Don’t get me wrong. I apologize in advance. Please forgive me. Don’t jump to conclusions. Please, I don’t mean to offend but … political correctness is out of control! Even in one of the most conservative states, our mostly soft-spoken, polite and friendly residents are just saying “No!” We don’t want any “woke liberals” in our congress, and it appears Burgess Owens will defeat Ben McAdams in the Fourth Congressional District.
I like Ben McAdams, and I would have voted for him had it not been for Nancy breathing down his neck telling him which way he had to vote to keep getting his campaigns financed. This may or may not have happened. But I lost my feeling of connection with the mainstream left, and so has much of Utah, it seems. I have always liked talking politics with liberals. I like getting a sense of how they think. I found out ten years ago that I disagreed more with conservatives and found myself agreeing more with liberals.
As this century unfolds, we are speaking far less with people who don’t agree with us. Social media has exasperated this situation, placing far more friends into their own echo chambers or “filter bubbles” so they can’t even hear opposing opinions of those with whom they might disagree.
I’ve grown so tired of the mainstream media narratives that I don’t watch TV any longer. What’s the point? There is one story they cover on most major networks: Trump is the devil or Hitler and thankfully he lost. Or the few networks on the right say, “Trump actually won and he needs to finish draining the swamp.” What is our world coming to? Will we further divide? America has proven to be strongest when we have a common enemy.
When we were all united to defeat facism (since the rise of Hitler) was considered our “Greatest Moment” by the “Greatest Generation.” Later, we all fought communism. Later, it was extreme Islamic fundamentalism. It seems we have run out of international “isms” so we are going after each other in our “Liberalism” or “Conservatism”. This morning I woke up thinking about the life of my late Grandma Markosian.
She was born four years prior to the Great Depression. She never talked about it being tough. Her father died from cancer working with harmful chemicals when she was around 15. I don’t remember her ever mentioning his death and the impact it had on her life. She wasn’t a complainer. She never complained about caring for her special-needs daughter her entire life. I wonder how a person like her is made? She had such a wonderful demeanor; she was always working; and she maintained her same friends her entire life. She loved her kids and grandkids and she loved God.
I wish I would have asked her about how she endured hardship and the death of her father when she was a teenager. I have no idea how she, her mom and her siblings must have survived. But tragedy was so common around the Great Depression, maybe losing a dad very young wasn’t all that uncommon.
What I do know was that she had to work as a secretary at a young age to help support her family. Back then there was no welfare. Community consisted of neighbors, relatives and the Church. The LDS Church is famous for supporting and looking after their members dealing with financial ruin or tragedy. Both Democrats and Republicans believed the government’s role was to govern, not hand out money to the needy. That was always where churches came in.
We live in a world today where the government expects far more of our income in property taxes, sales tax, income tax (federal and state). Fully two-thirds of this money collected in all taxes is redistributed to the “needy.” Due to this Churches are secondary to government support. Tithing, to support families and members in need, is not the primary role of the Church, but now the primary role of government. The fundamental role of government in society is the main reason for our divided country.
What role did politics play in my Grandmother’s life? It was an afterthought. It was not really that important: family, friends and church all came far ahead of politics.
I know she and my grandpa both crossed party lines to vote for President Harry Truman and Governor Scott Matheson. But neither of these Democrats supported a big, intrusive government. Today the left has swung way too far to the left promoting widespread Socialism and socialistic policies. For those of us who don’t hold rigid ideologies, I would like to see the Democratic Party return to values that represent American values.
