Once again, I've indirectly been accused of hating America. My ilk was included in the accusation. I can't control my ilk, but I sure as hell don't hate America. Those making such accusations don't know what the hell America is.
I've been asked what's better than capitalism, if capitalism is so bad? I've been asked if I know from experience of any other nation in which there is so much freedom. "What works better than our form of government?" Finally, and I thought that this wasn't used anymore, it's been suggested if I find a better place in which to live with more democracy and more freedom, I should move there.
Much to the chagrin of those who want to shrink government small enough to just be able to "fit in your bedroom", a wonderful line once used in the concluded TV series The West Wing, the government of The FUSA utilizes capitalism and socialism
I worked for a Fortune 500 global mega-corporation for 25 years. I started as a lowly operating technician back in 1972 and became an Operations Supervisor in 1988. As an Operations Supervisor, I was on the team that did the hiring for the plant site at which I worked.
Before I go into the specifics of that hiring process, I remember that, when affirmative action was introduced in the 60s and busing was initiated to basically force Caucasians and African Americans to look at each other as human beings, news reports showed White people shouting "Go back to Africa!" to the Black students getting off the school busses. Obviously, these people never learned that the most of the ancestors of those Black people didn't choose to come to America. Ignorance isn't only bliss, it's hatred as well.
I can remember another unbelievable scene during which Caucasians were yelling, "Go back to Africa!" to Black people. In the fall of 1962, President Kennedy ordered 3,000 federal troops to escort James Meredith to school. Meredith had been trying to attend The University of Mississippi for some time. He was twice denied entrance, simply because he was African American. Once again, the government, who cannot, I admit, legislate morality, at least forced a majority of human beings to allow another human being to attend college.
In 1955, in Montgomery, Alabama, Caucasian bus driver James Blake noticed the unthinkable. White men were standing while an arrogant young Black woman had the gall to remain seated. It took until 1955, almost one hundred years after the enslaving of African Americans became illegal, for an honest to goodness on the books law be to enacted behind which White people like Blake cowered.
Who ultimately supported Rosa Parks? The court system of the United States of America, a branch of the US government. I suspect that today's teabagger fearing SCOTUS would have ruled in favor of Mr. Crowe. Strangely enough, Clarence Thomas would very likely have given into Mr. Crowe. There are some things that I shall never understand.
Africans were inhumanely and savagely stuffed into vessels and forced to "emigrate" to this continent starting in 1619. 1619! Descendents of Africans lived on this land for 336 years before the government of the United States of America insisted that they be treated like the human beings that they are. Although the government was slow, in the end, after protests and demonstrations, aided by an almost truly free press, the unconscionable treatment of a large segment of American society was brought to the attention of the American public.
336 years later, a woman was finally able to remain in a seat on a bus.
It took 343 years for descendents of African "immigrants" to be able to attend the public school of their choosing.
It took 346 years for Blacks to gain the unfettered right to vote in the United States. The right was gained by the 1965 Civil Rights Act, an act of the government of The United States. Today, agents of the private sector, which include the knee jerking teabaggers, want that Act overturned.
Africans weren't here as slaves in 1492. Women were here, though. It took women 428 years to gain the right to vote. Again, it was a law, an amendment to The Constitution of The United States of America passed by the US government that forced those who didn't believe women had enough intelligence to vote to stand aside and let women vote.
What kind of Constitutional amendments do teabaggers what to see passed? They want the sixteenth amendment overturned. The sixteenth amendment helps keep our nation strong by levying an income tax. They've also got their eyes on the seventeenth amendment, which allows US senators to be elected directly by the people. Apparently this is too much freedom for some teabaggers who would overturn the seventeenth amendment so that state legislatures would appoint US senators.
It took a miniscule 284 years for white, land owning males to gain all of the above rights and the only criteria for that to happen was the birth of a nation.
The detour I just took is relevant to the first experience I had as a member of the hiring team at the plant site for which I worked. Shortly after I became an Operations Supervisor, the hiring team met. I showed up a little late for that meeting. I walked into the conference room. There was grumbling.
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