What’s wrong with this nation? Has the melting pot become just a bag of various rocks refusing to blend in? Why are so many of us at each other’s throats? Could it have anything to do with the divisive nature of almost everything you see, hear and read?
Take this excerpt from a recent report in Politico magazine about a campaign gathering in the Sixth District congressional race in Georgia. One attendee was quoted as saying: “There was a lot of talk about health care, but not the specific concerns of the sixth district, which is very diverse and growing more diverse.”
And then, the author of the article went on to write: Indeed, in this district, once represented by Tom Price, Johnny Isakson, and Newt Gingrich, fully 21 percent of residents are foreign born. When Newt Gingrich was elected there in 1992, more than 90 percent of the residents were white; now 70 percent are. And large sections of the sixth are majority-minority … . “There are subdivisions out here that are entirely Asian, or Southeast Asian, with only one or two white families,” the attendee said. And yet (Democratic candidate Jon) Ossoff and the other Democrats on that panel weren’t offering much to those voters.
Why do some among us continue to browbeat the rest of us with our differences? Do we honestly expect our elected officials to champion agendas that are favorable to white people? Or to black minorities? Or to brown factions? Or to Christians? Or to Sikhs? Or to Jews? Or to Muslims? Or to transplants from Asia? Or to refugees from the Mideast?
All of us – that is, all of us here legally – are citizens of the United States. Certainly we celebrate our cultural differences. But just as certainly, should we not put our faith in those politicians who have track records that reflect pursuit of the common good — regardless of race, color or creed?
Hopefully, we elect people to represent all of us – not just one special interest at the expense of another. So, of what value is pushing the percentages of who’s black versus who’s white, who’s the same and who’s different, how many of us are male versus how many of us are female? Why do we continue to tolerate the mass media’s propensity to constantly box us in?
The governing bodies of this nation should be held responsible for creating a framework for the success of anyone willing to work for it. It is not the government’s duty or responsibility to confer success upon anyone. Perhaps all of us could take a lesson from St. Jude Children’s Hospital, where the doctors, nurses and administrators focus on ways to make life worth living for all who are taken there.
Buildings don’t get constructed by flinging bricks in every direction. They go up at the hands of caring bricklayers who find the mortar to pull the bricks together to build a sound structure in which everyone can take pride.
Special interests — from the big guys with deep pockets to the whiny cupcakes with little minds and big mouths – are killing us. Will we ever rise above the political detritus, the social hubris and the horse hockey on the street that keep pushing us apart?
Kent Cockson 