Finding a Solution to Our Differences

My friend Roland Lazenby posted a piece from Daily Kos that I just caught up with, having to do with the GOP's attitude that the poor are that way because they choose to be. As Rush Limbaugh would say, "Screw 'em."

That's a sick, narrow, troubled view from a party that reflects its own illness daily. I'm traveling through several countries that seem to have solved that kind of unhealthy attitude. Europe has its problems, but I haven't detected the kind of hatred for the poor mentality some have in the U.S. Despots have used that type of ignorance to their advantage through the ages, solidifying the rich, repressing everybody else and having those in the middle blame those at the bottom for their lack of progress.

I am especially impressed these days with the way the Netherlands works. Northern Europe is mostly socialist and on the surface it is expensive. But those countries traditionally rank with the Top 5 happiest people in the world. They are safe, secure and content and their governments work their butts off to ensure that state exists. I'm not sure how expensive safety and security should be, but my guess is you can't put a price on it ... though the GOP would certainly try.

Our government's primary purpose of late seems to be splitting us into ever widening factions--guns, abortion, health care for all, healthy food, smoking, dirty energy, living big, and the like. We hate each other because of beliefs, rather than searching for ways we can make those beliefs work together.

I am basically opposed to both abortion and a population out of control. I accept abortion because, first, it is not my right to take away a woman's choice, and second because our population is out of control--it is the world's No. 1 problem. All other problems stem from population. I believe I can talk to those who oppose and those who support abortion, but the response I get will not always be thoughtful and understanding, one willing to consider options.

And that's simply too bad. I have no solution to our differences. But our Northern European brothers and sisters seem to have found one.