Posted on 10/18/2016 7:52:58 AM PDT by shortstop
The challenge of racial division in America today is not just that there are forces pushing us apart, but that we've lost the things that held us together.
Relations between black people and white people are probably at their worst in anyone's lifetime, with most of those divisions exacerbated dramatically in the last handful of years.
The reasons for that have more to do with the manipulation of racial animosity than the reality of the racial situation. Politicians and activists, each standing to benefit by pitting people against one another, have whipped up an internal and seemingly unresolvable conflict between blacks and whites. Some get votes and power out of the discord, others get grants and publicity. Altogether, the society weakens and strains.
It is an evil, partisan manipulation that poses the greatest threat to our national union since the Civil War. It declares an inherent racism that is neither identifiable nor fixable, yet which drives like a wedge into the society, creating an insatiable anger that leads to an uncertain future.
The forces of division are strong.
And the bonds of traditional unity are weak.
That may be the most dangerous aspect of all this.
America has always been a nation of different types of people. Comprised of folks from around the world, and of regions from across the country, there have been many different types of Americans.
But those Americans have always had common ground. There has always been a place where we have been the same, and had the same interests.
Most commonly, that place of binding has been in our common patriotism and Christianity.
Certainly, there have always been Americans who weren't Christian, and who didn't love the country. But they have been few and marginal. In the main, the United States -- across all its peoples and priorities -- has been a nation of common belief in God and of common love of country.
That has certainly been true across racial lines.
Black people and white people have been great patriots, serving valiantly in each of America's conflicts and grasping firmly to the Founders' ever-perfecting vision of liberty and equality. Likewise, black people and white people have been great Christians, rearing churches of every sort and kneeling before a God who created, loved and saved them all.
No matter the differences, black Americans and white Americans had two defining similarities -- they stood for God and country.
Those two bonds -- patriotism and faith -- held through stresses and bound through hard times. Not even Jim Crow could pry them loose.
But today those two traits are scorned by progressive orthodoxy and the harsh dictates of political correctness. Both Christianity and patriotism are seen as forms of bigotry and xenophobia.
To believe in Christianity, the progressive rationale goes, is to disrespect Islam, gay people and disbelievers. Love of country is a type of racism and superiority against foreigners and their cultures. To self-identify as a Christian and a patriot, in progressive America, is to self-identify as a hater.
And so Christianity is pushed from the public square. Increasingly, even its private practice is challenged -- ask any church fearing it will be forced to put in a transgender bathroom or sanction gay marriages. A slight sense of moral and intellectual inferiority is ascribed to Christians, particularly those who are Bible based.
And on the issue of patriotism, the current wave of kneeling during the national anthem is a visible sign that disrespecting patriotism is respecting black rights. The implication is clear -- patriotic symbols and expressions are signs of white racism and the oppression of blacks. America's defining symbol -- the flag -- is not to be honored as it is only a token of the "systemic racism" declared by the president and his party.
Before long, the American flag will be beside the Confederate flag as a cursed symbol of black oppression by whites.
Further, the notion of patriotism -- also defined as a moral and intellectual inferiority -- is mocked by the political correctness and progressive orthodoxy that declares we are citizens of the world. National borders and national identities are erased, and heritage is denounced.
America specifically, the great oppressor, is denounced.
And the glue is weakened.
Americans used to love their God, one another, and their country.
Increasingly today, none of those things are true.
And the sad consequences are just beginning to roll out.
It began with the abandonment of the “Melting Pot” for the “Tossed Salad.”
The left has divided us along as many lines as it can.
The NFL was one of the last bits of glue remaining, but the Left finally got to that, too.
Great Lonsberry piece. Thanks for posting!
All according to plan.
The progressives in both parties have successfully propagandized at least half the population to hate America and its founding documents and principles.
The Bible teaches Christians, “ Do not be bound together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? What fellowship can light have with darkness?” (2 Corinthians 6:14)
Lonsberry is a talented writer, thanks for posting
Boys lied about their age to enlist and fight for America.
Today we have exuberant crowds (a little more subdued due to gun laws) that clamor for Donald trump and his promises of changing BACK to something not yet perfectly defined, but the imaginations of Americans are carrying us along on the longest wave.
Trump is strongly unifying those that follow him.
I haven't read too many articles about, "I love everything about Trump except ... "
Americans are buying everything about him.
This has happened only because the rest of us, myself included of course, are too much the moral cowards to do what we know must be done to prevent it.
Enemy is enemy, place or circumstance of birth does not change that.
Yep. Ain't "diversity" great?
Lonsberry...father of...FUBO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
EXACTLY-TOP TO BOTTOM OF ED SYSTEM
Because the criminal enterprise party uses divide and conquer as an agenda, perhaps ‘lost’ is not the best word for the purposeful dissolution of America that is being brought to the finish designed by the globalist devils working through the ‘acetone’ democrat party and its dead soul voters?
Man of the people coming into this country absolutely hate us and once given the chance are going to destroy us and take everything away. They recoil at the thought that all here does not belong to them. I do not think a lot of Americans even have a clue as to how dangerous the situation has become. The ONLY way this country is going to be saved, if at all, is for people to repent, stop sinning and live correctly and turn back to God ASAP or it is going to be over.
Drudge: 65 MILLION NON-ENGLISH SPEAKING IN OUR COUNTRY...WE ARE SO F!!!! CONSIDER THIS NATION FINISHED AND F!!! This is the death nail I feared more then any because I’m surrounded by illegals glore in my city and they are ballsy with their demands and brazenly displace their Mexican flag outside their homes and cars and are not afraid to tell you they pledge their allegiance to Mexico! Geez and I’m not even talking about the muslms OVOMIT has flown in and I ain’t talking about the hundreds that cross our border freely from other nations EVERY FREAKIN DAY and I haven’t even touched on the cartels and gang members that have made their way to our land!! ...very depressing!
We just aren’t used to the idea that America would ever decline. We never really had to do anything as it seemed to “fix” itself.
Like no matter what happened, there was always a good period after a somewhat traumatic decade.
1860s led to 1876-1901
1910s led to the 20s
1930-1945 led to the 50s
1960s and 70s led to the 80s - at least most of the 90s.
9/11 led to a few months of unity.
Hopefully this traumatic 15 years is about to come to an end too, and we are given a chance to turn it around and this time keep it that way.
An oath many of us took comes to mind.
We are going to share the same fate as the Roman Empire.
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