A friend of mine, a white male, was standing in line at a local mall department store to purchase some clothes. In line with him was another male, black, wearing an Obama t-shirt. The clerk behind the counter was also a black male. The clerk, with a secretive expression on his face, whispered to the other black male, “I like your shirt, where did you get it?” Overhearing the whispered question, the white male asked the cashier, “Why did you whisper, the man on that t-shirt is not just your President, he’s my President too.” The answer to this question is a moot point, the point is--why all the whispering and secrets? Have we become a society that reflects its values based on creed or color? Are we drawing a heavier line between the races and classes? Having just elected the first black President, are we really becoming a more civilized society, or have we reverted to a society of in-fighting and warfare? How are we to ever coexist in a culture of secrets and whispers, boundaries and lines?
A civil society is one in which each person feels free to express themselves without harm or threat, as long as the expression is not harming or threatening another. Did the cashier think the white male would blast him for asking about a t-shirt purchase that was supportive of our American President? If our President was voted in by just the black public alone, he would not be the President. It took the majority of Americans, the melting pot of color and culture that is America, to elect him.
Americans are an eclectic blend of culture and values, very similar to the music availability in our American melting pot. Some of us like rock-n-roll, while others prefer rap, still others like country music or classical music, then there are people like me…I like a blend of just about every musical genre out there. If I were to classify a person based on their musical preference, or the color of their skin, then I would be wrong in so many instances. So why whisper to another of the same color if you believe in the melting pot that is America? Are the secrets we keep tearing a rift between us? Categorically putting people into one box or another based on their color is just as distorted as putting people into a box for listening to a particular type of music, or the job we have or class of society that we are in.
A society that wrestles from within is one that invokes chaos, anarchy, and intolerance, ultimately destroying a cohesive chain of labor, production, and wealth. Class warfare is being invoked today by our government officials. Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, even President Obama, have all taken the works and labor of the Wall Street workforce and flaunted them as perceived evils against the average American- destroying the demeanor of this class of citizen. This is oligarchic control-- tyranny over the white collar class of Americans. One of our greatest Presidents, Abraham Lincoln, said,
“Let not him who is houseless pull down the house of another, but let him work diligently and build one for himself, thus by example assuring that his own shall be safe from violence when built.”
The Founding Fathers asked for our Government to provide opportunity for everyone, opportunity to attain the fruits of their labor and use them as they see fit. The Founding Fathers never intended for Government to run our society as an oligarchy, controlling who receives products and favor, taking from one to give to another. The Founding Fathers understood that a free society would produce and perform better than one delegated by an elitist few. We must not let the motives of the elitist few dictate how the fruits of our personal labor are spent. We are each blessed with a finite number of days on earth, how we spend our days is the sum of labors. If the Government takes my labor and gives the fruits to another, then I am a slave to the Government. What motivates the Government to take from one and give to another? Is it a sense of nobility, a genuine interest in the needs of the humble or is the motivation narcissistic power?
We all have motives that drive us to get up each morning and put one foot in front of the other, so why all the class warfare? Wall Street is bad because they make money, the middle class is good because they produce or perform, welfare recipients are bad because they are burdensome…I could go on and on. These are classes of Americans that have been justified by some think-tank to create a war between them, but these are all Americans! Pitting one class against another is a political tactic to create chaos, through chaos a voice of seeming reason can rise above the masses and declare simple truths to make each think it’s the others fault. Gaining the vigilance and posturing for a takeover of power.
When your government official takes a stance on an issue, be sure to find out why they champion such a cause. There are a finite number of reasons a human being is motivated. Power, money, passion, values, fears…I will leave the details of Hierarchical needs to Maslow, what is the reason behind the action of your representative? What background to they represent, what of their future endeavors? Would this person represent you in a proud manner, would you trust your life and freedom to this person?
So why all the whispers and secrets?
