Who Are We As A Country?

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A Country of Equality 

If you listen or watch the news there are two types of people in this country: the far-left democrats and the far-right republicans. Yet when I go to Walmart with my family, I fail to see this divide as it is portrayed in the media. Most Americans that I see are like me, worried about prices of food, gas, and housing. Yet these are just the worries of the day or something that I think about when I am at the gas pump or at the supermarket. My underlying issue, the one that keeps me up at night is whether we are all the same. Are we all equal under the law anymore? This inequality is a reality when looking at the example of the once president Donald J. Trump. His countless attempts to stay in office as the president, his manipulation of the last presidential election, his sketchy dealings as a businessperson, accusations of rape and sexual assault, and on and on, and he still has not been charged with a crime.  

 

My wife and I find it difficult to discipline our son for lying when the former president of the United States lies constantly about losing the last election. My perception of the President was different when I was young because he was seen as a shining example. In the past, there have been plenty of elected officials who were dishonest, such as Bill Clinton and Richard Nixon. Even so, there is always some type of accountability that the people demand, and the truth comes out after much political pressure and public pressure. The admission that Bill Clinton lied to the American people was a soothing redemption, easing the weight on the Republic. It is not that the American people cared whether Bill Clinton had an affair, it is that he lied, or that he created an alternate reality.    

 

I work in a type of old media, newspapers. My job is to deliver the news to people's driveways and porches every morning. I am in line at twelve in the morning to receive the day's news, then rush the printed word out to my neighbors. Many people wait at their windows and on their porches for the paper to get there, they need information to start their day. The old media, the dying media. Many of these subscribers of printed news also have signs in their front yards like “Trump Won Get Over It!” I see these signs and wonder if the subscriber believes Trump won or if it is just a dig at the other side. Trump knows that he lost the election, but does the elderly lady know? The one that I porch her paper every morning, the one that waits for me with a wide smile like I am handing her a bakery box of fresh donuts. On the weekend my son (8 Years old) porches her paper. She is so thrilled to see a young child learning responsibility. This is the same son that my wife and I are trying to teach the importance of being honest. 
 

Who are we as a Republic?  

Let us not confuse a Republic with a Democracy. In this country we do not want an ultra-democracy. This would mean that the majority would rule the day in all elections. Take for example the right to choose to keep a pregnancy or to terminate a pregnancy. If we lived in an ultra-democracy, we would have a vote on abortion and if most of the people that voted in this country wanted to outlaw abortion, it would be outlawed. Yet what about the people that wanted to keep abortion as a right for the woman? In an ultra-Democracy this would not be possible since the majority would rule the day. On the other hand, we do not want to be ruled by a technocratic system in which an appointed body would decide the fate of every American as in the case of the feared ‘Death Panels’ promoted by the republicans during the Affordable Care Act fight during the Obama administration. We are a Republic, that means we are not ruled by a King, Queen, but by an elected body. ‘We the people’ elect this body to represent us. This body votes on issues like abortion laws. When we do not like how the body votes on abortion, we vote the body out of office. In some cases, we can even use ultra-democracy and have a referendum or a general up or down vote, in which case, ‘We the people’ decide what the law is without the handicap of the elected officials. Yet even this up or down vote is subjected to a review by the courts. As a country we have been incredibly careful to uphold rights and freedoms guaranteed by the Constitution of the United States. This is the system that Americans are in love with, the system that I am in love with.  

 
Do We Know What We Want? 

My family is everything to me. My wife can be unreasonable, and my children are unruly sometimes. Yet, like most Americans I work hard every day. I get up every morning and deliver the news. I do this because I love my family, this is how I support my family. My wife and I love feeding our children, we love buying them clothes and shoes. We tend to spend too much on toys, books, and Legos. It is so simple: my wife and I know what we want, happy children, good children. I am a republican, or I thought I was. I do not want to pay taxes that go to programs that make the government too big, yet I want to pay my fair share of taxes. I chafe at the thought of the government telling me how to raise my children. We want our children to grow up loving their country and wanting to serve the country in any way they can. A smaller federal government with more power to the local governments should be our focus. I do not want handouts that are not necessary, I want to work for the money that my family needs to live.  
 

During this election season we need to think of what we want to be as a county by looking at what we want for our families. Do we want to elect people that openly lie and deny that they are lying just to get power? Are we electing people to office that we could use as examples for our children to follow?