I don’t understand what is happening to our collective values; our concern for our fellow human beings and our planet, and our pursuit for truth. It seems that our values are being replaced with a distasteful self-interest with complete disregard for anyone who is different and a lack of interest in any real truth that might require complex thought.
Right-wing Republicans seem to have a single focus which is to hate anything that liberals love such as social justice, ethnic and gender equality, economic fairness, environmental protection and protection of federal lands, even if this stand is harmful to themselves.
Only a minority of Americans hold these views. The majority of Americans do not hold these views, but many of these people do not vote or do not vote regularly.
The minority of Americans who are active right-wing Republicans tend to be young white men who while finding their way are swayed by white supremacy, middle-America older white men who have lost their livelihood to technology and globalization that tend to blame minorities and women for their job loss and Evangelical Christians. However, I am perplexed by the established suburbanites with good jobs or comfortable pensions who buy into this simplistic hate of anything liberal.
Our country has been multi-cultural from the very beginning. Native Americans, Spaniards, Africans and Anglo Saxons to name a few were here hundreds and even thousands of years before 1776. And over the last nearly 250 years, people from many cultures have become Americans. We live in a well-established multi-cultural nation. That is a fact. Additionally, gender differences are innate and not choices. Climate change is real. Not being open to reason and limiting your source of news will not make America great again. Our democracy depends on a well-informed electorate!
Trying to understand the term “culture war politics” has helped me understand what is happening to our values. Personally, I will continue to support social justice, ethnic and gender equality, economic fairness, environmental protection and protection of federal lands. I will continue to make every effort to be a well-informed American citizen.
reilly m gray 