The America We All Forgot

The past year politically has been a little bit of a headache for all of us. But, besides politics, America has a lot going on right now. Of all things one common theme seems to have stood out to me above the rest: America has forgotten our roots. We've gotten so lost in needing to be star-spangled awesome that we've forgotten the basic principles upon which America was founded.

The past few years have been tumultuous ones. After living through the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the U.S. kind of fell into disrepair. During the recession we were reminded of things that we had ignored. those things primarily include that this country isn't as equal as we thought it was, and we haven't left the 60s as far behind as we thought. As each evidence of inequality came to light, protests in all forms began. Now before I continue, let me clarify, when I use the term protest I do NOT mean riot. Although riots occurred, there have been more protests than riots by a gigantic margin. Unfortunately, though, with those protests came some of the most upsetting rhetoric of all: "If you don't like it get out!" This logic absolutely makes no sense to me. We are a country founded on protests. We wouldn't be here today without people saying "You know, I don't like this so I'm going to do something" and then protesting and sometimes, even resorting to destruction of property (gasp!). Right from the beginning of our government, our founding fathers knew how important protestation was and ensured that we would always have the right to peaceful protest. Thus, the first amendment was born.

That all being acknowledged, somehow a significant majority of the population has seemed to have forgotten this history and the importance of the first amendment in its entirety. To be honest, I'm not quite sure where we went wrong. I don't know if it's the drama of our two-party system or the lack of civics education, but I've been horrified every time someone gets their panties in a bunch because people assemble to let their government and peers know that they have issues with the climate of our country. The fact of the matter is that people are struggling. Our country is not as free as we think. Those who are hurting the worst are protesting and really, it doesn't matter how they protest, people are all up in arms. They take a knee during the national anthem "Outrageous!", they assemble in groups peacefully, "What do they have to complain about? What whiney babies!", they burn the flag "how disrespectful! They should be arrested!" (which by the way is completely contradictory to the First Ammendment), they get violent "Well why don't they just assemble peacefully?" Well they tried that and you shut them down. So, to be clear, you don't have to like it or have any positive feelings toward it. I'm not particularly fond of anyone burning my country's flag, but I'll fight every day for their right to do so. I wouldn't personally sit during the national anthem, but I'll speak out for their right to do so. Someone asserting their first amendment right isn't un-American as people have been calling it. It's actually one of the most American things you can do, as prescribed and demonstrated by our forefathers.