OK. Rant coming. So either sit back and enjoy it or move on to some other stuff. But if you don't read this, you will miss some wisdom that is grounded in life and reality rather than in dogma and crap you've been told, rather than what you actually know for sure and have experienced.
We have 315+ million Americans. That means we have 315+ million opinions, backgrounds, education, careers, beliefs, and whatever else is in the domain of human critter. As a result of those differing opinions etc, we have "tribes". We tend to associate with those who are mostly like us, and even with some who are not all like us. Actually, there really isn't anything wrong with that. In fact, we mostly are members of various and sundry tribes. The Iroquois Confederation might be a fair example of that in some ways. The wise person values the opinions of others even if they don't agree. You can be friend, if you want to, or not. You can agree with folks or disagree. If you disagree to the point of causing harm, you are not only wrong, you are woefully wrong.
On the other hand, to force Americans to join our tribes is really not a good idea. We should recognize the fact that we are and should be free to associate with whomever we choose. Most of the time we get along peacefully. It is good to "do no harm". That is a good and civilized behavior. Of course there are those who are of the criminial bent or who believe that others should be forced to be subjected to their beliefs and mores', sometimes by force.
This brings me to what this rant is all about. Given the aforementioned, the possibility for chaos always looms. We have seen it and are seeing it. That is why our Founders chose an enlightened experiment in the governance of large and differing tribes. It is called a Constitutional Republic. One of self governance by elected representatives picked by those tribes. The foundation to that experiment is the rule of law expressed by the Constitution and Bill of Rights.
When we have many tribes and many opinions, we should as civilized tribal Americans find a common ground or bond. Holy Wah! We actually have that common ground. It is the Constitution and Bill of Rights. It is enshrined in writing, signed and delivered at great expense of treasure, lives and blood. It was delivered up to us, and protected by Americans who had and have a vision grounded in their experience and knowledge of what had gone before and failed. They created, and it is, the foundation or the cornerstone of our being able, among our various tribes, to live as free people. It should not be tampered with in the way it has been. Laws have been created out of thin air. Rulings have been made because of political leanings rather than abiding by our foundation. This is wrong no matter what political wind is blowing. Courts from the lowest to the highest must be bound by it. Legislative branches from the lowest to the highest must be bound by it. Government executive branch from the lowest to the highest must be bound by it. In fact they all swear an oath to defend it from enemies foreign and domestic. The Constitution and Bill of rights is about Life and Liberty and The Pursuit of Happiness. Secularly and religiously, those three fairly well define what our lives are all about. If change seems to be beneficial for all the tribes, the Constitution has a section that tells us how that change should occur. It is not an easy or willy nilly process. It is not meant to be. It should be difficult, but is allowed. The process must be followed or we no longer are a Constitutional Republic...we become at best an Administrative State or worse. We are closer today to an Administrative State than ever and that is not only wrong, but regressive and in the end lead to something worse. The conservatives and the liberals are both wrong in this regard because they both lean toward the Administrative State and not a Constitutional Republic. Libertarianism, small L libertarianism is closer to the intent of our Founders.
All of us are equal in the eyes of the law as it should be. By the same token, we get the governance that we deserve. Sometimes we allow that and it isn't pretty or even lawful. Social justice comes out of abiding by what holds us together; our foundation, not vandalism, rioting, violence and narrow minded self justification. We do not have to accept in toto what others may believe or practice, though. But we should at the same time not interfere with those with whom we disagree as long as no harm is done.
Our nation is divided. It always has been and always will be. We are humans and we have tribes. There is nothing wrong with those divisions as long as they don't bring harm and we abide by our foundation that should apply to all of us, and not circumvent it due to the whim of the day. Divisions should not be created where there are none, as well. There are those among us who have created the divisions that are not wholesome. It is fairly obvious who those folks are and what those unholesome divisions are. We are surrounded by hypocrisy at the same time. It should be called out. And yet we are all hypocrites at times. Self examination should always come before examining others. My view is that we all can find more fault with ourselves than we can with others. Perhaps we should begin to do more of that.
