For a long while, America has been a progressive country; we are the ones credited, famously or infamously, as being rabble-rousers, we shook things up. Our soldiers, our war fighters, are depicted as psyching-up to rock music as they prepare to engage in warfare; the killing of fellow humans, ideally (and I use the word lightly) against soldiers fighting for their country just as our men and women fight for ours.
Somewhere along the lines, when social change began to be the majority demand, progress began to slow; women wanted to vote, blacks wanted to be fully equal with no separations. These changes took unfortunate amounts of time to adopt and some areas forget them to this day. Now it's homosexuals who seek marriage rights and 'the masses' are responding with opposition; Muslims are still fighting discrimination as well and probably will for many more years.
Now we have a Senate that mires itself, as a rule, with nonsense filibuster votes that go against the very principles of a majority vote and, by association, our republic. Our representatives vote against environmental protections, our campaigning presidents vow to close protection agencies; they say this is for jobs but where are the jobs and what of the people you've left jobless from those agencies?
Of course, when it comes to indefinite detention of US citizens on US soil, the Senate finds a way to agree; 97 - 3 in favor of indefinite detention of US citizens, on US soil with no trial, no Miranda rights, until Congress declares an end to the war on terror. Welcome to the war-zone at home.
Aren't we above child labor; aren't we a little more enlightened than that? Nope, Gingrich wants to reinstitute child labor into our workforce and start teaching kids, at an early age, the cold, dirty facts of life and money when they should be creating, exploring, and expanding their minds, not worrying about "showing up on Monday." Kid's need to be isolated away from the concern of cash; their minds don't need to be dirtied by that. If only Gringrich meant showing up to school and not to a thankless job and a pittance. If kids are doing any 'work' around the school it should just be for fun and for pride in their school, which is their community and home for their developing minds for several hours, five days a week.
Why does America want to be associated with archaic thinking? We are supposed to be ahead of such backwards practices; ahead of countries that think being gay is an unforgivable sin and that women are inferior to men. America is supposed to be ahead of all this; better than all this but we are falling behind too. Few countries are willing to come up to bat in this time of great social change; why wouldn't we, as the rebellious Americans, gladly take the reins for the next great movement? No, instead we've chosen to prepare ourselves for another secessionist war.
