When Did Moral Code and Human Rights Become Political?
By Holly Brians Ragusa written: 1/9/2020
When did moral code and human rights become Political? Considerations made for the complications of this shared humanity are spun to indicate lesser patriotism and lack of loyalty to party. People in positions of or seeking power feed us this line and we help them shovel it in with the spoon. Apparently, the simple act of empathy, showing kindness and offering dignity, could suffer our cause and so we can’t take up the nonjudgmental cross of Mother Teresa if it could mean the downfall of society at large. “They chose this lifestyle”, “they got themselves into this”, or “they brought it on themselves” doesn’t require us to care. Why should we show understanding or heaven forbid, respect for the rights of someone ‘different’? It could mean we’ve chosen to side with the enemy, and so teaching children to hate is what we’ve become great at in this not so united country. And it sucks. Would any among us claim the blood left on battlefields of America is somehow less if Republican or Democrat? Do we bleed out better Left or Right, North or South, Straight or Gay, Immigrant or Citizen?
Politics claims the other side is out to get us and the media shouts it from the mountain, twenty-four seven. It is a divisive tactic and we are all falling for it. Fact (though that word is fraught with peril), the United States of America fought and died to stop Nazis and their actions and message from taking hold. Fact (again, being wreckless here…) we have progressed together as a Nation with a majority determining that Slavery was bad, that Women could finally vote (only 100 years ago), and that Civil Rights be afforded all men (and womyn) created equal under God. Our Countrymens’ sacrifice, and patriots of all faiths, creeds, races, genders and sexuality have paid the ultimate price so that we may speak freely and demonstrate peaceably and pursue happiness.
Let us not forget that this Nation constantly espouses Christian Values. Where is Christ in any of this? His example of loving our brother lives dim in the current State of our Nation and in our citizens and federally elected officials hearts and minds. Where did morality play a role in allowing an ill-spoken, greedy narcissist to take the highest place of power in our country? Refusing aid to those most vulnerable among us, each Christian truly knows that Christ would have turned the tables at Trump tower. No. Easier to spin the narrative to fit our comfort zone and besides, “those people” just don’t know how to love their country or their God.
Most of us elect our officials blindly, with all the intuitive luck of a gamble at the track. Each judge affirmed, each city council member elected will make decisions rippling out toward us and still we aren’t paying attention. Have you ever asked yourself Why, if we are a superior nation, that we aren’t educating our people better? Have you ever been a pawn in a game or sheep in a fold? No? Look again. No citizen wins in this scenario.
Our politicians are furthering their careers and pet projects on our backs, and especially on the backs of those who cannot afford high-price tax attorneys willing to hide income statements and reroute money. Even those officials most altruistic in their efforts are forced into the game in Washington that we conceded and yet force them by our apathy to play. Congress first was convened of representatives who stepped forth to serve their communities and constituents, entrusted to understand the needs of their people.
Representatives came covered in dirt from their farms, left their lumber yards, post offices and mercantile in town to arrive at the Capitol, work together and find compromise for us. After doing their job, better or worse, they would return home and face their community. How then, have we allowed our elected officials to live in such a bubble of ignorance, wealth, tenure, and privilege, not to mention with top notch health coverage, so as not to understand the plight of the majority? We have given the foxes, run of the hen house.
We claim ignorance, business, busy-ness, faith, family and interests. We claim anything other than our own weak need to ‘win’ at all costs and immediately, with little reference or reverence for losses and gains of the past. We make time for sports and reality television rather than educate ourselves on an issue or attend a town hall meeting. We tell ourselves what we want to hear, read what is most similar to our views and will not compromise or empathize. We cannot challenge our beliefs for fear of discomfort or inadequacy or worse, inaccuracy. We are lying to ourselves, we are the purveyors of that most fake news of all.
The faults we see in our government are our own, mirrored in the citizens acquiescing to party over people, power over country unity, and belief over fact.
Do the Alt-Right/Nationalists/Supremacists think there is a pure line and that they are not tainted? What, are we Mudbloods and Purebloods now? This non-fiction has turned into our reality and J.K. Rowling could not have been more prophetic in her depiction of the evil that lurks in power hungry humans and the Daily Prophet’s eagerness to print though it seems she too holds the same intolerance within which may explain her ease in writing it.
With all my heart I hope we are brave enough to become the protagonist, using all the love, kindness and tenacity we have to fight off that evil.
The quest to; Take back our Country, to; Make America great again…let’s discuss that. … Who do we take it back from and more importantly, when were we at our greatest?
