Divided We Fall

I was reading an article about the anti-war protests in San Francisco. One of the promoters stated, “Where's the outcry? Where's the horror that almost 4,000 Americans have died in a foreign country that we invaded?" Robbins said. "I'm almost as angry at the American people as I am the president. I think Americans have become apathetic and placid about the whole thing.” These words hit me with astounding force. They did not hit me because I think we should be demonstrating against the war in Iraq or that we should hightail it out of there. No, they hit me hard because this individual strongly believes in what she is doing and is pissed off because other Americans will not support her quest. I do not get upset with other Americans because they continue to buy Chinese goods putting their children’s health at risk or because they will not push for alternative energy sources but the seeming apathy does affect my consideration of my fellow Americans.

Last night I was chatting with my cooking buddies. Among the topics of conversation were “the land of fruits and nuts”, the apparent conflict of “why someone can die in a war but not drink a beer”, the fallacy that “illegal immigration cannot be enforced for lack of manpower while we actively throw teenagers in jail for breaking local curfew laws”, and “prohibiting smoking while air born pollutants skyrocket.” I thought about “our dreams”. As college students, we talked about changing the world by eliminating poverty, making education available to all no matter what their social class, and world peace. That was a time when social movement rallies had as many student participants as football games (well maybe not as many but it was acceptable to be socially involved).

Some time ago these same cooking buddies expressed how our political machine had been so successful in dividing the nation. We can no longer act as a people because it is now thousands of specific “us and them”. The religious right believes that abortion and gay marriage are the most important questions, others believe we must “save the environment from humanity”, still others believe that we must “protect ourselves from the evil Muslims.” So here we are, the most informed and financially capable segment of American society, divided, fighting this or that symptom of the greater illness. We are not getting at the cause. We are unable to come together to fight for what made us see a better future because we are heads down, concentrated on the minutia. Our politicians have one. World order is safe. Poverty, wars, despair will be with us for many generations because we are divided and Divided We Fall.

Tags: Government Politics Recession Corporate America Finance Illegal Immigration Economy Reaganomics