Troubled Times

Our nation is in deep turmoil, divided and with both halves filled with hate and distrust. We hate certain people because they are moochers or because they are Muslims or because they are gay. We hear that the symbol of liberty is now being labeled as a pagan idol, one that for decades had been the goal of those oppressed in other countries. Are we to believe that the citizens of this nation, a nation based on the concept that all men are created equal, can no longer find common ground so that all can have the same rights? Have we entrenched ourselves so completely in the belief that our opinion is the only one that counts that we refuse to consider the rights of others as well?
This nation has stood for centuries for the belief that your rights and mine are equal, and that no man is meant to be superior over another. Here we stand today divided and torn over the fact that one group cannot allow another the same rights they enjoy. We have become a nation of the selfish, wanting only to guarantee that we have things our way. Democracy doesn't work that way and it was never intended to.

Richard Dawkins tells it straight

"There is nothing unusual about Governor Rick Perry. Uneducated fools can be found in every country and every period of history, and they are not unknown in high office. What is unusual about today’s Republican party (I disavow the ridiculous ‘GOP’ nickname, because the party of Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt has lately forfeited all claim to be considered ‘grand’) is this: In any other party and in any other country, an individual may occasionally rise to the top in spite of being an uneducated ignoramus. In today’s Republican Party ‘in spite of’ is not the phrase we need. Ignorance and lack of education are positive qualifications, bordering on obligatory. Intellect, knowledge and linguistic mastery are mistrusted by Republican voters, who, when choosing a president, would apparently prefer someone like themselves over someone actually qualified for the job."

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