[__ Praise __] i love America

[Christ_empowered]

its kind of embarrassing, to think that I posted things that were nearly marxist, possibly anti-American. look...

part of God's work in my life has been to make me far less angry, bitter, etc., and also come to realize: He has me -here- , Bible Belt, USA...for His reasons. And I'm blessed.

No nation is perfect. I don't know if I believe that the US is really somehow a different sort of nation, or if we happen to be the world leader right now and...yeah, I dunno. No nation has a spotless history, no nation has solved 110% of all the social problems, and...that won't happen, this side of eternity.

A friend/friendly acquaintance lives in the UK, with her small child and her husband. OK. The UK right now has less violence than the US, they have more social programs (austerity measures have shredded some of those, but...they're still ahead of the US...) and...

a lot of workers have more rights, sounds almost like a utopia, right? nah, not so much. Just as in the US, there are -haves- and -have nots- , and they rip the have nots to shreds, sometimes...

even as they're still maintained in state-subsidized poverty. i don't get it. oh, and everything is more $$$...the mortgage, the food, the clothes, transportation, everything. not that having access to relatively low(er) priced items is the end goal of civilization, but...wow...they're "doing well" for people of their age and station in the UK, but they'd probably have more stuff, etc. here in the US, and...

-sigh- another acquaintance is from The Netherlands, and...wow. they're so 'progressive,' euthanasia is rapidly gaining in popularity. so, while we're dealing with shootings here in the US, rising suicide rates, drug-related deaths...

well, The Netherlands -has- universal health care...and now the medical establishment can decide when its time to quit using state resources on you, apparently. fun. :-(

but its not just about "well, hey...at least that's not happening here...," its also about...

if -I- lived in most other nations, I'd be in a long term mental hospital. maybe a 'progressive' one...art therapy, maybe a pool or something...but, yeah; that'd be my life. actually, even in the US, in some more 'progressive' areas, I'd either be in a hospital or at least under some -intense- state-sponsored psychiatric surveillance. And so...

well, I live in The Bible Belt. I kinda sorta see God's wisdom, God's hand, at work in my life. No state hospital, only been in hospitals 2x...I'm not even on any kind of involuntary or "intensive" treatment, etc. ideal? i dunno. I'm -not- dangerous or out of control, so it works for me and my family, thank goodness. People are -really- hard on poor people in the south, but now I don't live in real poverty and my parents have been blessed with high enough status that...

I've been invalidated, I think I'm just...not an actual entity, socially. maybe its better this way?

but back to America. for all the flaws and problems, I think with some progressive politicians in charge, some tweaks here and there...

we could have a whole new Golden Age of The USA, I really do. tax reform, prison reform, improve access to health care, a war on poverty not on the poor...

yup. i do love my nation, now, by God's grace.

 

[Bull of the Woods]

The thing I see is you working through how you feel, and how, perhaps, you should feel about the country you live in.
A country is a big complex entity. Especially one with a diverse population such as the USA has.
So it’s not easy to say it is this way or that way. And while we have ideals like “all men are created equal” we have done a poor job of acting on that ideal, or truly taking hold of it.

 

[Michael74]

May the Lord bless the USA.

The Father's will be done in the USA.

 

[Christ_empowered]

true, that. its also...having experienced the punitive side of American culture, now I'm experiencing the nicer side of it I guess....

-sigh- poverty generally=oppression, wherever one goes. I think as developed, affluent nations go, its worse in the US than in say...The Netherlands, Germany, but even there...austerity measures and such have seen a growth in homeless populations, use of jail and prisons, etc. so, I dunno.

Besides...a lot of the problems that the US has (and shares with many comparably developed nations) have more to do with capitalism than anything else. Not that capitalism is bad, just...no worldly system is going to deliver 100% amazing results for people. I personally think that when inequality and poverty are out of control, then there's a real threat to democracy...

which is why I'm all about progressive policies. but that's me. anyway...

like I keep writing, I don't live in -real poverty- now or even on the edge of it. not that i'm 'too good' for such, just...its not how God has worked things out, in my case, and I'm thankful. thing is...

I thought, OK...now I have this (modest, but nice) place, I'm healthy, I keep to myself, I even have plants!, people will leave me alone...

but, no. power, control, labels, stigma...but in many 'progressive' nations, even so-called 'progressive' states in the US, I'd be in the state hospital...

more because my freedom, my modest level of comfort, my...me, basically, because I rub people the wrong way, and that's one thing state mental hospitals -were- used for, putting away the stigmatized and/or poor and/or people who were just...the communities were just 'done with them,' that's it.

so, in the US...at least, this little section of the US...I can have a place and lock my doors and brew good coffee and water my houseplants, and...

it is where I am, now, 7 years into my Walk with Christ. as for the US, as a whole...

? so much low-grade hostility and aggression, all the time, everywhere...its sort of...the war of all, against all. not good. :-(