The country is going through an awakening. The time for facing societal prejudices and discrimination is long overdue. The status quo has been that it will be run according to white, Christian principles and oh yea, there are black people here too. Over the past couple decades this has been challenged with an increase in people of color (mainly from Mexico) the election of a black President, and further engagement with the rest of the world such as NAFTA and sending a large portion of manufacturing jobs to China. This has not sat well with many people since it not only has disrupted the status quo but also increased competition for jobs and stagnated many from doing economically better than their parents.
This anger has finally erupted with the election of President Trump. His “America First” message along with an obvious preference in keeping America white and Christian has resonated deeply with a good portion of the population. Now, I’m going to take the gloves off a bit.
I went to business school and in business school you’ll lean towards the conservative side since you’re learning about business and things such as fair wages, “socialism” etc are in the domain of the liberal camp. I remember when I was at OSU the janitors went on strike and the campus turned into a dump. The business students were primarily for the janitors to get back to work or OSU should just hire new ones willing to do the job. I was also a Spanish major and in that camp it was all about providing a ‘fair wage.”
Then I went to study overseas and I became more liberal. I am still for less government but understand that straight capitalism is only after profit and does not care one iota for people. This was apparent when companies in the USA sent all those jobs overseas. So now, I’ve landed in the middle and would welcome real debate into how to protect jobs but at the same time keep regulation to a bare minimum. Yes, keep jobs in America, yes protect the planet, yes stay competitive! This would require a lot of consensus from the right and left but the mood of the country is not very conciliatory at the moment.
But these are not the main topics of this post. I simply wanted to lay the groundwork that I can still understand both sides but now I’m going to plant my flags on a few specific issues. I also want to clearly state that I detest what the Republican party has become under Trump. I never thought I’d agree with the Bush brand of Republicans but since they are against Trump I’m rooting for them.
Monuments and statues
To get right to it is it high time those statues came down. They are in honor of people that kept slaves, that kept human beings at chattel. They are also in honor of a side that lasting only 5 years lost. In essence they are participation trophies and there as a reminder to people of color that although they lost the war, they want blacks to stay in their place. Any kindergartner would realize that we should not have statues like these. Young children have a better moral compass than the Republican party.
The Republicans whine that “you’re erasing history!” This is such nonsense I am embarrassed that many in this country think like that. History does not change, it is written in the history books, often with a slant given the prejudices of the author. Statues are put up to celebrate something. One should not celebrate those that advanced the cause of slavery and it is simple as that. Once every great while society opens its eyes and decides to improve. America is now opening its eyes and looking itself in the mirror is forced to see society has been very unkind to people of color. Many do not like looking in the mirror and seeing the truth.
Masks
Many conservatives are also against wearing masks considering it government overreach and stepping on their “freedom.” A pandemic does not care which side of the political spectrum one is on and will kill any and all alike. It would be nice if the left could wear a badge which says, I’m doing all I can to avoid affecting myself and others (such as wear a mask) while the Conservative side could go ahead and infect themselves as much as they like. This has happened to some degree with the Southern states seeing skyrocketing infection rates due to “exercising their freedoms.” It seems like poetic justice that these are the same people against healthcare for all. Many have lost their jobs and healthcare yet these are the same people who refuse to wear masks. It is very easy to see Darwinism at play here because of course many of these people deny Darwinism as well. This is idiocy plain and simple.
Flags
I am bewildered that there are also many who defend and fly the Confederate flag, even in my home state of Ohio! Newsflash, the Confederacy lost. Another newsflash, it isn’t your “history” because the Confederacy only lasted for about 5 years. Thus what this flag as well as the statues really represent is a culture that embraced slavery and white supremacy. That is the truth of it hard as it may be for the Conservative side to see that truth. The truth hurts sometimes.
As for the American flag, it seems as though the Conservative side wants to co-opt that as well flying it everywhere at Trump rallies. How does it make any sense to on one hand want to fly the Confederate flag but also the American one? These two flags were at war with each other! But this is the logic of the Conservative side. They fly the American flag saying “You better love America” which really means you better love what I believe in or your not a true American. How stupid is this? I’ll give you the answer, it is very stupid.
What really bewilders me is in the realization that when I see an American flag flying these days, I associate it with throngs of angry Trump supporters many of which will be against my family as it is mixed. They will call me a traitor and my family “not real Americans.” How strange it is that in the past I would rally to the flag when needed but now feel the need to keep away from any crowd who is frantically waiving the flag because they will most likely want to hurl insults at me and my family. How strange it is to think there are parts of America where I wouldn’t dare take my family!
The current Republican party is one of hate. Just listen to any podcast from Rush Limbaugh and any thinking person would understand he is an awful person immediately. What did Trump do? He gave Limbaugh the Medal of Freedom!!
Trump himself is a disgrace and a good portion of Americans are under his personality cult spell. If they could step back in time to the ’80s or ’90s I would imagine they would themselves be aghast at what they have become. But such transformation happens slowly and now I can understand how states like Nazi Germany can come to be. I had previously thought it was just that they weren’t as intelligent as we are now, or perhaps it was due to lack of information.
Now, we have the information and that information is twisted into propaganda driving people to think one way or another. Starting with Limbaugh the Republican party has been twisted into one of hate. Previous Republicans ignored this as it helped them win elections but now has come back to bite them with the election of Trump and his brand completely taking over the party.
In reading this I’m sure many Conservatives when confronted with the idiocy of Trump will try to reason it away or resort to the “but, but, Obama!” Or throw out insults such as “snowflake,” or result to caricatures depicting Liberals has bearded, tattooed hippies who only care about gay sex and abortions. To be fair the Liberals to the same to Conservatives. But the weight of blame falls squarely on the Conservatives at this point in time as they are in control and have let the hate get out of hand. They believe Obama’s sins to be that of trying to provide healthcare for all and at their most nasty that he wasn’t even American at all. Yet one look on any day at Trump’s Twitter feed and one would realize they have completely lost their senses.
Now lets look at the company they keep. Which ones are primarily Conservative and which ones Liberal. Conservatives are in the states that prefer to cut not only healthcare but also education. You’re talking about places like Alabama and Mississippi. Then look at which ones are blue and you’ll see college towns, places of learning! When confronted with this fact they whine that the Liberals have infiltrated education.
Yea, so I should align myself with the uneducated of Alabama over The Ohio State University? I think not. Also, in my own social network the most vocal Conservatives are the C students. They barely passed Civics class yet now they are experts in government policy? This is like a tragic comedy. The monkeys are currently running the show but if America has any sense left it in what-so-ever, it will rid itself of the disease that is Trump and elect the far from perfect, or even good, Joe Biden. At this point I would vote for a pile of dirt over Trump.
And that is what I have to say about that.