Was it when we fled a Monarchy to pursue our freedoms and in our wake left countless Indigenous, people original to America, dead from disease and slaughter? Was it when we took their land for ourselves and still do not honor them or make proper reparations? Were we great when we killed the British to ensure Freedom for ourselves even as we chose to take the freedom of countless Africans and islanders to serve our laziness and greed? White choice forced other races to our shores against their will, only to rape their women and blend our races. White ancestors bought and sold humans to their delight and privilege. Psychotherapists could have a field day with the same power hungry Whites today who seek control and incite violence. They must be deeply and unconsciously angered at their own family lines for messing up their vision of a ‘white’ America. We can be certain there wasn’t a slave in chains that requested to be dragged and lured from their home and families, made to sleep in cramped damp ship hulls, mistreated, misused, abused and worked to death to profit a white man just to spite him. Could it be there actually is a justification for blacks to have resentment?
Maybe we were great for silencing women for so long, in marginalizing half of our citizens until their own fight for freedom won a voice at the table of our society. We are truly great at taking many opportunities from females by denying advancement or equal pay. In this male dominated country we are greatly able to repress women, traffic them, beat them, make decisions for their bodies and convince them to vote against their best interests. That’s a pretty great trick, however I wouldn’t say that makes US great.
Perhaps we should take back our country from the millions of homeless and mentally ill Americans who are forced into poverty, driven to desperation and violence by our own government, history and systems as we attempt to repress our most unwanted people?
Certainly there is a parable here…
Oh and don’t forget the internment camps for the Japanese Americans. Were we greatest then? The camps for refugees today are not great. How can we absolve a citizenry’s beliefs with the astonishing number of hate crimes, targeted abuse and increasing assault against Jews, trans gendered and homosexuals, along with stripped opportunities and systemic abuses that people of color and immigrants endure on a daily basis? Indeed there is our great ability to lower others so that we may stand taller despite fact or fairness. Make no mistake this is seen as great by too many who wish to describe America in terms of White Might.
Personally I identify with the following descriptors:
Human, Woman, Mother, Wife, Daughter, Sister, Niece, Cousin, Friend, Writer, Researcher, Advisor, President, Board member, Volunteer, Activist.
I also happen to be a White/Caucasian though I grimace whenever I am asked in person or on paper and opt to write in ‘Human’ instead. I cannot understand the pride of Race. It was not my choice to have become White/Caucasian, nor anyone else’s, while it is most assuredly my choice to work hard or be kind. However, I am seen as White, treated as White, and privileged by being ‘White’. Anyone saying different, isn’t being honest with themselves or is uncomfortable with the discussion.
How can we celebrate what WE the People have allowed US to become?
How are you a Patriot by upholding what historically our leaders, soldiers and Supreme Court have put down? How is hiding under the circuitously vague Brandenburg Test a proud moment? Is there a more preventative way to save lives?
Imminent lawless action- Google it. Merriam Webster online defines Imminent as- ready to take place; especially : hanging threateningly over one’s head. What part of “imminent” didn’t happen in Charlottesville by word and deed as bats and torches waved in hands, guns and knives sat on hips, as “Blood and Soil” was chanted? Domestic Terror was permitted and accomplished.
Please know your history, Americans. In 1917, during an Espionage Case against one Charles T. Schenck, our Supreme court decided that inciting violence through printed word was at the time, enough to convict someone. In 1969 our same Supreme Court decision refines the language of the first amendment and reversed criminal charges of Clarence Brandenburg, an Ohio leader of the KKK, for limiting his right to freedom of speech. The change of language is now for “direct and imminent threats”. This decision emboldened White Supremacists and they use this ruling to their advantage. Only the courts can amend the language of the first amendment and currently while many of our Government office appointments and safeguards remain unfilled by this Administration, our courts are being quietly populated by a sitting President who incites vitriol and division with every tweet or incoherent thoughtlessly streamed word from his mouth.
It is time to Take Back Our Country from the likes of Hitler loving, xenophobes trapped in a past, selectively idolizing parts of our history such as the confederate cause which can’t share even a hint of what makes this country great. Our task is to be loud, united, organized patriots. Patriot is defined as one who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors. Our challenge is staying above those as ignorant and vicious as these hate groups while being as angry and feeling as unrepresented as we do now going into an election year.
What a wasted thing Hate is and what a layer of filters it places over our eyes.
While I will always remain hopeful that we will come together as one Nation, indivisible, I cannot hope only.
While I understand the value of history, especially the story it shares about how we treat others, I cannot assume others know.
While I live and breathe as an American, I cannot believe in what we are currently affirming.
While we share this planet, I cannot stay silent.
A child cannot help where it is born or to whom. We have a nation of citizens whose ancestors didn’t come to “take your country” but in making it great, have certainly served it, built it, paid for it, and died for it.
Overwhelmingly our history teaches us that love and kindness resounds in the human spirit. Please let us be brave enough to keep writing the chapters of that story.