Extreme Statements: Good or Bad???

Before my thoughts, I need to say; agree or disagree, it is great that in our country both what Gov Lamm had to say, and my thoughts on that topic can be written and discussed.

I received an email this week that had the text of Colorado Ex Governor Dick Lamm’s speech that he gave in Washington a while back. It was the recipe for dismantling America. I read it, and then had to look it up to see if it was a hoax, because it sounds so radical and flies in the face of much of what is popular thought today in the United States.

It turns out that it is true; he actually said everything in what I received. I have spent a couple of days thinking about it, in my little vacuum of a space here in Shindand, and have concluded that many statements seemed quite extreme and the level of extremity does not determine if they are good or bad or even if they are correct.

At the time it was written the Declaration of Independence was extreme, so extreme that a powerful nation spent the equivalent of millions of dollars in today’s dollars to put down that level of thought. The Constitution again while built on ideas that went before it, was ground breaking. It offended nations that had more restrictive control on what people could say or do.

Afghanistan is officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Freedom of Religion is not among their rights in this country, and from that will flow a restriction on all types of media that can be deemed to be counter to the religion. I am not sure if Afghanistan will succeed long term as a “Democratic” nation, but that is truly up to the people of Afghanistan to decide, and we are and have given them a chance to be self determinant.

America on the other hand, has drawn people to it from all walks of life, from every country in the world. I think that that is a credit to the founders of the country, and to the people who have upheld the constitution. I am still left wondering however if Governor Lamm isn’t perhaps correct.

United we stand, Unity is critical to success, be that military, in marriage, business or in society. Diversity is allowed in the constitution by virtue of the freedom of religion and of speech. However in the United States the more we highlight differences and make decisions to increase the differences, the more we fracture our position.

How can we be unified when we have to define our version of life in America by our race, religion, primary language, sexual orientation, sex, color, size, legal status, party affiliation, and relative status in society? I believe that we have to identify ourselves as Americans; that we have the duty to pay attention no matter how painful or messy it is, to the events that our country affects around us. That we need to express our thoughts to our designated representatives, and to vote them out of office when they appear to have too much earwax build up to hear us. It truly doesn’t matter what your particular status is, in the United States, you either are living or are capable of living so much better than the bulk of people who do not live in Europe, Australia, or North America.

We are so busy trying to do better than our neighbors next door, that we forget that if we just managed what we already have, we would be fine. The other thing in my opinion that causes us problems in our country is the smaller family units, and the fact that extended families don’t work together. It creates more expenses. It is an entire thought process for another page, so I will leave it alone. But let’s say that Grandma and Grandpa are probably cheaper daycare for kids than the school daycare program as an example.