I wanted to respond on the Black Lives Matter thread that Steven posted:
Here are the premises which I think are important to understand.
1.) No nation is perfect, there is, and always will be some amount of racism which exists in human nature.
2.) This nation (the U.S.) does a better job of any nation in history at dealing with cultural and "racial" diversity than any nation in history.
3.) The U.S. is unique in that it is a nation built not upon racial or cultural existence on a plot of land.....but that it is a nation of peoples who sought out new territory on which to build a society.
4.) That is to say, that the U.S. isn't a nation which suffers from ideas of ancient land claims, it doesn't suffer from a begrudged tension between Norman or Saxon.
5.) It is a nation based upon a CREED
6.) While we don't execute that creed perfectly, the idea of this nation remains.
We are a nation which respects a law, and an ideal.
That idea is that all men, willing to come to this soil, obey its laws, and build a life for themselves absolutely free of racial or class or religious boundaries may thrive if they simply follow some basic rules and respect the Constitutional ideals which were its founding.
That is the premise of this nation, and it largely still holds, unless and until utter lawlessness is allowed to take hold.
If lawlessness takes hold, that foundational ideal loses. And that dream cannot be realized.
Here are the premises which I think are important to understand.
1.) No nation is perfect, there is, and always will be some amount of racism which exists in human nature.
2.) This nation (the U.S.) does a better job of any nation in history at dealing with cultural and "racial" diversity than any nation in history.
3.) The U.S. is unique in that it is a nation built not upon racial or cultural existence on a plot of land.....but that it is a nation of peoples who sought out new territory on which to build a society.
4.) That is to say, that the U.S. isn't a nation which suffers from ideas of ancient land claims, it doesn't suffer from a begrudged tension between Norman or Saxon.
5.) It is a nation based upon a CREED
6.) While we don't execute that creed perfectly, the idea of this nation remains.
We are a nation which respects a law, and an ideal.
That idea is that all men, willing to come to this soil, obey its laws, and build a life for themselves absolutely free of racial or class or religious boundaries may thrive if they simply follow some basic rules and respect the Constitutional ideals which were its founding.
That is the premise of this nation, and it largely still holds, unless and until utter lawlessness is allowed to take hold.
If lawlessness takes hold, that foundational ideal loses. And that dream cannot be realized.