Religion is a Mythic Journey

Religion is a mythic journey through life that requires dependence upon a guide.  To make life's journey alone is frightening and requires the courage to destroy the objects of the myth by understanding they are projections and fantasies.  Then a new space is created that is reality and an individual can discover that those fantasies and projections are inside themselves. Now the journey of their life can continue as reality and experience.

Faith in America's Promise

In America, we have had faith that our country's systems work. The systems of self-rule, liberty and justice along with a government of the people, by the people and for the people are the primary values we depend upon to keep us together and inspire the rest of the world. It seems as though our current president's followers have lost faith in the democratic process and no longer care about the rule of law. They can ignore all of this president’s behavior as long as he gives them Supreme Court justices and panders to their racial sentiments. The few have decided that they can elevate their leader to the status of dictator and that will be ok as long as they get their way.

For some reason nobody else matters besides them. It is a sad day when resentment and anger replace democracy and justice. When personal gain is more important than cooperative self interest. Our country's infrastructure is outdated and unreliable. While other countries invest in themselves we no longer seem to have the will to keep our nation functional. Looking at America today is like driving through the poorest of neighborhoods and seeing their unhappiness in the way they maintain their homes, their streets and their communities.

What has happened to our pride in ourselves? Why do we no longer care about our country's infrastructure nor how our neighbor feels? I think the answer is the lost faith in the promise of America. We do not understand that all progress has setbacks, but the general trend of history is technological and human progress. Our lives are much better than they were 100 years ago. Go back as far as you wish and we live much better than ever and better than most people in the world today.
America does not have a perfect past, nobody does. We do not treat everybody with equity and our past is littered with violence against others who were in the way of America's image of itself. Part of evolution is a change in the way cultures view outsiders. America is working its way through these problems. Not smoothly, not to everyone's satisfaction nor quickly enough in today's world of instant communications. Our problems are transparent and have become the discussion of everyday life. We are constantly confronted with the problems caused by racism, exclusion, violence, greed and resentment. Only by confronting who we are can we reduce the anxiety and stress brought by these issues.

America's struggles is the tension that has  determined what type of culture we live in and has driven us to where we are today. To a certain degree, the states take some of the pressure of culture change. Each state does not change at the same pace as our national culture and allows citizens who are reluctant to change to have time to accept and adopt the changes . The culture of America is making a fundamental change to one that accepts all people as equal citizens and views cooperation as a better value than competition.

America is even bigger than the culture wars that are being waged there. It is a large diverse group of human beings who have mostly agreed on the basic values of self-rule, liberty and justice. This is what draws people to this country, the promise of these values. This promise has been spread across the globe and in this time of technological communications people world wide understand the change America is bringing about. That is a government of the people, by the people and for the people with liberty and justice for all. We must maintain our faith in the promises we have made to ourselves and the world.

The non existent U.S.A.

So, one side believes the "nanny" state weakens America and that taxes should be so low to be almost nonexistent.  They do not want the government to regulate businesses that pollute, dirty our water, tear up our land and use common resources for their own purposes unwilling to share with the people.  They do not want people in need to go to the government for help. I guess I am astounded at the idea that so many citizens are ok with this.  Why has the idea of a government for the people, by the people and of the people been so easily lost in this era?  Maybe everyone agrees that government should be to help the rich get richer.  No need to encourage the promise that America is land of liberty and justice for all.

Nativist or Accommodation?

The U.S. has never been a truly moral country, even though we talk as if we are above moral reproach. The biggest lies we tell are to ourselves, which keeps us from facing our morality. The lies are not necessary because that is who we are.  All countries do bad things, all countries do good things.  Mostly bad things are done for nativist purposes, to create an illusion of morality, and what good things are done come about to accommodate all the majority.

The U.S. is a great country because of our promise.  The promise of liberty and justice for the average person resonates across the world.  The U.S. set up a system to bring that about.  We have not always lived up to our promise, but we continually work toward making that promise come true.

It is the tension between the belief in our morality and our actions that brings about the great changes that have occurred.  As we draw more people who are different into our promise the tension increases until change occurs.  Throughout our history the change has usually been advantageous for everyone. However, sometimes the change is a war, ostensibly to protect ourselves.

The problem from the tension is that nativist want to impede progress in order to keep their world intact while progress is causing change to occur.  With a population as large as the that of the U.S. , it is imperative to find common ground and be willing to compromise.