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Dividing Our Country - By Jon Eekhoff
July 29, 2004
We are a country divided. Divided economically, divided philosophically and
divided socially. There seems to be one thing we can all agree on and that
is how warped and distorted our opponents are.
War has a way of either uniting (WW I and WW II) or tearing us apart (The
Civil War and Vietnam). The war we are currently engaged in united us
initially and is now tearing our country into two distinct camps: Bush
haters and Bush lovers.
President Bush can do no wrong with the people who love him. Over 90% of
registered Republicans plan to vote for Bush a second time; while close to
85% of registered Democrats plan to vote for Kerry.
While our country is often divided around political ideology, rarely has
there been such polarization and anger. This anger has spilled into our
daily lives and once civil discussions have become inflamed and hateful.
Liberals are destroying bumper stickers, and sending anonymous attacking
messages to conservative websites. Conservatives are wondering where all
this venom came from.
At the beginning of Fahrenheit 9/11, Michael Moore pinpoints the genesis of
the seething liberal, the 2000 election. Whether you believe the election
was stolen or not, a great deal of the American public believes something
went wrong in 2000. In a recent CBS/BET news survey of black voters 68%
believe there was a deliberate attempt to block blacks from voting in the
2000 election. Conservatives will dismiss Moore and the 2000 election as
much ado about nothing, but for liberals having a president who was elected
by the Supreme Court is a point we just cannot let go.
President Bush and his, “You are either with us or you are with the enemy,”
rhetoric has not helped matters. Although Bush was talking about other
countries when he made the previous statement he has shown a disdain for
anyone who does not agree with his personal crusade. If Bush had been
elected with an 80% majority, this righteousness might be understandable,
but with less than 50% of the votes his partisanship and smugness inflames
liberals. Bush has also done more to divide our country along economic and
religious lines than any president before.
Bush’s born-again brand of Christianity is not a uniting form of religion,
in fact, it is often intolerant and self-righteous. Conservative Christians
will not apologize for their righteousness because their theological
foundations are built upon righteousness. Unfortunately this self-righteous
perspective alienates people of other beliefs and tends to make the
Christian Right look like a bowl of mixed nuts. The similarities between the
Christian right and Islamic fundamentalism should not go unnoticed.
Religious issues, disguised as social issues, are not solvable in a society
where church and state are separated, but it has not stopped the
conservative movement from pushing these divisive issues to the forefront of
debate oftentimes obscuring the debate on real issues of importance. Like
the Pharisees, conservatives are more concerned with the litigious issues of
religion than they are on focusing on the larger picture of peace and
justice through religion. A true compassionate conservative should be as
concerned with the life and well-being of his neighbor as he is with his own
life and well-being.
The economic divide has also been exacerbated by Bush’s domestic policies.
This compassionate conservative has cut social programs across the United
States while preserving a tax-cut for the very wealthy. He spent billions of
dollars to reconstruct Iraq while cutting funding to social programs within
his own country. This treatment of the underprivileged creates a growing
resentment and anger in people who see fewer and fewer opportunities to pull
themselves out of their disadvantaged situations. Economic hopelessness
breeds resentment towards those oppressing the underclass. Malcolm X once
said, “I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed
and those who do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash
between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those
who want to continue the system of exploitation. I believe that there will
be that kind of clash, but I don’t think it will be based on the color of
the skin.”
Wealthy Americans have a responsibility to support the structure that
allowed them to gain wealth. Paying a higher rate of taxes, providing
opportunities for others and investing in programs that will improve lives
of those less fortunate are just a few of those responsibilities. Today we
live in an America where the wealthy are encouraged to distance themselves
from our huddled masses, where companies avoid taxation by moving off-shore,
where executives test the bounds of ethics for profit and where a president
calls this group of elite individuals his base. This is the economically
divided America we live in today.
Our lower income classes are tiring of bearing the weight of our country.
Who is it that is sent to war? The underprivileged. Who is it that pays the
highest percentage of their income on taxes? The underprivileged. Who is it
that greases the wheels of our economy? The underprivileged.
In the same CBS/BET news survey, 90% of those surveyed opposed the war in
Iraq. Ninety percent! Minorities and the poor make up the majority of our
armed forces and it seems they are not willing to go to war for a President
who will not support them. Where will America be with another four years of
George W. Bush? I hope we don’t have to find out.
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Jon Eekhoff is a teacher in Western Washington, and one of the 5 greatest basketball players to hail from Lemoore, California.