When We Vote, Shouldn’t Humanity Be A Serious Consideration?

Consider this for a moment, The very first line of the preamble of the United States Constitution says everything, WE THE PEOPLE!

We The People

We The People

The Great Seal of the United States features our nation’s symbol, The American Bald Eagle holding a banner in its beak. This is also the Presidential Seal and is prominently displayed on our U.S. currency. The banner says, e Pluribus Unum. This phrase is latin for; Out of Many, One!

The Great Seal of the United States

The Great Seal of the United States

And let’s not forget the Declaration of Independence from July 4, 1776 which in part states, “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal. That they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights. That among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”

Declaration of Independence

Declaration of Independence

Don’t worry, I am in no way trying to sway your political point of view or support for any particular political candidate for elected office. This is also not some sort of RA, RA, USA, USA, USA, patriotic, God Bless America story either. This is a story about humanity.

We The People and  e Pluribus Unum (Out of Many One) are two of the most important bedrock foundations of our Republic. In modern terms, these phrases as well as well as the preamble to the Declaration of Independence can be translated into “We Are All In This Together, and ALL OF US, Deserve, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

Think about this for a moment. These phrases have serious implications.

Our founding fathers fought for, and untold numbers died for these simple concepts. So how come we have seemingly lost our way?

In 2004, Barack Obama, a State Senator from Illinois gave the keynote address at the Democratic convention. Part of his speech included the following paragraph,

“Yet even as we speak, there are those who are preparing to divide us, the spin masters and negative ad peddlers who embrace the politics of anything goes. Well, I say to them tonight, there’s not a liberal America and a conservative America — there’s the United States of America. There’s not a black America and white America and Latino America and Asian America; there’s the United States of America. The pundits like to slice-and-dice our country into Red States and Blue States; Red States for Republicans, Blue States for Democrats. But I’ve got news for them, too. We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don’t like federal agents poking around our libraries in the Red States. We coach Little League in the Blue States and have gay friends in the Red States. There are patriots who opposed the war in Iraq and patriots who supported it. We are one people, all of us pledging allegiance to the stars and stripes, all of us defending the United States of America”.

Alright, I know some of you are thinking, “I really hate Obama” others are thinking, “I love President Obama”. So be it. However, whatever you may think of Obama, it doe’s not in any way negate the truth of these words.  If I didn’t say who actually said these words, there are few of us that would disagree with the paragraph above. Just a handful of words, but their truth is self-evident.

So, with that being said, and going back to my original premise of, “We Are All In This Together, and ALL OF US, Deserve, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

Let’s take a look at just some of the issues that have divided our country in recent times.

  • The United States Supreme Court Granting same-sex couples the right to marry. – Under the U.S. Constitution, all citizens are guaranteed “Equal Justice Under The Law” This doesn’t mean that you have to agree with anyone’s lifestyle. However, it doe’s mean that EVERYONE deserves the same equal protections and rights under the law that all of us enjoy. Besides, the world has not ended, the birds still sing, and the sun still shines. So evidently, this was not such a big deal after all.
  • The fight over allowing Transgender individuals the right to use the bathroom that matches their gender identity. All I have to say about this is, what bathroom do you think they have been using all this time, for decades? Let that sink in for a moment.
  • Demonizing one religious group over another, especially Muslims. George Washington wrote about “Arabs” serving in the Continental Army. Muslims have been part of the American fabric since the very beginning of our nation. Not to mention the fact that our founding fathers made it perfectly clear that the United States was not founded on the Christian religion or any religion. All the founding fathers guaranteed was the right to practice the religion or non-religion of your choice. Essentially, if someone practice’s a different religion from you, they have just a much a right to their belief as you do to your’s. This is well established, so get over it.
  • Demonizing one ethnic group over another. Mexicans, Hispanics, Whites, Blacks, Asians, Native Americans, and everyone else. As I said we are all in this together.Remember,  e Pluribus Unum. Undocumented Immigrants, We are not going to deport 11 million people who came here for the exact same reasons as our ancestors did. Seriously, we are not. No matter what anybody says.  All these people want is to create a better life for themselves and their families and to grab onto just a small part of the American dream.  Doe’s that sound familiar? Just look back at your own family history. I would be willing to bet that your ancestors wanted the exact same thing. Think about it.

Consider this, If we are in fact all in this together,

  • When any families or Veterans are homeless, we are all homeless, for we have failed as a society to take care of our fellow human beings and provide the basic necessity of shelter.
  • When anyone in America goes to bed hungry, we are all hungry, as we have failed to adequately feed all of us. Just think about all the food we waste as a society every day while others go to bed hungry? There is something seriously wrong with this scenario.
  • When the disabled, or mentally ill individuals suffer and are not offered the same opportunities as everyone else, we have failed as a society to provide equal opportunities for all.
  • When senior citizens have to choose between life-saving medications or eating, then we have failed all of those that came before us.
  • When poor neighborhoods and communities are not offered the same economic opportunities as wealthier neighborhoods then we are all poorer as individuals and as a nation.
  • When we do not value the rights and dreams of others, then we as a society suffer the nightmare of a selfish and uncaring society. Shame on us for not being willing to offer the same opportunities that we enjoyed to others who are less fortunate or different from ourselves.
  • When we don’t support the Basic “human right” of, healthcare for all without having to go bankrupt from exorbitant medical bills than all of us as a society are injured or diseased as fellow human beings.
  • When minority groups of Americans, e.g.- Blacks, Hispanics and the poor are unjustly persecuted and even killed by law enforcement at a rate of over three times the rate of white people for the same offenses, then as a society we are all persecuted. Not only that, we are willing accomplishes to this very same injustice.

As I stated right from the start, this is a story about humanity. I fully understand that in American politics, people often vote against their own interests. I personally don’t understand this way of thinking, but I do know it actually happens. As a society, maybe we are asking ourselves the wrong questions, so in turn, we are receiving the wrong answers.

All I am saying is maybe all of us need to look deep into ourselves and look at ourselves and as a nation and consider that as a society that sometimes the needs of the few outweigh the needs of the many.

With any political or personal decision we make in life, maybe we should try to imagine what’s it like to walk a mile in another’s shoes. If we did, we may find that our personal bias and prejudices are blinding us to the needs of the rest of humanity.

Remember, “We Are All In This Together, and ALL OF US, Deserve, Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness”.

Love, Understanding, Compassion, and Empathy, towards one another, are not just lofty words. These words, no, not just words, THESE ACTIONS, are the very essence, and foundations of humanity.

Think about it.

As Always,

I Am…

Tom Dye, The Safety Guy