This is My Country? Redux

Last weekend, the American Nazi Party demonstrated on the steps of the capital building in beautiful Madison, Wisconsin.

This weekend, the KKK will march on the hallowed ground of the Civil War battlefield in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

CBS announces that this year's Survivor will pit teams of four different ethnic groups against each other.

And today, a candidate for U.S. Senate, Senator George Allen of Virginia insulted his opponent's volunteer with remark considered by many to be an ethnic slur.

Excuse me...have I been sent back in time? Or been moved to a different country? Or maybe it's one of those nasty alternate universe phenomenom like in episodes of Star Trek?

This can't be America, the land of liberty and justice for all. Are we really back-sliding so far in so very few years?

It would be easy to dismiss the Senator's remark as a stereotypical Southern attitude about a minority. But bigotry is not limited to the South.

Neither are all Southerns bigots.

I despise labels. And I despise situations where I need to apply labels to individuals, or even to myself.

Human beings are too complex to be indentified with a few simple terms. Labels limit our understanding of this complexity. And labels are divisive. Labels are the seeds of bigotry.

As an American, I must reluctantly allow the two abovementioned organizations their right to freedom of speech.

And I'm happy to report that counterprotesters in Madison greatly outnumbered those attending the demonstration: 800+ to 60.

And in Gettysburg, an inclusive, alternate event is planned. And the remnants of Ernesto are surely likely to rain on the Klan's parade; a sign of divine disapproval perhaps?

Americans are standing up against hate. Hooray!

Is is much more disturbing when public entities, individual or corporations, reduce people to stereotypes and labels.

I am extremely disappointed with CBS. And I can't even protest by boycotting the show, because I don't watch Survivor or any other so-called reality show. The situations are artifical. We all people behave differently when they're in front of a camera. And only the most outrageous or shocking scenes are broadcast; with surely more hours of more real, but tedious scenes littering the editing room floor.

So, I am considering boycotting the network entirely, a diffcult decision since I value their news coverage and especially 60 Minutes.

I'm afraid all these items are symptoms of a giant step backward for Americans. And recent speeches by Bush, members of his Administration, and another Senate candidate, Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania will only exacerbate the problem.

These gentlemen have redefined the War on Terror, as a war on Islamic fascism. Unfortunately, they have not seen fit to remind Americas that not all Muslims are fascists, or even extremists.

Indeed, since 9/11, their actions and rhetoric have cast suspicious on anyone of Mideastern descent, or the appearance of Mideastern descent.

And they preach to a Christian choir, with a chilling preference to those of us who practice other faiths.

They slander anyone who disagrees with them. You're either Red or Blue, either with them or against them.

It's no wonder hate groups are on the march again. Hey, let's bring out all the labels! Bush et al have made it okay to discriminate again.

So do we throw out the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution? I'm sure the Conservative Republican, and especially the Conservative Christians, would love to.

The Red Right will tell you that our nation's founders really share their view of America.

And yes, those fine gentleman fell short in their treatment of African Americans, Native Americans, and women. Errors, we as their heirs have worked to correct over the past 200-plus years.

But they were also the best educated men in our country at that time, and all quite competent writers all. And they were quite precise in expressing their opinions.

If they'd wanted a nation based on Christian principles, they would have written so in those treasured national documents. If they'd wanted limitations on our liberties, they would have explicitly dictated their intentions.

And Washington, Jefferson, Franklin and their peers knew their history and their politics; and they had personally suffered the tyrannies of theology and monarchy.

And in the waning years of the 18th century, they gave us a miracle: a plan for a secular government balanced by three seperate branches; a plan to safeguard our then fledging nation against the oppressions that brought the original Colonists to these shores as refugees or exiles.

And nations of Europe, friend and foe alike, were shocked by the originality and audacity of our Constitution. Many said it would never work.

But we made it work. And for most of these 230 years, we've worked it make it better: more inclusive, fairer.

So do we believe those words, those ideals? Or are they just quaint phrases on old decaying parchment that must be sacrificed for the Party's glory?

Are we the United States of America, or just drowning in a sea of -isms, of Us against Them?

Will we fight for the founder's dream, or allow fear and prejudice rob us of our birthright?

I have been blessed in my life to know people from every continent (except Antartica), every race, different sexual orientation, and many different religions. Many don't fit the stereotypes, for example I've know an Asian Christian and an Caucasion Buddhist. And I'm proud to call many of them my friends, which is the only label I will agree to readily assign them.

And generally, when I see a stanger, I don't see the labels, I just see a person. I learned to avoid the labels long ago, because I work to live the American ideals, just as strongly as I work to live my faith.

Though, I will confess to one vestige of bigotry I can't quite shake. I detest bigotry. I cannot abide labels or hate speech of any kind. It's one of my hot button issues, but I'm working on it.

And I'm worried about the divisiveness that seems to be growing in our nation. Because there's really only one label that should matter; one that should render all the others to virtual meaninglessness.

I am a writer, a Beatle fan, a Yankee fan, a heretic, a liberal, a Unitarian Universalist, a music lover, a poet, a hsitory buff, a nature lover, a singer, a teacher, a Hebrew student, a dancer, an office worker, a daughter, a sister, a friend, a Saturn driver, a movie buff, an activist, a Caucasion, a dreamer, an idealist, a feminist, a Trekkie, a pasta fanatic, a chocoholic, a Francophone, a reader, an Anglophile, a heterosexual, a traveler, a believer, a star-gazer, a baseball coach, a bowler, a trivia buff ...............and so on and so on.............

And I can be all this things, because of the only important label: I am an American.

Divisiveness and labels are the seeds of Hate. And Hate is the weapon of Terrorists.

Patriots, let us stand up against Us and Them mentality; against this cancer of divisiveness in our nation.

Let us celebrate the promise of our Declaration and Constitution, and the power and glory of our country's diversity. And let us work to make them true for every American.

For only then can we claim Victory....and Mission Accomplished.