America is known to the rest of the world as a melting pot society (among other expletives.) Europeans took over the land of Native Americans in the late 1400's, and invited all other Europeans to join us on the continent so rich with possibility. The Europeans that ended up here shipped Africans here to work for us, and since then we have experienced an influx of Mexican and Cuban immigration from the South. So we are a society comprised of every known walk of life forged with centuries upon centuries of morals, beliefs, ethics and religions. America prides itself in being accepting of all these differences and living with the freedom to practice such ideals and social standards in any way we see fit so long as it abides with the laws and Constitution. This I believe has led us to a great big problem.
Any values, moral codes, social standards, and ethics that we establish as a nation, and which often strongly influence the laws that we abide by, are rendered subject to the whim of our American culture. These malleable and flimsy manners in which we conduct our lives can only be viewed as temporary in retrospect. Look at the discrimination laws and civil rights reforms that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made in the 1950's. Today, look at the anti-gay laws being bowled over from state to state. I'm not here to say whether any of these specific acts are wrong or right, but how much can we respect any laws, if they are all subject to the winds of social change?
With all of these different cultures and moral backgrounds; Catholics, Blacks, Gays, Jews, Muslims, gun owners, Men, Atheists, Christians, Women, what have you, we can at any time rise up and form a movement to debunk or "reform" any law that we see as standing in their way of conducting the life that we wish to. This formula has painted a veritable war zone out of our land of freedom, pitting Americans against American Government, and even more venemously, America against America. Aside from this precarious situation, this situation is also conducive to all kinds of social unrest. Resentment exists between Americans for opposing viewpoints and ethics. Some of us are brought up in societies that tell us never to let go of the strong grip on our values, while our neighbors are fighting to make new laws that prohibit us to do so.
This new millennium we are experiencing a new America. Gone is the notion to "let freedom reign." Freedom can only reign as long as your freedom doesn't impede my freedom. Keep your damn freedom off of my goddamn property or you're libel to get yourself shot.
DISCUSS
