Not a Nationalist<\/p>\n
I am a Patriot.\u00a0 I believe in the United States as an exceptional nation.\u00a0 I believe that America, despite all of its flaws and failings, has been the “shining city on the hill”<\/em>\u00a0of Ronald Reagan\u2019s voice, serving as an example to the world.\u00a0I believe in the foundation of the Declaration of Independence, that all are created equal, and the structure of the Constitution.\u00a0 They represent a hope of freedom and prosperity unprecedented in world history.<\/p>\n I am not a Nationalist.\u00a0While I believe in American exceptionalism I do NOT believe that it was founded on some warped and racist view of white supremacy.\u00a0 I, in fact, believe in the opposite:\u00a0 that the strength of the United States is in its admixture of cultures, ethnicities, and races.\u00a0 America is best represented by its Main Streets:\u00a0 Chinese, Mexican, Italian, Southern, Soul, McDonalds and Starbucks all lined up beside each other.\u00a0 That is the America I believe in, one that draws strength from all of its diverse cultures.<\/p>\n I share in the dream of the \u201ccaravan\u201d forming thousands of miles away in Central America.\u00a0 They have lived in danger, in poverty, in fear for their children\u2019s lives.\u00a0 They are looking for a better life and a better place; of course they are coming to America. \u00a0While that represents a problem, they \u00a0represent the BEST of what America offers the world. How we respond, either with compassion, love and respect for the risks they took; or with guns, prisons and families ripped apart:\u00a0 that will say what America is today.<\/p>\n The President of the United States has tapped into a dark side of America.\u00a0 The fear and inadequacy that some feel; the loss of unearned power based on skin color and wrongful tradition, have left a sad few looking for answers in hate and repression.\u00a0 The President has found a way to tap into the power of that fear, and use it to leverage the ballot box and subvert the principles of his political party.\u00a0 That fear is strong enough to silence or ostracize those within his party that dare to speak differently.<\/p>\n We used to speak of \u201cdog whistles;\u201d quiet signals of nationalism and racism that only few could hear.\u00a0 Mr. Trump has carried us into a different age, where there is no need to whisper.\u00a0He has shouted the dog whistles into clarion calls.\u00a0 Not only does he speak of \u201cnationalism\u201d as positive, empowering the hate, but he has given license to all those petty acts of racism that go on day to day.\u00a0 Whether the police are called for \u201cblacks barbecuing in the park\u201d or \u201crestaurant staff speaking in Spanish,\u201d or folks are publicly shamed through the anonymity of Facebook; we are in a new age of hate.<\/p>\n This is nothing new to America.\u00a0 In my college dorm room in the early 1970\u2019s I put quotes on my wall.\u00a0 One was Robert Kennedy\u2019s:<\/p>\n \u00a0<\/em>There are those that look at things the way they are, and ask\u00a0why?\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0I dream of things that never were, and ask\u00a0why not?<\/em><\/p>\n He represented the best of what America could be, ripped away at the moment we needed him most.\u00a0 But contemporaneous with him, was an American \u201cnationalist,\u201d George Wallace, who stood on the capital steps in Montgomery, Alabama and stated:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n In the name of the greatest people that have ever trod this earth, I draw the line in the dust and toss the gauntlet before the feet of tyranny, and I say segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.<\/em><\/p>\n There were of the same era and the same political party.\u00a0 Wallace\u2019s \u201cgreatest people\u201d were white.\u00a0 The \u201ctyranny\u201d he fought was the Federal government enforcing integration and equal opportunity. \u00a0I had both quotes on my wall to remind me what we were fighting for, and against.<\/p>\n We thought, and hoped, that the sentiments of George Wallace had faded away.\u00a0 They certainly were suppressed and made unacceptable in public discourse.\u00a0 But clearly they were not gone, and Mr. Trump has become a new voice for their sad views.\u00a0 He can\u2019t even claim to have invented this old fear, he simply has made it \u201cacceptable\u201d \u00a0again and given it power.<\/p>\n He is stoking those suppressed views to bring out his vote, to stand against the America of the future.\u00a0 It is disheartening to see our nation revert to the arguments we thought we left on the wall in some dim dorm room forty years ago, \u00a0but here we are.\u00a0 We need to fight the fight and win once again.\u00a0 So pick up your protest sign, cast your ballot, and stand for what is great in America.\u00a0 We changed the world before, we can do it again.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"