in the welcoming sculpture’s arms is a famous poem that reads in part, “Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore, Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”[ii] Not mentioned, but inferred by many Caucasian citizens is, “As long as they […]
I don’t talk with the trumpers because I find it hard to control my temper as apparently many of them do as well. So if I want to get read their point of view I go to yahoo news and read the comments. Horrible really, really horrible word for word repeats, lies of trumpCo. Cruel, crude and demeaning of our fellow humans and any who would question “the rule of law”.
Could national discourse have been worse in the 1850s and 1860s around slavery. Each day when I think they could do no worse, they do. If this gross abuse of children is not enough to move the authoritarians then what will?