Religion was put into schools when Congress added the words "under God" to the Pledge of Allegiance in the 1950's. And which God would you prefer? The god of the Baptists, Protestants, Catholics, Old Testament, New Testament, Mormons, Sikhs, Hindus, Jews, Sunni Arabs, Shiite Arabs, Buddhists, Taoists, or Wiccans? Or the Church of England, as our founding fathers were supposed to belong to? Do you want kids taught that evolution is just a theory (like gravity and dinosaurs)? Shall we be Climate Change deniers? Do you want respect for others and ethics and morality taught, or do you just want to tell kids to behave because God will punish you if you disobey?
Do you really think the founding fathers wanted this to be a Christian nation? Or that we must have religion in order to have values? Do you want to continue to deny people's rights with Old Testament value judgments? Was the prohibition of the establishment of religion clause in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution put in clandestinely by Revolutionary War atheists?
Discipline problems with today's youth? Don't blame a lack of religion or religious values. The 60's were a rejection of authoritarianism, sexism, racism, greed, ignorance, and hypocrisy, and the effects were long-lasting. Parents since then have had multiple theories of child-rearing thrown at them, and too many abdicate their responsibilities or just don't understand them. Add to that the stresses of decreasing wages and benefits over the last 30+ years. And the problems were not absent before the 60's. What was absent was openness, honesty, and public discourse. Mental illness was a stigma, and so were sexual, physical and mental abuse. Pregnancies were hidden, and too many died from back-alley abortions.
Yes, things need to change. But do you think we should be heading back to a time of poorhouses, no worker's rights, no affordable health care, no minimum standards for health care insurance coverage, no environmental or consumer protections, no protections from Wall Street shenanigans or bank speculations with depositor's money, no protections for people's retirement accounts, no anti-trust regulations or food and drug protections? Are you advocating no heating assistance for the poor, no Head Start for preschoolers, no community block grants, no infrastructure spending bills, Medicare changed to private health plans with ever increasing costs and fewer benefits, the elimination of women's healthcare, the defunding of Medicaid, no ethics oversight for government officials, inadequate pay for our military troops, the militarization of police forces along with inadequate training, no rights against discrimination, the right of states to eliminate provisions regarding pre-existing conditions, privatization of Social Security, a worship of individual responsibility and an abdication of social responsibility? Then congratulations. You fit right in with today's radical conservatives.
You should have lived in the 1890's or the 1920's. Do you still think being a liberal is about hating our country or wanting pure socialism or communism? Then you have no clue what love of country really means, and you certainly don't understand that we are a representative democracy. We are not supposed to be a corporatocracy (government dominated by corporate business interests) or plutocracy or oligarchy, and the government is supposed to provide for and promote the general welfare (as in health and wellbeing) of its citizens, otherwise known as We The People.
So go ahead and continue to believe and regurgitate the lies of the radical conservatives of how they are the ones who want fiscal responsibility, and that they are the party of morality and justice and prosperity for all and the protectors of America's values, that they are the solution to rampant crime, decaying inner cities, radical terrorist infiltrators, godless science. Keep waving those guns and flags and be secure in your ignorance and hate. Keep them foreigners away and those tree-hugging animal-loving whale-protecting hippies in their place and put the God of your choice into your schools. Keep them brown and yellow and black and olive and red and pink and rainbow-colored people away from you and your womenfolk.
But leave me out of your world of fantasy and delusion.
Do you really think the founding fathers wanted this to be a Christian nation? Or that we must have religion in order to have values? Do you want to continue to deny people's rights with Old Testament value judgments? Was the prohibition of the establishment of religion clause in the Bill of Rights of our Constitution put in clandestinely by Revolutionary War atheists?
Discipline problems with today's youth? Don't blame a lack of religion or religious values. The 60's were a rejection of authoritarianism, sexism, racism, greed, ignorance, and hypocrisy, and the effects were long-lasting. Parents since then have had multiple theories of child-rearing thrown at them, and too many abdicate their responsibilities or just don't understand them. Add to that the stresses of decreasing wages and benefits over the last 30+ years. And the problems were not absent before the 60's. What was absent was openness, honesty, and public discourse. Mental illness was a stigma, and so were sexual, physical and mental abuse. Pregnancies were hidden, and too many died from back-alley abortions.
Yes, things need to change. But do you think we should be heading back to a time of poorhouses, no worker's rights, no affordable health care, no minimum standards for health care insurance coverage, no environmental or consumer protections, no protections from Wall Street shenanigans or bank speculations with depositor's money, no protections for people's retirement accounts, no anti-trust regulations or food and drug protections? Are you advocating no heating assistance for the poor, no Head Start for preschoolers, no community block grants, no infrastructure spending bills, Medicare changed to private health plans with ever increasing costs and fewer benefits, the elimination of women's healthcare, the defunding of Medicaid, no ethics oversight for government officials, inadequate pay for our military troops, the militarization of police forces along with inadequate training, no rights against discrimination, the right of states to eliminate provisions regarding pre-existing conditions, privatization of Social Security, a worship of individual responsibility and an abdication of social responsibility? Then congratulations. You fit right in with today's radical conservatives.
You should have lived in the 1890's or the 1920's. Do you still think being a liberal is about hating our country or wanting pure socialism or communism? Then you have no clue what love of country really means, and you certainly don't understand that we are a representative democracy. We are not supposed to be a corporatocracy (government dominated by corporate business interests) or plutocracy or oligarchy, and the government is supposed to provide for and promote the general welfare (as in health and wellbeing) of its citizens, otherwise known as We The People.
So go ahead and continue to believe and regurgitate the lies of the radical conservatives of how they are the ones who want fiscal responsibility, and that they are the party of morality and justice and prosperity for all and the protectors of America's values, that they are the solution to rampant crime, decaying inner cities, radical terrorist infiltrators, godless science. Keep waving those guns and flags and be secure in your ignorance and hate. Keep them foreigners away and those tree-hugging animal-loving whale-protecting hippies in their place and put the God of your choice into your schools. Keep them brown and yellow and black and olive and red and pink and rainbow-colored people away from you and your womenfolk.
But leave me out of your world of fantasy and delusion.
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