Hello to you all,
As an avid visitor to the States (40 years+) and because of having so many friends overhere, I’m following the politics and news about the USA a bit more as the average European citizen.
It’s since late 2016 that I found this online community (any guess why??? LOL!) and since then, I read some (or all) new stories before bedtime…
They are really amusing, sharp, intelligent, informative, personal, heart warming/breaking and so much more… BUT, never dull! Also great starts to go look further on the topics they bring.
I’ve learned alot from these stories, and see/understand now how some of my American friends are more left or moderate right leaning (most of them really left!)
But I was really surprised to see how so many of the Americans are so uneducated??? And, frankly, plain stupid!
We have those too here, but really not in such unbelievable high numbers, I belief...I hope…
My husband is Congolese born and black as the night, yep, I’m a member of the “Alphabet people” LOL, and we live in the second country in the world that allowed same gender marriages, Belgium.
Yes, we had the opponents here too ofcourse, but once that law was law...everybody moved on!
(Same with our abortion laws...)
Everytime we visit the States together, we visit more “liberal” big cities and won’t have many real problems… Except some racist undertones we detect, somehow much higher in certain cities… like in my beloved New Orleans, unfortunately...
Imagine, an interracial, gay and very WOKE married couple!!! LOL, we might find some problems in smaller, less liberal communities…. Not to say we don’t have homefoobs, racists or other misguided souls here! But at least they got some restrain by harsh laws ans regular society.
And at least we have a very secular society… and our main relegion, Catholic, is working on going more “modern”. Alas very, very slowly, LOL
Our Belgian, and other more Northern countries’s, clerical heads are trying to push the church in the more liberal direction….
So,
Just a couple of minutes ago, I read this story by Angela Marx (distant family of???) about how she really learned alot trough this online community and I completely agree with her.
She got some excerps from older stories in, pieces she really remembered…
One of these was this piece, 20 years old… and still, it could have been written tomorrow, just because nothing changed, at least not for the better!
I'm a fighting liberal by stevegilliard.blogspot.com/…
A little excerp as used by Angela in her story, but please, read the whole article and remember: almost 20 years old!!!
“Wednesday, December 03, 2003
I'M A FIGHTING LIBERAL
You know, I've studied history, I've read about America and you know something, if it weren't for liberals, we'd be living in a dark, evil country, far worse than anything Bush could conjure up. A world where children were told to piss on the side of the road because they weren't fit to pee in a white outhouse, where women had to get back alley abortions and where rape was a joke, unless the alleged criminal was black, whereupon he was hung from a tree and castrated.
What has conservatism given America? A stable social order? A peaceful homelife? Respect for law and order? No. Hell, no. It hasn't given us anything we didn't have and it wants to take away our freedoms.
It's time to regain the sprit of FDR and Truman and the people around them. People who believed in the public good over private gain. It is time to stop apologizing for being a liberal and be proud to fight for your beliefs. No more shying away or being defined by other people. Liberals believe in a strong defense and punishment for crime. But not preemption and pointless jail sentences. We believe no American should be turned away from a hospital because they are too poor or lack a proper legal defense. We believe that people should make enough from one job to live on, to spend time on raising their family. We believe that individuals and not the state should dictate who gets married and why. The best way to defend marriage is to expand, not restrict it.
It reall struck me that the once so revered,innovative and exemplary USA has stood still for so long, even backtracked, especially on human rights and society…. “
I must say, It hurts to see how the once worldwide revered, high held example, admired USA has been standing still for such a long time, or even backtracking now…. It’s hard to see how a reign of hate is pushed on the American society… But, I believe it’s also communities like DK, that keeps the fire burning! So! Keep the lights on!!!
Thanks for all the info and insights I get here on DK, go strong you all, keep the good works up...