Response:
"Total nonsense! As if wearing, or not wearing, a button, or having a personal logo, has anything real to do with being patriotic or not!
If you are a real American, then you understand the importance of the two party system, and you know why it exists and how it works.
This is a Liberal, Capitalist, Democracy. As such, it supports Pluralism and Free Enterprise. This means, in theory, that an individual can believe as he or she chooses, and can find happiness and success in whatever endeavor he or she chooses to pursue, as long as that pursuit does not infringe on the rights of others.
Ultra-Conservative! What does that mean? That everyone has to think and believe as you do? That anyone, especially a Black Man, who does not fill your bill of particulars, is a threat to you and your idea of what being an American means?
Extremists of all stripes, Conservative or Liberal, are a threat to what this country really stands for. In the end, they don't really believe in Freedom or Democracy. What they really want to do is control the rest of us.
Obama is a long way from being an extremist, but you seem to fit the bill.
God save us from self-righteous, fear mongers, who do not understand the system they claim to support."
As usual, the usual monkey business is running rampant in the media and on the Internet. We humans love to jibber jabber about every little thing. The pundits and experts analyze and build cases for ratings, and the blogs and logs argue and insult each other. The merry-go-round of human gossip, bile, noise, and absurdity goes round and round.
But, what is it that we are all trying to get at? What's the point? Is there something we are really trying to accomplish here, or are we just interested in making noise and hearing ourselves blather?
What is the real and, perhaps, final imperative for all of us humans, here on this planet we call Earth?
Environmentalists would say that saving the environment is the real imperative. Christians would say that it is being Saved, Capitalists would say Free Enterprise, Communists a People's Republic, Buddhists Enlightenment, and so on.
But what is at the heart of all this strife? Is it the fact that we all have to struggle, suffer, and finally die? Is it the fact that need, greed, and the fear of death motivates all of our endeavors and relations with each other?
We fight over religious, political, economic, or ethnic issues and differences.
We see each other as threats or sources of what we need, or both at the same time. Many people of good-will try to bring us together.
Most religious, political, or philosophical ideas are based on an original desire to create a better life for all of us. Science and technology give us new toys to play with and promises for a better future. But we still have not found a real way to get along and do what is right for ourselves, each other, and our descendents.
So, here we stand, apparently, on the brink of ultimate and final disaster. But, of course, even this idea is one that invites contention. "Yes. the environment is going down the tubes!" "No, it is not!" "Even if it is, who cares? The second coming is coming!"
Sometimes, I think that it would serve us right, if we all went down the tubes. Sometimes, when I consider what we have done to our planet, ourselves, and each other, I think that it would serve us right.
But then, I look at my granddaughter, and see her sweetness, her perfection, her innocence, and her potential. And, when she hugs me, plants a soft kiss on my cheek, and says that she loves me, I just don't have the heart to give up on life and the world.
I have to believe that, somehow, we can find a way to save this planet, for ourselves and our children.
Isn't that what we all want, at heart? Isn't that what we are all trying to get at? Can't we find a way to give each other the benefit of the doubt? Can't we find a way to give ourselves the benefit of doubt? Can't we work together, by letting go of our pre-conceived notions and predjudices, long enough to find new, common sense, ways to solve the problems and challenges we all face?
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