The Politics of American Culture: Scaling Invisible Walls Created In A More Perfect Union
April 14th 2009 11:30
“I do not want my house to be walled in on all sides and my windows to be stuffed. I want the cultures of all the lands to be blown about my house as freely as possible. But I refuse to be blown off my feet by any.”
~ Mahatma Gandhi
~ Mahatma Gandhi
Even before the first shots were fired in the American Revolution our country was already beginning to form her identity. As slaves tried to cope with their new lives of hardship in a foreign land the beginnings of a culture built around music, food and entertainment began to take shape.
The Blues evolved from stories of hope, hardship, strife and a better tomorrow. These stories spawned the evolution of the genres Rock & Roll, R&B and Hip Hop as we know it today as well as the homegrown musical genre of Country music in her modern day evolution and growth.
I bring this up in political conversation because as divided as we have become as a nation with the invisible walls of culture within race and nationalities, we have still managed to build upon each others societal experiences to create an open multi cultural society.
This homogony is reflected in the things that distinctly separate us from the rest of the world as Americans. With the aspects of how we are alike staring us in the face on a daily basis also brings forth the realities of how we have struggled to cope with a dangerous past.
A dangerous past that allowed law making officials to circumvent the Constitution through upholding laws that discriminated one man from another on the basis of race.
A dangerous past that diminished women to the status of property in a life of servitude to her family and husband.
A dangerous past that is reflected in how we frame our arguments and look for better solutions.
When our forefathers took their seats in Philadelphia their goals were explicit and ground breaking. After a process of blending the systems of law from the world’s greatest societies the perfect formula was created.
Even with a perfect formula there was and always will be room for improvement and moving back to our roots. Each and every American has a different vision of how we can achieve the goal of a better country.
The problem we’re having as a society is within the fact of pushing too hard for forward progress and forgetting about our past. In order to achieve real change and progress we must honor the mistakes of the past and those who seek to achieve change differently so we don’t forget the struggle that brought us to this point.
The point where men and women of every race, culture and nationality are hero’s for both sides of fundamental political arguments. The existence of women both for and against abortion who identity themselves with both the Republican and Democratic parties is proof positive of the impact the women’s rights movement had for all of society and not specific group in ideological thought.
The road map our forefathers left for us was far from easy and we haven’t gotten it right each and every time. The important thing to remember about a road map is within the fact that it is only a piece of paper. It’s up to each and every individual American to find our own personal meaning behind the words in the Constitution & Bill Of Rights.
In finding our own personal meaning we should not diminish those who read the same words but discover different paths to get to that same goal. For too long we have mistaken societal advancements as victories for one side or the other and try to bury their way of life as an archaic adventure of the American story.
Each city, town, state and region of America has the same equal opportunity and right to the American story of progress and change. Progress should not be a battle of one person’s way being right and another being wrong but should be a way of telling the complete story without mandates, assumptions or power struggles.
No longer can we frame elections by calling people who don’t jump on the band wagon of the winner as out dated. It was a diversion from our roots of simplicity that got us into this mess and it will ultimately take a return to this place to get us out.
A diversion that has us facing the reality of what was done to our planets land, sea and air at the hands of human beings who put the all mighty dollar ahead of the future prosperity of our children.
The mess has finally hit a head and we have to deal with the consequences of our societies decisions to make easy solutions rather than lean towards thinking of the consequences for the future.
The story is still being written and it isn’t too late for us to react and discover the way’s we think alike rather than focusing on the things that make us different.
Politics and culture will always be intermingled but much like homogony that exists with Americans discovering the food, music, and entertainment of those who come to the table with different stories than our own. We also need to show the same respect and reverence to the cultures born and bred within our country that some would rather pretend didn’t exist, ignore or denigrate.
The ultimate conversation we need to have as Americans isn’t a one sided affair nor is it concentrated in one geographic area but is rather a complete dialogue representing the interests of every American from sea to shining sea.
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