We have been denied our Springtime. We have been denied growth, peace, freedom, equality, prosperity, and unity. Instead we are still exploited and divided, and divided we have fallen and continue to fall.
Today the partisan political divide is nearly as sharp as it was in 1861 leading up to the Civil War. And while the issues are much more complex, there are some very old but persistent issues. For example, we still hear the demand and cry of "State's Rights" by people who are at odds with the current powers that be in the federal government.
This is an interesting and even intriguing issue, because even though those people insist that it's about the rights of states as opposed to unfair infringement by the federal government, that's not really what it's about.
This issue is really about things that are good for the vast majority, as opposed to things that are not good -- and things are not good when and if they have a negative and even harmful impact on certain people. They make certain people victims of racism, ethnic prejudice, and bigotry caused by misguided theocratic religious beliefs.
That is why today there are bigots who cry "State's Rights," and some of them are racists. They would like you to believe that the Civil War was not about slavery. They deny that the war was fought by those who wanted to preserve the institution of slavery and apartheid, against those who wanted to abolish it.
Other bigots would like you to believe that the founding fathers were "Bible-Believing Christians," rather than the Deists and Freemasons that most of them were. Why? Because they deny that the clause in the U.S. Constitution which stipulates that Congress shall "make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof" was actually intended to "build a wall of separation between church and state," as Thomas Jefferson so aptly put it.
To cite a very recent example, the theocratic "religious" bigots would like you to believe that it's a good idea for the Texas school board to make public school classroom textbooks include the erroneous idea that the founding fathers did not want separation of church and state. And they deny that it's a "Christian" theocracy they are fighting for.
Of course, some people who demand state's rights raise legitimate issues and concerns, such as concerns about certain regulations of small business. But I'm not talking about them. I'm talking about the proud, militant leaders of the right-wing extremist element that rose to political power with Ronald Reagan calling themselves the "Moral Majority" and then became the "Christian Coalition." Some of them call themselves "The Family." It's an even more powerful organization. They regard themselves as "Godly Bible-Believing Christians" and even the "Army of God." And like the rest of the "Christian Right" they believe the rest of us are "ungodly" and doomed unless and until we accept their beliefs and march to the same drummer.
Of course, not all bigoted extremists belong to such groups, or even identify strongly with them. However, the "State's Rights" claim is a common theme in the rhetoric of those who are fighting against progressive reform, and against proper and needed regulation. In fact, the basic premise of a significant number of them is consistent with Ronald Reagan's, that federal "big government" is detrimental, that "people should not rely on government," and that people should be "self-reliant." They deny they have created a culture of greed and self-interest, where it's "every man for himself." And they deny that their stubborn insistence on deregulation, tax cuts for the wealthiest few and "free market enterprise" is actually driven by the money, the greed and the self-interest of the wealthiest few who want free rein and unfettered ability to exploit the rest of us, and rob us blind.
During the last 30 years the forces of greed and self-interest have managed to pull the wool over the eyes of many Americans. They've successfully sold the idea that if you legislate to make the wealthy even wealthier, their prosperity will trickle down on those below. They deny that it was a bad idea that caused a horrific financial and economic crisis, and they want you to forget that prior to our current crisis the most notable example of the consequences of monied dominance was in the 1910s and "20s, when the rich got very much richer and corrupt and caused the financial crisis and stock market crash of 1929 followed by the Great Depression.
They want you to forget that it's been proven that if you legislate to make the vast majority prosperous, that widespread prosperity will benefit the whole country in many ways. After all, the rewards of democratic dominance in the 1930s and "40s enabled the Middle Class to grow very large and great. The historic facts make it very clear that widespread prosperity produces widespread well being, and it produces more taxpayers who can contribute more to make the whole country better.
Even so, while that may make me sound like a Democrat, I'm not. I'm an Independent who regards the Democratic Party as "the lesser of two evils." So I'm not making a partisan political pitch for one party to become completely dominant over all others. Not at all.
In fact, I'm talking about advancing beyond fighting for power over each other, beyond a winner-take-all contest for political power, and even beyond this partisan political system that perpetuates a presidential form of monarchy, enabling a partisan politician to sit on the "throne."
I'm talking about being equal joint heirs to the throne, according to prophecies. And I'm talking about bringing the dream of the founding fathers of the U.S. to fruition, to enable all the people to enjoy equal rights endowed by our Creator, so that we all may enjoy abundant Life, True Liberty, and True Freedom in the pursuit of Happiness.
That's what the founding fathers intended, and they understood that the Creator is called by many different names by different religions, which is why they did not use Judeo-Christian terminology, or any other particular religious terminology. Most of them were, after all, Deists who realized that in order to have real religious freedom all religions must be respected mutually.
However, in order for us and our descendants to enjoy rights that are truly equal, we must advance and progress beyond this state of conflict and division, and beyond this oligarchical and even monarchial form of government. And we can do that by taking advantage of the provision that the founding fathers provided, to reform or alter our government so that it actually represents us -- all of us.
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