Joshua Bunton
America, are we really divided?
By Joshua Bunton
Are we divided? Are we really about the (R) and (D) beside our names? Come on! I think we are more than the partisan politics that the media such as Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS — plus many more report and suggest we are.
Talking heads on television, some of which I agree and disagree with, such as Rachel Maddox on MSNBC, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and commentators on Air America Radio suggest we are a deeply divided nation, and Democrats and Republicans exclusively, without each other, independently hold the cure-all to our countries problems.
With this, I ask each reader to remember how united America was in the days after September 11, 2009? Do you remember? I do!
I remember my fellow countrymen and women watching television in disbelief, others were talking about the undocumented reports that the State department had been bombed and the Sears tower was on fire; moreover, I remember how angry we were but, we helped each other as Americans first.
What happened? While I have differing opinions on how as citizens the division occurred — I can't help but wonder why, especially now, we remain divided in our political views.
History teaches us, if anything, when national events do occur Americans resiliently act resourcefully by banding together and cooperating on both the social and political level to work toward the healing of prosperity that is America.
You might have assumed, by now, that I am referring to the current national economic issues such as unemployment, health care, bailouts and the national debt as the "event" that should be uniting us versus dividing us.
Both parties are engaging in partisan politics and the suffering is not those in Washington, D.C. who enjoy six figure salaries, world-renowned health care benefits and pensions that amount in one year what John Smith will amass for retirement in fifty consecutive years of working.
No, the real suffering is the American spirit as we divide and conquer each other; not only politically, but socially as well.
Pick up the local newspaper and you see headlines such as domestic crimes, investigative reports citing corruption on the local, state and federal levels of government, kidnappings, sexual predators released due to jail over-crowding and the list goes on and on.
America, I ask you why are we not waking up to both parties partisan bickering that are causing stalemates and ultimately resulting in un-debated bills in both houses of Congress that could help us as a country move forward.
Legislation such as the $787,000,000,000.00 stimulus bill that Democrats passed with some Republican support, health care bickering that is important to all of us are examples that Republicans and Democrats are not working together to craft legislation that boosts the American spirit to help us return to more prosperous times.
So, America let's unite as we have in the past on the social level to bring much needed change to the political level for not only our lives, but our children's children too.
This change will either be by voicing our opinions to legislatures on the local, state and federal level to cooperate with one another or by a political revolution that will be talked about for generations.
Thanks for reading, I have much love and hope for our great country; however, I believe we are at an impasse where the decisions we make in the coming decade will have far reaching impacts for generations.
© Joshua Bunton
September 14, 2009
Are we divided? Are we really about the (R) and (D) beside our names? Come on! I think we are more than the partisan politics that the media such as Fox News, MSNBC, NBC, CNN, ABC, CBS — plus many more report and suggest we are.
Talking heads on television, some of which I agree and disagree with, such as Rachel Maddox on MSNBC, Rush Limbaugh, Sean Hannity and commentators on Air America Radio suggest we are a deeply divided nation, and Democrats and Republicans exclusively, without each other, independently hold the cure-all to our countries problems.
With this, I ask each reader to remember how united America was in the days after September 11, 2009? Do you remember? I do!
I remember my fellow countrymen and women watching television in disbelief, others were talking about the undocumented reports that the State department had been bombed and the Sears tower was on fire; moreover, I remember how angry we were but, we helped each other as Americans first.
What happened? While I have differing opinions on how as citizens the division occurred — I can't help but wonder why, especially now, we remain divided in our political views.
History teaches us, if anything, when national events do occur Americans resiliently act resourcefully by banding together and cooperating on both the social and political level to work toward the healing of prosperity that is America.
You might have assumed, by now, that I am referring to the current national economic issues such as unemployment, health care, bailouts and the national debt as the "event" that should be uniting us versus dividing us.
Both parties are engaging in partisan politics and the suffering is not those in Washington, D.C. who enjoy six figure salaries, world-renowned health care benefits and pensions that amount in one year what John Smith will amass for retirement in fifty consecutive years of working.
No, the real suffering is the American spirit as we divide and conquer each other; not only politically, but socially as well.
Pick up the local newspaper and you see headlines such as domestic crimes, investigative reports citing corruption on the local, state and federal levels of government, kidnappings, sexual predators released due to jail over-crowding and the list goes on and on.
America, I ask you why are we not waking up to both parties partisan bickering that are causing stalemates and ultimately resulting in un-debated bills in both houses of Congress that could help us as a country move forward.
Legislation such as the $787,000,000,000.00 stimulus bill that Democrats passed with some Republican support, health care bickering that is important to all of us are examples that Republicans and Democrats are not working together to craft legislation that boosts the American spirit to help us return to more prosperous times.
So, America let's unite as we have in the past on the social level to bring much needed change to the political level for not only our lives, but our children's children too.
This change will either be by voicing our opinions to legislatures on the local, state and federal level to cooperate with one another or by a political revolution that will be talked about for generations.
Thanks for reading, I have much love and hope for our great country; however, I believe we are at an impasse where the decisions we make in the coming decade will have far reaching impacts for generations.
© Joshua Bunton
The views expressed by RenewAmerica columnists are their own and do not necessarily reflect the position of RenewAmerica or its affiliates.
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