A. \u201cFreedom is secured every day by our men and women in uniform. We must build a future worthy of their sacrifice.\u201d<\/p>\n
B. \u201cNo dream is too big, no challenge is too great. Nothing we want for our future is beyond our reach.\u201d<\/p>\n
C. \u201cFacts are stupid things.\u201d<\/p>\n
D. \u201cI\u2019ve now been in 57 states, one left to go.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
- \n
- President Obama<\/li>\n
- President Reagan<\/li>\n
- Nancy Pelosi<\/li>\n
- President Trump<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
Read on to see how you did.<\/p>\n
Over time, our society has grown in to this dark, blinded place where we accept anything and everything that is delivered by our \u201cteam\u201d, no matter if it\u2019s factual or not. We just accept it. We gravitate towards the emotion of anger and betrayal long before the emotion of love and understanding. We, somehow, completely forget that we\u2019re Americans first. We forget about that inherent good nature of our fellow Americans. This is partly due to the media only showing us the extreme situations\u2026 because it\u2019s news. Good people acting normal and having civil discussions are simply not news stories. So we\u2019re never going to see that in the news.<\/p>\n
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The recent story of the catholic school boys and the Native American is a perfect example. The first story that hits is that the boys are taunting and antagonizing the Indian gentleman, Nathan Stanard-also known as Phillips (I choose to call him by the name he used to enlist in to the military). Everyone on the elephant team says, \u201che did nothing wrong!\u201d Everyone on the donkey team says \u201cpunch the smirk off his face!\u201d One story, from one camera and one very unreliable news source comes out. No one knows the facts yet, but their team is under attack. Then the facts come out. Turns out, Mr. Stanard was first attempting to get between the Black Hebrew Israelites and the boys. He then began walking towards the kids and began beating the drum in the face of one of the boys. When that particular boy wouldn\u2019t move out of the way of Mr. Stanard, the incident took form. We now know that there were no ill words spoken by any of the boys. None spoken by Mr. Stanard either. Only the foul language and hate-filled words by the BHI, who appeared nowhere in the first version of the story. We also now know that Mr. Stanard was NOT a Vietnam War veteran as was originally claimed. So now with all the facts, we should be able to properly assess what went right and what went wrong. But there\u2019s two huge problems.<\/p>\nThe first problem is that we ran to judgment in the first place without researching facts. That\u2019s the biggest problem we face as a nation. Delivering opinions soaked in vitriol without even knowing what the facts are. Someone attacked our team so we must defend. Our team leader said our bunker and even our name was under attack. So let\u2019s attack back before they get too loud. We\u2019ve subscribed to the notion that our team is right, regardless of the facts. That\u2019s a GINORMOUS problem!<\/p>\n
The second problem could be viewed as worse. After the facts come out, we either ignore them or we\u2019re so angry from what we first believed that we continue to spew hate towards \u201cthe other team\u201d anyway. Facts are just that. Facts. They don\u2019t have emotions tied to them. Ben Shapiro says \u201cfacts don\u2019t care about your feelings.\u201d And he\u2019s right. We cannot simply ignore the facts in order to justify our feelings about something. This is a problem on BOTH sides. Neither is better than the other.<\/p>\n
As a self-proclaimed Republicratitarian (yes that\u2019s a combination of 3 political parties), I\u2019m urging you towards a revolution. One that requires you to be honest with the facts. If you are typically conservative, then don\u2019t give Trump a pass when he says stupid things just because he represents your team. Don\u2019t give conservative leaders and commentaries a free pass when they are wrong. If they are wrong, then they should be called wrong. If you are typically liberal, then call the liberal leaders out when they are wrong. Don\u2019t give Maxine Waters a free pass when she\u2019s clearly inciting violence. My request is that we stop blindly following a \u201cteam\u201d and start looking at our fellow Americans as Americans and not just on a \u201cteam\u201d. Start calling foolish rhetoric foolish, regardless of which team it came from.<\/p>\n
One thing I\u2019ve learned about all of this over time is that, if we really step back and look, we all want the same thing. We simply have different fundamental ideas of how to get there. Some think the government is the answer, some don\u2019t. Some think all religions should be allowed. Some think none should be allowed. Some believe more laws are the answer to certain problems, some don\u2019t. But what we all want is usually fundamentally the same. A thriving, peaceful country where people take care of each other and flourish in a healthy economy. No one would argue that. But we seem to argue how to get there as if someone slapped our child in the face. It\u2019s just policies. Some work. Some don\u2019t. It\u2019s ok to disagree. Recently a coach told me what he saw in a play and I told him I disagreed. He said, \u201cThen you and I can agree to disagree.\u201d I responded, \u201cThat\u2019s why I have so much respect for you. Because of that statement.\u201d It\u2019s possible to get back to that, but it\u2019s going to take work\u2026 starting with the man in the mirror. What would that look like\u2026?<\/p>\n
Remember the day after 9\/11? Remember how there were no Republicans, Democrats, LGBTQ, Pretty people, ugly people, rich people, poor people\u2026NONE of that existed on 911. We were defined by one thing that day. We were ALL AMERICANS. Nothing more and definitely nothing less. On 9\/12\/01, the entire country came together. People were hugging strangers at random. There were virtually no fights on subways. Random acts of kindness were rampant that day. Churches that Sunday were overfilled everywhere. No one cared who won in football. The only thing that mattered was that we were Americans and that we were not going to let this tear us down as a nation. We were going to stand together no matter which \u201cteam\u201d you were on. We were Americans and Americans don\u2019t back down.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m fully convinced that if you knew how little your \u201cteam leaders\u201d thought about your actual well-being, you\u2019d be less inclined to just follow what they say and defend them without facts. Leave your current team and go home, look at your family and choose to protect and love the only team that matters.<\/p>\n
A. 3<\/p>\n
B. 4<\/p>\n
C. 2<\/p>\n
D. 1<\/p>\n
How did your “team” do? Two of those leaders are known as eloquent speakers (Obama and Reagan) and two are known for bizarre rhetoric (Pelosi and Trump). You just never know.<\/p>\n
Stay Classy GP!<\/p>\n
Grainger<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
9\/12\/01\u2026 The day Tribalism didn\u2019t exist I grew up an LSU fan and a N.O. Saints fan. They were my teams. Even when the Saints were bad, they were my team. I pulled for them when they were bad, terrible, when players got in trouble. It didn\u2019t matter. I pulled for them every Sunday. When … <\/p>\n