DICK BAYNTON:  Diversity & Divisiveness

Dick Baynton

Are we a divided country? Of course we are; in fact the entire world is divided! We are divided by gender to the extent that for each 100 women in the world there are about 101 men. Another difference between people is the number of languages spoken; there are about 6,500 languages but some 2,000 of them are substantially geographic in use and spoken by fewer than 1,000 people. Another obvious difference in peoples of the world is skin color. There are some generic differences between us also, such as culture, rituals, religion and politics.

In the United States a recent Wall Street Journal/NBC News survey, politics and cultural values show a wide divide among us. Topics and policies where gulfs seem to appear are gun rights, immigration, and attitudes about the future. In addition, anecdotal evidence suggests that there are divides regarding race, LGBTQ, replacement of statues, observance of respect for our flag and our national anthem and our approach to almost all challenges of today’s world of conflict and turmoil.

One of the greatest chasms of divisiveness concerns our current President. All U.S. Presidents have probably promised and tried to bring diversity by all metric standards without much success. Due mostly to political differences, all have failed to a large degree. Bringing agreement to an overwhelming majority of voters is a challenge similar to herding cats.

Tom Steyer, a California billionaire recently put together a $10 billion ad campaign with headlines such as, ‘Trump is unfit for office.’ Steyer’s friend, Mr. Obama was unfit for office but he persisted his reign of lies, scandals and corruption for eight years. Steyer’s campaign for impeachment is almost certainly aligned with Obama’s disgusting efforts to dislodge President Trump through his Organizing for America (OFA) a recalcitrant organization with a rebellious goal of unseating an elected president. Surely George Soros and other evil far-left zealots are marching to the cadence of Obama’s demonic decrees.

What will eliminate our national divisiveness? Probably nothing will ever totally wipe out bias, prejudice, disdain and hatred. But there are some things we can all do to help bend the curve of contempt to a more even and sensible approach to the differences we have developed.

To be an informed citizen of this great land of liberty and freedom, don’t adjust your thoughts and activities by what politicians and journalists tell you. Make judgments about your future by the policies and the actions of our politicians. What politicians talk about are dreams of rising wages, falling prices and more freedom; what we often receive are recumbent incomes, prices linked to higher costs, added restrictive regulations and higher taxes. And don’t listen to the person who just lost a job due to poor performance.

Information, communication and education are three building blocks of increased security, self determination and more prosperity. Johnny Taylor, Jr. is the retiring head of the Thurgood Marshall Fund that represents 47 historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU’s). The following comments are taken from an interview by Allysia Stanley in a recent issue of the Wall Street Journal.

In the interview, Taylor says that the NAACP and teachers unions are both working against the very people that they claim to represent. Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers (AFT) calls charter schools, “polite cousins of segregation” and last year the NAACP called for a moratorium on charters. Taylor said that, “public schools are failing to prepare students” adding that “many low-income students graduate from high school without basic literacy.” Taylor believes that Charter schools and parental choice must be components of improved educations for low-performing schools and students. Unionized teachers organizations are the stumbling blocks of improving secondary educations.

The United States is the most sought-after country in the world for immigrants having as many foreign-born citizens as the next five nations combined and the most diverse in ethnicity. Diversity of our people has become an asset. Divisiveness is an unwitting trait learned from politically correct teachers, journalists and politicians. For Americans of all ages, we must get beyond using hyphenated epithets like African-American, Asian-American and Hispanic-American; we are all Americans without the need for further identity. Skin color is inconsequential; character is our wellspring of eminence.

Dick Baynton

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