Shiny keys

                I was lucky enough to have been born in this country. I am thankful for it. I am not proud of it. Why should I be? My citizenship required nothing on my part. I did nothing to earn it. It says nothing of who I am or what I have accomplished. This does not mean that I am ashamed to be an American (though I am occasionally embarrassed by the behavior of my brethren). I worry that if we too easily receive self-worth for what we are, we will more easily disregard the need to improve who we are.
                Many members of our government would rather that we take the position of, "Hey, man. My ancestors killed a lot of unarmed Native American women and children to steal this land, and we don't want you weirdos mooching off us by coming over here and working really hard just because a three-hundred-foot statue told you you could."

                Why do governments so desperately divide us? More importantly, why do we so readily allow them to define our enemies and allies? Centuries ago, our government convinced us that black and white people shouldn’t get along. Before that, they convinced us that the Jews and the Irish could not be counted on for a full day’s worth of work, and therefore should not be hired. Today, half the government tells half the people that they must fear homosexuals, while the other half tells the remainder of its people that they must resist the xenophiles. We are taught to fear Mexicans or fight with those who do fear them. The same lectures are given today in regard to Muslims.

                Our government has a good reason for doing this. Our politicians can get away with greater crimes and higher levels of incompetence so long as the masses are too busy quarreling to pay attention. The events that led to our very independence from Britain proved what can happen to a tyrannical government in the face of a united populace. So our legislators point fingers at homosexuals, Mexicans, Muslims, African-Americans, and feminists. The republicans point at the democrats. The democrats point at the republicans. They point everywhere save at themselves.

The greatest criminals in this country—wealthy, white men sitting in office—steal, lie, and accept bribes, all while siting the poor (especially minority groups) as our criminal element, disregarding the fact that the desperate situations possessed by the poor are usually the results of our government’s miscalculations and selfish policies.

Our politicians call Muslims the greatest threat to American lives, yet more American blood drips from our legislators' fingers than those of any other terrorist group. One might argue that the fingers of Muslim extremists would prove bloodier if not for the “protective policies” our government puts in practice. However, I argue that these groups would not target us in the first place, if not for those practices (granted, this invites a chicken-versus-the-egg agreement). In truth, the American government does not protect Americans from terrorists. America’s soldiers protect their government from the terrorists that the latter creates.

As long as we allow our government to pick our enemies for us, our government will always find someone with whom we should feel terror. So long as we remain The Divided States of America, we are as easy to manipulate as an otherwise unbreakable barrier blown to pebbles. Why else does our government operate as two opposing forces, democrat and republican? Why else does the subject of abortion—one that will clearly never resolve to everyone’s satisfaction—always surface in our capital? If you wish to distract your parents from your lousy report card, what better way than to remind Mom of Dad’s previous affair? Or to tell Dad that Mom just lost five hundred dollars in Vegas?

Drew is an American. Drew didn’t come to this country, learn a new language, or take an exam for citizenship. Drew was born here. Drew is proud of this. Drew thinks he accomplished something, but other than out-swimming a million potential brothers and sisters, he did not, at least not in regard to his birth or where it took place.

Drew looks down his nose at those who were not born here, such as Juan. Juan’s great-great-great grandfather lived here long before Drew’s family ever knew that America existed. The Spanish taught Juan’s great-great grandfather to speak Spanish and worship Jesus. The Spanish accomplished this through force. For decades afterwards, the land that would eventually be The United States of America changed from one white hand to the next. Southward, the Europeans pushed the tribes living in what is now Texas and New Mexico, into the desert nobody wanted.

                Today, Juan’s family is hungry. Juan can feed them if he jumps a fence and works very hard. He will work far more hours than the average American, and he will make far less than the average American. He will afterward make the journey home, leaving a world where the poor live like kings. He will return to Mexico with enough money to feed his family, but he will have nothing for tomorrow. Tonight, Juan can have hope or realism.

                Drew hates Juan. Drew fears that Juan will steal his job, yet at the same time, Drew believes that Juan is unqualified to perform it and unlikely to receive an offer to take it. Drew wants Juan to stay out of “his” country, a country that has one of the lowest population densities in the world. On television, the talking heads refer to Juan’s journey as an “invasion.”