9/18/2005
Hello: This is an attempt by myself to get my thoughts in order. It will be an attempt to share my thinking with other members of my family on a weekly basis. It is by no means an attempt to make anyone change their minds on any subject. You may disagree with me all you wish!
As I've been bombarded by the, mostly slanted, nightly news, I've been thinking about myself, my family and this country. I listen to conservative talk radio as much as possible (this is slanted also). My roots are, I suppose you'd say, conservative democratic principals. It seems that everybody in my family on either side, the Clyburns, or the Knights, identified themselves as democratic. I myself reserve the right to call myself anything I wish and I identify myself as a Conservative Independent although I'm not a member of the Independent Party.
My thoughts are often mixed: Why does a tough president like George Bush not stop the illegal crossing of our borders by illegal aliens? There must be a reason that he is so stubborn about not attempting to do so. He must know that he is in direct opposition to the will of the American People. It should be obvious shouldn't it, that the people of this country do not want these illegal's here. Does he really think that his political base consists mostly of large farm corporations, or other large corporations that hire these illegal's at cheap rates of pay? I don't think that this is so at all and I think that the attitude he has about it will back fire on the Republican Party at the polls in the future. Does he care about it backfiring on his party? Well, I don't know as it would appear that he doesn't care. Doesn't he understand that, of the money they make, they send half back to Mexico or wherever they came from. It's not spent here and though these people can't collect their Social Security (if it's even taken out legally) I can't believe that it amounts to much. The company's that hire these people no doubt don't send it in to the government. Why should they do so when it appears that there are no real consequences for them although there are laws on the books that list penalties.
I admire President Bush in so many ways. I like his fight against terrorism for example. I feel that this country was lucky to have him as president when we were attacked on 9/11. That was a time I could really be proud to be an American! It seemed that the American Giant had finally, after years of being terrorized and doing nothing, been awakened by these terrorists that hit us in New York at the Trade Center and the Pentagon and of course the plane that was crashed. It seemed that we had finally awakened and two countries fell over it. But now it seems like the American giant had just awakened enough to roll over....but even in a case like that two countries fell as a result of that. I was proud to be an American!
I recently had a child ask me if I was "Mexican." He said that I dressed like one but I had to tell him "no" that I was plain old American. I said that because that is what I consider myself. My heritage may come from many sources. My wife is a genealogist and says that my family comes from an area in Britain that was on the border with Scotland. She told me that depending on the times, my family was living either in Scotland or in England. It all depended on who won the war at the time. Should I identify myself as Scottish-American? Should I identify myself as English-American? What about the many other bloodlines that have come into my family? Perhaps Native American, or Irish? Maybe Welsh as my grandmother used to say our family had Welsh blood. Should I be Irish-American, Native-American or Welsh-American?
Why do people identify themselves this way? Could it be that they want to be different that what they are? Could they have a need to stand out from their fellows perhaps? I find in my case that this makes me lonely and different. I personally don't like it. I spent much of my life feeling different and I don't wish to feel that way. I think that with Americans of different heritage's identifying themselves as "Black-Americans" or "Afro-Americans," "Latino-Americans" "Spanish -Americans," "Chinese-Americans," "Japanese Americans,""Southerners," Northerners," etc., etc., is tearing our country apart. We who live here and are, or become citizens, are Americans! That's all we are. The other way of looking at is doesn't bring us together as a country - it tears us apart. In the face of this terrorism which our country is facing, we need to pull together as never since the Revolution or the world wars. These people really do want to cut our heads off and destroy our country! We cannot afford to be "different" from each other any more! Catch you next time.
