Whenever I hear Red Meat Conservatives chanting, “WE WANT OUR COUNTRY BACK!!,” I’m always tempted to ask who took it in the first place. How did it happen that you let it slip from your grasp? And how do you know it’s yours? Can you prove it? Do you hold the the title? Did your flavor of God grant you ownership? What about other groups who claim this country as their own? Are their claims somehow invalid or less virtuous than yours?
The idea that someone or something has “taken” OUR country is, of course, is about as arrogant, ignorant, and silly as it gets. No one has taken anyone’s country…because America doesn’t “belong” to any one group or demographic. Conservative White Christians claim ownership of America as their birthright, though they have no legal or moral justification for doing so. America belongs no more to them than it does to atheists, Liberals, gays, Hindus, carpenters, Packers fans, or any other demographic, religion, or special interest group. We’re all Americans and equally entitled to stake our claim in this country we call home. Anyone who claims to “own” America is implying that they wish to exclude others from the rights and benefits they take as their birthright.
When someone screams about wanting their country back, we should be asking what it is that allows them to believe America belongs to them. Why do Conservative White Christians, who fear and loathe virtually every demographic that doesn’t look, act, live, love, or believe as they do, presume to claim ownership of America? Is it that because they call themselves Christians they believe America is by rights their property and playground? Do they not recognize that America is home to more than just Conservative White Christians like themselves? Do they somehow not understand that America isn’t in fact a Christian nation, but rather a secular nation with a significant Christian majority??
Or do they simply refuse to recognize the validity of belief systems and viewpoints other than their own?
As if I need to answer that….
