Two Americas

In 2004 John Edwards talked about two America's. He of course meant that one of them was victimized, and being held hostage by the other. His prescription was big Government and more help from the Democrats.

I have recently become convinced of at least two Americas. The difference between me and Former Senator Edwards is that I don't begin to have the answer.

Go into any inner city and see the 'other' America. People who through their circumstances have lost all hope, and belief in what is good and right. No hope of realizing what we know as the American Dream. When I refer to the American Dream I am not referring to material goods, although at some point it is part of it. No I am referring to the freedom to go in a direction of their choice.

At age 31 I made a drastic change. I changed careers. I felt like I would be better served in another walk of life. I was able to make that choice. The people in the other America don't have that choice. Make no mistake there have always been the poor, and I suspect there will always be the poor. These people are different. They have given up all hope of a decent life. It's almost as if they are invisible. We drive past them, and sometimes feel pity, sometimes give them a buck.

When hope leaves other things take the place. For some it is drugs, for some alcohol, for some it is just nothingness.

Next week we have an election. It is an important election. For an increasing amount of people they don't know it. They don't care. They can't name the Secretary of State, cite what the Preamble of the Constitution says, or tell you the score of the last World Series game.

How did they get here, and for that matter how did we get here? I have some ideas. It is not politics, and neither political party can fix it. Around 35 years ago a set of ideologies came to into play. Dedicated people who believe in a utopian world started to spread their beliefs. People who believed that there is no moral and immoral. No reason for winners and losers. They took the idea of an equal society to a new level. They convinced politicians to put in policies that they believed would implement their utopian society, or at least the start of it. Both parties subscribed to it. I believe in my soul that they believed it would help.

Along the way families were replaced by checks. The guidance of fathers and mothers was replaced by vouchers. Two generations later we have people who cannot take care of themselves, they just don't know how. They didn't finish school, they never found a passion in life. People with good intentions helped to take that away.

This is an area of my society I believe strongly about. I don't have the answers. I know that only these people can turn it around. Politicians cannot. They have done enough. Charity organizations try their best. They can make it easier for these people to put aside the horrors, but only they can truly put it away.

My prayer is that we can all find a way to help in our own way. It may be money, it may be time, it may just be prayers. I believe in my heart that a loving God can make it happen, but only through us. I am confident it will not happen through government action.