Differences...

According to what you hear on the news these days we are red or we are blue. I guess that makes for a dramatic story, but I don't believe it for a second. I think most of us are pretty purple, really. Maybe red-purple or blue-purple, but very few people are purely red or blue. I find that when people actually talk about what they want in life and their hopes and dreams, we are very similar. But these days there is so much fear mongering by the press and political pundits that it is hard to get people to stop yelling at each other and have an intelligent conversation. Everyone is upset and scared. It is a scary world out there and there are things to fear, but a lot of it is overblown by those wishing to keep us scared and hoping for change. Frightened people are easy to manipulate if you play on their fears. That is a political fact and has been a tool of those in power throughout history. It encourages isolation and keeps people from talking to each other and makes them more prone to believe in things they might have ridiculed in a different situation.
Today fear abounds. Terrorism. Crime. Immigrants. Economy. Unemployment. I'm sure there are endless blanks that could be filled in here. Everyone has their own fears.
Fear makes it easier to give up our hard-won rights in the name of greater safety or security. To take an airplane, we are expected to allow ourselves to be exposed to the radiation and humiliation of full body scanners or be subjected to the degradation of an intimate "pat down". Children and pregnant women are not exempt. What ever happened to the 4th Amendment? "The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."
We pass immigration laws to make it easier to determine who is a real citizen, forgetting that those laws apply to all of us and once again lead quickly down that slippery slope of unlawful search and seizure. It seems ok to do these things to "them" but not to us.  We don't think we would ever be in that situation since we don't break the law, right? But things can change and that attitude can backfire.
I've given a lot of thought as to why everyone is so scared and uptight. Obviously 9/11 had a lot to do with it, but certainly doesn't account for everything.  This has been coming on for some time.
I look back to how quickly technology has advanced in the past 15 years. We went from almost no one having a computer to almost everyone having one or more, not to mention a smart phone or PDA.  The internet is here and everyone is on the grid...we are bombarded with information and opinions. Our economy is no longer local...it is global and we depend on other countries to buy our debt and sell us cheap goods. We are surrounded by people of different races, sexual identities and religions who we don't understand.
Many Americans ask themselves..."What ever happened to the good old days?" "What ever happened to that Main Street American way of life that we used to see on Leave it to Beaver and Father Knows Best?" "We don't like this world of strange people who we can't identify with---we want it to go back to what it used to be!"
Of course, that isn't going to happen...Pandora's Box has been opened for good and for bad and we will have to adapt and go on with our lives in this new reality. But in the meantime, fear of change prevails. The Tea Party-ers want to "Take America Back"...from what I'm not sure, but they want it back...back to what it used to be in their dreams. Because back then it wasn't perfect either, but they can pretend it was.
The world is going to continue to change and move on and we will be carried along with it---either kicking and screaming or as an intelligent participant. America is never again going to be a sole super-power---we are moving into a global era where everyone is going to contribute and have their say. It is an exciting and dynamic time to be living in, but scary too in its uncertainty. Hopefully we as a nation can overcome our fears and establish America in her rightful place in the new world order as a leader and role model for equality and opportunity.