(Reposted - source cited at end of article).
America is at a crossroads, and Americans have a very big and crucial choice to make, because their choice will affect the whole world. They've already made a good choice in electing President Obama, and it's a step in the right direction. But I'm talking about a much greater choice and a much greater change.
First, I need to point out how Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Paine, John Adams, Abraham Lincoln and other founding fathers felt about equality and religion. As I discussed on the page titled Little Known American History, the founding fathers wanted no laws respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof, thus building a wall of separation between church and State. That was not only to establish freedom of religion, but also to establish freedom from religious bigotry and theocratic imposition.
In other words, it was not meant to give license to the clergy of any religion or religious sect so they could influence federal or state laws or public school curriculum according to political agendas based on their own religious beliefs. That's exactly what the founding fathers wanted to avoid and prevent.
Unfortunately, we have increasingly been subjected to religious bigotry and theocratic imposition, and the founding fathers would be appalled at what has happened to America. They would be shocked at the extent to which religious bigotry has affected the political process, and they would be alarmed that the former wall of separation between church and state has been so badly eroded since 1980, and particularly since 2000, to the point where it was practically torn down in 2008 during the presidential campaigns when being a Christian became a litmus test for becoming president.
That is one of the reasons why I urge Americans to not allow themselves to be pushed backwards by those who still wish to virtually rule the world in the name of Christianity and/or patriotism and/or "global free market economy." Why? Because that is the ostensible, misleading, self-serving rationale that has been used for the last sixteen centuries by rich "Christian" emperors, kings, heads of state, and their very wealthy loyalist supporters.
They too claimed to be Christians and believed or claimed they were doing the "right thing," but they lived by the sword, gun and bomb and killed many innocent peoples all over the world, mainly to gain and maintain material power, wealth and domain, plunder natural resources, and rule the world, while ostensibly claiming it was their "divine right and duty" and all in the name of "civilizing the heathen and saving souls."
That is certainly not to say that all Christians have been wrong and harmful. In fact, most Christians are good and conscientious. They understand the golden rule, like the good and conscientious people of other faiths. They are the "sheep of the good shepherd." But it should be understood that during the last sixteen hundred years there have been many leaders of churches and nation-states who have justified themselves by claiming to be Christians even though they were not. They have been and are now the "goats" that Jesus talked about, the bigots and hypocrites who boastfully claim that they have done "many wonderful works in the name of the Lord." And that has been especially true in the U.S. between 1981 and 1989, under the influence of the Reaganites and the so-called "Moral Majority," in the 1990s when right-wing Republicans dominated Congress, and between 2000 and 2008 under the Bush Regime and the so-called "Christian Coalition" and "Christian Right."
I urge Americans to instead progress forward now, toward the day when ALL human beings, all nations, all religions, all races and all cultures are respected equally, and enjoy truly equal rights under the laws of our lands and our world.
It is the choice of the people, and I hope the people choose wisely.
But, as I said, I'm not talking merely about the choice of a good democratic leader for U.S. President. In fact, as I discuss on the page titled Partisan Politics, even though that will certainly be far better than what we have had, it will not really fix everything, and it may not fix anything for very long. Any improvements may only be temporary, because if we perpetuate this partisan political-economic system, it would keep the partisan political pendulum swinging. It would perpetuate the partisan political conflict, division, polarization and instability, and it would perpetuate the corruption that it inevitably produces.
No, I'm talking about a much bigger choice, a choice that will actually change and improve our nation, establish government that is really of, by and for the people, and make it a truly good example to the whole world.
Even though our fathers or grandfathers paid dearly for the peace and freedom they fought and died for during World War II, we have been denied peace, and freedom has been eroding due to the greed and folly of spiritually blind men who deceptively claimed to serve God and Country. That's the hard reality. But, fighting and killing in war is not now the way to establish lasting peace and freedom. In fact, it is now ours to achieve and establish peacefully, together. All we need is the wisdom to acknowledge the way to save and improve our world, and the courage and faith to make it so, in America, and by good example, in every other country.
You see, there is a way that we can finally prevent the wrong preople from dividing us and ruling over us ever again, and it is a way that will enable us to peacefully establish government that is truly of, by and for the people. For whether evil masquerades as good in the public eye, or whether evil is cowardly and sneaky in its murderous ways, it has been and still is very powerful in its ability to denigrate or even kill those who would deny it power to rule over the people. That is the main problem in the world today, and it's why there is so much conflict, division and violence. But, we can ensure that they do not gain power again.
First we must recognize how and why we have been misled and deceived, because we cannot progress forward unless and until we understand how and why we got into this mess. That's why the message on this site discusses the past and present, to explain and clarify what the future will be. It turns the key and opens the door, so we can go through.
Now we should hold these truths to be self-evident: that all human beings are created equal; that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights; that among these are the rights to: life; liberty; equal rights; equal opportunity; justice; safety; universal health care; complete public education from universal preschool-child care to post-graduate school; fair and adequate compensation for your labor; adequate social security income if and when needed, so that no one suffers from hunger, poverty, or homelessness; freedom of religion, with freedom from religious theocracy or imposition or persecution by any particular religion or religious group or coalition; and real freedom in the pursuit of happiness.
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