I Call Myself An American

By Dianne Eason

The United States of America, land of the free, home of the brave, where purple mountains sit majestically above the fruited plains …

That's the country I learned about as a little kid, or at least I think it is. Frankly, I don't recognize it anymore since we've become a population of divided, disinterested, disrespectful ego-maniacs and purveyors of our own self-serving agenda rather than that of one for the common good.

Some might take offense to that assessment, but we're all responsible for the way things are. We elect the politicians who make the policies that put the World Face on our country, and who create the good, bad and ugly edicts that govern us. We're all Americans, we're in a mess, and we allowed this negative state to happen with our indifference.

Does “need” now wear the face of greed?
Washington would have us believe that we are a nation of idiots and takers by the policies they create that suggest we're not capable of succeeding on our own good character and work ethic without their intervention, so they make us rethink what really is best for us. I mean, if it's supposed to help "everyone," and it's “free” we'd be selfish to think it's not a good thing, right?

The truth is, all the government is doing is making us more dependent on them, and nothing is free. Ever.
But there are those who eagerly take what it believes to be just that, and a government who willingly gives it and creates more and more bureaucracy to maintain the handouts. Someone ultimately pays for it, though, and it's often people who can't afford to.

Those people come from all walks of life, too, and we're all colors, all religions, all economic levels, all beliefs, etc. But the one common denominator is that we're all Americans, and that's how government needs to look at us.

Labels divide us
The words in Patrick Henry's last speech in 1799 – “United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs.” – are as relevant to our situation today as they were then.

When you put labels on groups of people – rich vs. poor, haves vs. have nots, entitled vs. those we don't deem deserving – you mentally divide them.

If we remember that Americans of all stripe get up and go to work every day (if they're lucky enough to have a job), worry about how they're going to pay their mortgage or rent, fuel their car, feed their family, keep their medical insurance, save for the future, if Social Security will even be there when they're older, how they're going to pay for their kids' college, if the kids will be able to find a job afterward, and wonder if at some point they might have to file for bankruptcy because they're in so far over their heads they can barely breathe, we can work toward a common goal.

Just because it looks like someone “has it all” doesn't mean they do. All it means is they put on a good show, and most often to their own financial detriment. They, like many who are visibly wanting, worry if they might end up homeless and destitute and if anyone, or at least their government, might care.

That is Real America, and that's where there is little hope for a future of good if we maintain the current course of division.

A self-serving government
Each time I tune into any one of the four or five different news channels I watch (all of which have their own partisan tilt), I am more and more disillusioned with presidents and lawmakers who can't relate to me, if for no other reason than they are ensured a secure retirement and medical care basely solely on the fact that they once “served” their government and the people. In fact, it's the “people” who end up serving them!

The reporters parrot the politicians' calls for “bipartisanship,” all while telling us what is wrong with the other guy's plan, or why they don't have one, or why it isn't what the “people” want.

Do any of them have a clue what the “people” really want? What they need? Are any of them really listening or willing to make the non-political, non-partisan compromises and concessions that will ensure a more stable and respected nation?

We want them to be Americans first
What the people want is a country that remembers the sacrifices that were made for the privilege we have of being free, and what “free” really means. We want a country that is “by the people, FOR the people,” as cited in Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address, not a clown show run by a bunch of self-aggrandizing rich guys caught up in a power grab and living in cushy digs on our dime in Washington! We want a country that is highly regarded and welcomed around the world, or at least one that nobody hates enough to want to blow up.

Instead, we have a country where all we hear is that it's the other guy's fault. It's the Democrats! No! It's the Republicans! No! It's the damned Tea Party and the Libertarians who have it all wrong! Every time a label is pasted on a point of view or belief, I ask myself why because I call myself none of those.

I call myself an American.

We are the people
I'm not a Black American, or a White one, or a Republican one, or a Native one, or a Democrat one, or a rich one, or a poor one, or a Mexican/Irish/Anglo, etc., one. I do not label myself, and I hold no allegiance to anything or any one group or any one philosophy except that of the one that is good for my country.

We may disagree on exactly what that is, but I think we can all agree that when our Congress stands fast along party lines on any given issue, regardless of whether or not there's room for reasonable compromise, you know they're not thinking about the country and therefore us.
If our elected representatives recalled for even one second what this country has represented to the world over the course of history, they'd be mortified by the image we now portray.

A new campaign and election cycle is fast approaching. When we choose who we will support and, ultimately who we will vote for, we need to remember who we are. We need to be Americans.