Someone I know- this person is not a friend- took the opportunity yesterday to take another swipe at Michelle Obama. It made me think about this.
I love my country. I Sing the National Anthem WHENEVER it is played, full voice and with all my heart. I get a lump in my throat when the flag goes by at parades. If you asked me, I would tell you I am a Christian. I vote in every election. I qualify for the D.A.R. I pay my taxes without ( too much) complaint. I participate in local government, and I am a CARD CARRYING LIBERAL.
People use Liberal like it's a bad word, as if I should be ashamed of it. I'm not. My political opinion is my right. I think the Bushes, both of them, were bad presidents and I think W is an idiot. Probably a really nice guy and he should have been allowed his once-stated goal to just be the owner of a baseball team. If he had been allowed that instead of sucked into the vortex of the Family Business... well.... I can speculate all I want. I never "prayed" for his death or the death of any president as so many faux Christians seem to do for Barack Obama. What kind of person does that? Don't get me started on the hypocrisy of religion.
Did you realize that the "office" of First Lady is an unpaid position? That the wife of the President is expected to do all the work she does and NOT get paid for it? Talk about"pay inequity"! I wonder if that will be changed when a woman is president. For a "Developed nation" we certain have some antiquated notions, don't we? I am looking forward to the day when a woman is allowed to lead this country. I will be working toward that goal and hope I see it. A friend observed the other day that college kids who helped elect Obama don't seem to have any idea at how huge his election was; the fact that here was a black man being elected ( I like to think of Obama as an Irish man, as he is on his mother's side, but that's just my little joke). I told her that I am GLAD that they don't know, that the fact that they worked so hard for the ideas he proposed, rather than the color of his skin gave me hope. You have to have hope to get out of bed in the morning. I have hope for this country, despite it all or maybe because of it all.
Yesterday was Memorial Day, a day set aside to honor those killed in battle. We take a moment to think about their sacrifice, at the very least. We honor their memory , by care-taking what they fought and died for. I will continue to be a proud liberal American. That is NOT an oxymoron.
I wrote a very ppassionate (AKA rambling!) reply the other day and it got lost! Probably the liberal media.
ReplyDeleteI will try again.
As I recall, it was in three parts. First, I am so angry at the not-so-thinly veiled racism whenever either of the Obamas are in the news. And, yes, describing her as a big baboon is racist! Recently on Yahoo News, I tortured myself by reading the comments at the end of an article (WHY WHY WHY do I do this to myself) and someone wrote that he wished Obama would go to Dallas and rise in a parade in an open car. I replied that he was lucky to be here in this country so that he would not be hunted down and tortured and killed. And these people LOVED Dubyah Bush! Go figure.
Being a liberal is now a dirty word. Sort of like if I were an ax murderer or perhaps a pedophile. Some years ago, I was at Thanksgiving at a family of a close friend and her niece looked at me in shock and probably horror and said, "HOW can you be a Democrat." Well, luckily, my friend told her niece we don't discuss politics.....but I would have said that I was a Democrat because I am more interested in the future than being stuck in some mythic vision of an Eisenhower past, because I care about social programs and the arts, and because I like to think of myself as a kind and not totally self-centered person, whose motto is not always "I got mine now get away and go find your own!" . But, as I say, luckily, it didn't come to that. And by the way, that same evening, other relatives in another room were heard to discuss "thatf*#!ng ni**#r!"
Robyn may have more hope for the country. As a librarian, I see things being dumbed down, political correctness pushing all else aside, the majority being run by the (appropriate) majority and a decline in education and culture. And a real increase in self-centeredness or just plain selfishness.
The last part of the rant - I mean diatribe - I mean REPLY! - was about Memorial Day. Now just another three day BBQ weekend and big for sales. I was one of two on my block with flags. I did think about my father, who was drafted into World War II and served in the Pacific. He would never discuss it - only the funny "naughty" bits. Only after his death did I find his Purple Heart. Who knew. I THINK, from a telegram I found that my mother had kept, that he MIGHT have earned it in the Battle of Okinawa. Could I do what he did? Hell to the no. So I am more than grateful that he did this for me, and for all of us. Like it or not.
I hope this one gets through - I can't do this a third time!
Tom