WASHINGTON D.C.—Over the past few years in America, it seems that we have grown further apart politically and have forgotten that we are truly one nation under God. With the Governor of Wisconsin locked in a battle with the state’s teachers, he vows to break the collective bargaining power of public employees and they vow to not allow that to occur. I have found it chilling and very shocking how many Americans feel no empathy for the power of the people any longer. It all falls on the side of politics. The political right has backed the governor, who was a Tea Party candidate, and yet they argue that government has too much power and is corrupt. While the political left generally supports government intervention in most matters, in this case they solidly stand against the governor’s plan to balance his state’s budget.
In California, the state’s budget hasn’t been balanced in so long, we’re destined for higher taxes and fewer services. However, when both occur, there will be an outcry against it as if no one expected it to happen. Whether one is for the collective bargaining power of unions or not, the fact that over the past week I heard these words uttered by a middle class American, “I don’t care about those people in Wisconsin,” made me very sad that we now live in a nation that is not empathetic toward the plight of others. It seems people only care about their own problems or those of people who think like them politically.
In college the phrase that describes like-minded people who congregate into groups of friends who have similar beliefs and do not respect the opinions of others is called “group think.” It’s a very detrimental way of thinking, which is why we had Jim Crow laws in most of the nation for almost a century after the ending of slavery and the emancipation of African Americans. The fact that most Americans did not care about the lynching of innocent people, since it did not occur in their neighborhoods, made it something acceptable to tolerate and even ignore. In many extreme cases, the victims of these atrocities were oftentimes blamed by the majority of the nation and criticized for not leaving a certain region, that had been home to them for years.
When Irish-immigrants landed on Ellis Island and were faced with newspaper want ads for jobs, which stated, “Irish need not apply,” many Americans didn’t empathize or care as long as they were not Irish. When the Native American tribes were massacred and wiped off the continent, many of America’s frontiersmen argued, “They are savages.” African Americans fought in both World Wars, yet when they returned home, they were still unable to vote and enjoy civil liberties. What was the common phrase to their anger and resentment? “They need to be patient, things will change.” In WWII Americans of Japanese descent were placed in concentration camps while the allied military forces were poised to break in to and liberate camps in Poland and Germany at the same time. Yet German Americans did not face the same shame or disdain by the majority of Americans during the same era.
Today we find ourselves a nation split in two parts. I’m a democrat or I’m a republican, and I don’t care about the other side. We have enjoyed two political parties in our nation for most of its history. There was a time in our nation when we didn’t care what anyone’s political affiliation was as long as they loved the nation and believed in our country. Those days are gone.
Gone also, is America’s last WWI veteran, who died on Sunday, February 27, in his home state of West Virginia. Frank Buckles lied about his age and entered WWI at the age of 16 to fight for his country and triumph over tyranny. This is the type of person who built our nation and made it the great country it is today. After Buckle’s service to his nation concluded with the war, he later joined the merchant marines and was captured by Japanese soldiers during WWII in the Philippines, and was held as a POW for three years. He was freed when American troops invaded Japan. Buckles always wanted a WWI memorial to be built in honor of his fallen comrades, but never realized his dream.
He died peacefully around his family at the age of 110.
