The Rant of a Middle Class Moderate
I am middle class and a moderate. Does that put me on one or two lists of endangered species?
Unlike tea brains, I don’t want to take back “my” country. It has never been mine to take back. It is our country. There are several hundred million people with dreams different from my dreams. Those people have a right to strive to reach their goals-whether they are black, white, red, brown, or purple, Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, or atheist.
Some of my ancestors came from Germany in the late 1880’s. Others were Germans who came from Odessa, Russia-the story may be apocryphal, but I have been told they moved to Russia to escape being forced into some German baron’s military schemes, so I claim draft-dodgers in my family tree, which infuriates some family members.
Guess which language my great grandparents spoke at home. It wasn’t English. They attended a German Baptist Church. The services were conducted in-you guessed it, German. My beloved grandmother spoke English with a German accent. So, I don’t have a serious problem if some first generation Latino immigrants speak Spanish.
Today at lunch I saw a bumper sticker that read “Jesus was not a white man.” Well, given he came from the Middle East, that is not a far-fetched idea. I would suggest it really doesn’t change anything, yet some members of my family would never allow Jesus to be what they would describe as a “towel head.” Amazing.
I think it is a national shame that we are afraid of and belittle those who are a different race, color, or creed.
For those who say deporting all illegal immigrants will solve problems ranging from crowded schools to crime to healthcare, aren’t you assuming that once deported these people will never return to the U.S.? The electronic fence is a total failure, and I doubt the tall fence being built will keep out someone really determined to come to this country. So is stationing tens of thousands of troops along our border the way to go? Maybe it would be less costly to throw out the racist attitudes and let these people work toward becoming citizens, make that tax paying citizens.
I am a Democrat living in Nebraska. That means many of the people I work with, many of my friends are Republicans. Yet we get along. We have differences but are able to work around them. Is that such a difficult concept for members of Congress to understand?
Is asking our elected officials to lead us more than they are capable of giving? Is asking them to govern more than citizens have a right to expect? Forget about asking-we need to demand that they set aside political differences and work to make our country the best in the world. We don’t need two more years of gridlock. We don’t need two more months of gridlock. We need solutions now.
The tea baggers got together and had some election night success in 2010. I don’t think their views are those of the majority of Americans. Maybe it is time for moderates to unite. For middle of the road Democrats and Republicans to come together and simply say we have had enough. Either work together for the good of the country or your days feeding at the public trough are going to end next election. Forget the petty politics of revenge or you can join us in the public sector struggling to make ends meet. There are many more people in the middle than at either end of the spectrum. It is past time we caucused and show our strength.
Thanks for stopping by and listening to my rant.
