Lived a good amount of years, U.S. citizen, seen a lotta things, heard a lotta stories. Never thought I'd post about politics and history on a site that is really the "adult entertainment and toy department." But... you offer the damned opportunity to talk about reality so here goes.
Hundreds of years ago terrorists from a variety of European invaded North and South America, saw the vast amount of land, natural resources, etc. and with superior weaponry and unabashed greed proceeded to inflict genocide on the human beings who lived there and destroyed their cultures, taking over both continents. The knowledge of mathematics, science, biology, etc., etc. from the civilizations in North and South America were destroyed. Their history was belittled over the years too. Europeans from England, Spain, France and Portugal began to divide up their ill gotten gains. When they settled in they realized they could not farm, mine or cultivate all the land on their own for quick profits. Many of them were either related to the royal families of each country or were just rich. Either way they seemed to be damned lazy. Since they couldn't or wouldn't work the land themselves - or GOD FORBID pay people a good wage to work the land - they went to Africa. They met the royalty there and convinced them to sell their working class citizens into slavery to do all the hard work that the Europeans didn't want to do for free. (Eventually they took over Africa and made the many countries there colonies, but that is for a different post.)
Speaking of the word free, it is a root word, ironically, for freedom. The Declaration of Independence in July 1776 was designed for white men who owned property. It did not apply for freedom to women, those men who did not own land and most significantly, generations of Africans who were sold into slavery to farm and work the land in North America at least, still do not completely enjoy in the United States and created much of the wealth in this country. Some citizens today who are of European heritage know the history of persecution and murder of those of African heritage. Some are sorry for what happened, others deny it and blame those ancestors of Africans who came to North America as kidnapped people as the root cause of crime, disease and other social ills that this country suffers from. Give Americans credit, especially those who immigrated here in the past 140 or 150 years, many of them and their children, grandchildren, have opened up the Bill of Rights as voters, involved citizens and dare I say, politicians, who have tried to include everyone.
Of course the Africans had a darker skin color, they were not Christian and therefore not the equal of Europeans so they were easy to hate and be afraid of, if you believe that crap. Yes, we are all responsible for our own actions. But when you have restricted freedom, education, health care, etc., etc. that is leveraged against one type of people for generations don't blame the victims for the problems that generational prejudice created. That prejudice spread to the native Americans, with a different skin color and religion, and when Asians came to America the sick belief was inflicted upon them. And, HELLO, all of you people who are Irish, when you came to America you were considered to be black N word, same for the Italians, Greeks, Jews, Hungarians, etc. Any Europeans who were not from northern Europe or Germany were considered the same or one level above African slaves who were kidnapped to come here and work for free.
As for people coming into our southern border today, the issue is economic and political, which are one and the same. For the Right, they want "illegal" immigrants to live and work here at lower salaries and not become union workers who will demand higher wages and benefits. But, politically, they demonize Latinos who come from South America and Mexico because they want the votes of Americans, saying that they bring crime, drugs, want Social Security and social benefits, etc., etc. The Right will not compromise to come up with an immigration bill, fearing their source of cheap labor will dry up as the new immigrants will become citizens, join unions and cut into their enormous, enormous profits. (P.S. - Many of you 2nd, 3rd, 4th generation Irish, Italian, Greek, Jewish etc. whose ancestors came here 100 or more years ago, many came here as indentured servants or illegals, so spare me the indignation of the "illegal immigrant" invasion.)
Ironically the state of Texas, created by white Europeans when they went to the then Mexican area, got land, didn't like the Mexican government and stole the land with help from the United States, are now trying to stop Mexicans and Latinos from many South American countries to come here to work and supposedly enjoy the freedom this country provides. I do completely believe in an organized immigrant policy of some type. We don't have one now, thanks to "conservatives" and those who love to employ people for low wages and DO NOT want to compromise on at least a simple, basic immigration bill.
What the founders did in July 1776 is still one of the greatest things that has ever happened in world history. I love America. But, if you believe in freedom and the ideals of this country, it has to apply to all of us, and not just a select few.
Now that I've discussed politics & history, how about a religion forum? Just asking...
