What is wrong with this picture, taken on election day in 2008?
What Is Missing?
America Needs Hope And Mentoring Programs
The above picture was taken on Election Day 2008. To an observant person with an average memory something is missing. To a White Supremacist it is a perfect picture. In reality though it is a picture of what is wrong with America. It explains how we have gotten to where we are today. We have forgotten our history and what makes America Great, it is not Donald Trump, it is Hope. America has always had the hope and vision that a better day is coming. Elections in America do not offer hope or change. We need a third party that is for America, and puts all Americans on the same level. The present system allows the wealthy to take all they can get and ignores the needs of those who are not wealthy.
The events of 9/11shook America to its core. It made us question our goodness and our greatness as a nation. It set the stage for a change I NEVER, thought I would see in the America I lived in. In July 2004 I saw a young man give a speech that summed up the hope of America, and that it was a hope for everybody. Four years later that man ran for President and succeeded. Even with portions of America denying his very existence.
I am sure where I live was not the only place that his posters were taken down. When Obama won the election, it stunned me. I think people believed and bought into his message of hope.
The past twelve years the Republican Party has been fueled by hate and a desire to undo anything that Obama did. Here we are in the middle of a pandemic and the Republicans are totally focused on getting rid of the Affordable Care Act, just as Democrats are determined to get rid of Trump. Have the Republicans solved “ANY” of America’s problems or offered their own solutions to the problems facing America. The answer is a big fat NO. Unfortunately for America, neither have the Democrats. Exactly why we need a party that is for all Americans.
America has been sold a bill of goods by the insurance companies. They have convinced America we can not survive without them. They charge you for insurance, and then they charge you a deductible to use it. The medical field is a job like any other, but insurance companies have learned to use it to empty American pockets. The pharmaceutical companies are so evil they have banned discounts for the government, even though it is one of their best customers. I learned this by dealing with the VA.
America needs solutions, not hate. America needs a health care program that takes care of each and every American, not just some Americans. Article One, Section 8 of the Constitution, gives the duty of the “welfare” of America to Congress, and I do not think they meant, food stamps. Welfare meant the needs of America, just like you take care of the needs of your family. Food, clothing, shelter, education, safety and even heath care. If Congress comes up short on any of these items they have failed their job.
Yes they are responsible for national defense and the budget also, They are given the responsibility to tax and create the programs that provide the above mentioned items. However, for the last twelve years Congress has failed in it duties, with a capital F. They tax to give big breaks to the rich and corporations on the backs of the middle and lower class Americans.
With the economy in chaos because of Covid 19, millions of Americans are slowly sliding into a financial abyss. More and more people are loosing their homes, and apartments. We are right back where we were in 2008 when the housing market collapsed. The Federal Government has failed to act. They say it is not their responsibility. Excuse me Congress, but it is not only your responsibility, but your duty under the Constitution to fix the problem, and believe it or not there are ways to do so.
America needs a third party that puts Americans and America first. Systemic Racism is rampant in America, the pandemic has proven that issue. One other problem that needs to be addressed is the immigration problem. Immigrants are not evil, we are a nation of immigrants. If a person is willing to risk all they have in order to come here to start a better life and lift up their family, they are not evil. In this day and age some who come may be evil, and it is our responsibility to weed them out. We need to create a more effective work program that lets those willing to do the jobs that most Americans won’t, come perform those much needed jobs like field hands.
My wife is an American born Mexican. Or as I call her, a Texican. There were thirteen kids in her family and they all worked in the fields as laborers at some point in their lives. Yet as they have all gotten older, they have all found what I call a normal job. None of them work in the fields anymore, but somebody still needs to do that work.
Mexicans have survived and thrived doing work that blacks will not or are unwilling to do. It is not an easy life. Many live along the Mexican border in Texas and come north every year doing field work. Farmers need them and often do not report the illegals among them. Many farmers use unscrupulous tactics to take advantage of the Mexican laborers. It is not uncommon practice for farmers to hold 20% of their pay till the end of the season. As most are paid by piece work. If the crops run out, and there was not enough work to keep them busy the farmer will force them to stay to get their 20%. If they move to better crops and more work elsewhere, they loose a considerable amount of money.
The recent pandemic has shown the unfairness in America’s healthcare system, minorities have been effected at a much higher rate. Yet in most cases they have no recourse. Many of the meat packing plants are full of minorities. They are forced to work in an environment dangerous to their health. They are deemed as essential workers, but they are not afforded the protections they deserve and need to work safely.
I invite you to read my blog at the following link. https://carpforamerica.blogspot.com/2020/07/carp.html This post outlines the needs and platform of a 3rd party and while I want to see it implemented and at 70+, I no longer have the fire or the zeal to push it, but I can share how to do it. I invite you to subscribe and follow my blog so you will get updates when I post them on issues concerning our rights to vote.
America needs a mentoring program for race relations. When in the Army I spent several months as the only white person in a 12 man room. I learned a lot of things about being a black American, that I would never have learned without that expeience. Most of America's race problems are from a lack of communication. When we see white cops, killing black citizens we are seeing a lack of respect for our fellow Americans, because they can get away with it. They are using their authority, to avoid responsibility for their actions. Authority needs to also require accountability.
Why can they get away with it, because of a lack of peer pressure to do what is right. It is something that is taught. When in the Army at Ft. Bragg, I went to the store to get milk with a friend of mine and his wife. While he went in to get the milk, his wife baby and I sat in the car waiting. A black man walked past the car and the wife, started telling the baby who could not even walk yet, say N----- Johnny, this went on and on till her husband returned. I for a long time blamed it on the fact they were from Alabama.
After my months in the room as the only white boy, I found it is taught, it does not just happen. Even when I was growing up I experienced it in a different way. My Dad took me to the Indianapolis 500 time trials and we had to drive thru a very dark part of Indianapolis and I remember my Dad making me roll up the windows and lock the door. His actions puzzeled me. My home town only has a few hundred blacks in the whole city. Our high school had over 1200 students and only five students in the whole school were black.
Why I found my father a World War II veterans actions puzzeling was that he had me do his good deeds so to speak. We had one elderly black lady in the whole neighborhood and her husband had died. My Dad sent me to mow her yard whenever it needed it, as he did for several other widows.
If America wants to cure the problem we first need to admit there is one. I remember when I was stationed in France and went to Paris that Blacks, Whites and others mingled and interacted and race was not a barrier or a problem. At least I didn't see it.
When I see the peaceful protests going on, I realize there is hope for America. One thing we need in America is accountability for every life.No one is above the law, especially those who administer the law. The idea that a law enforcement officer can take a life and is above the law is absurd. It may happen, but not when a person is shot in the back seven times from point blank range, or when a man is running away from law enforcement. He is not a threat, he is scared and in this country he has every right to be. Which is a sad thing to say.
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