Saturday, September 12, 2009
In the "Melting Pot" - Thoughts of an Immigrant
America, America
No longer dominated by whites, our country is truly becoming a melting pot to the dismay of some politicians and groups of conservatives who resent the eroding of their power. And that is good.
As I begin my 41st year in America, I rejoice that those who claim that America is a Judeo-Christian nation are going to be a spent force. I hope for a truly Jeffersonian America in which the wall between church and state will remain inviolate.
There is much to celebrate. The victory of Barack Obama was a clear sign of the sea changes taking place. Paraphrasing an ad for cigarettes "We have come a long way". According to signs (my personal interpretation) President Obama's administration would not be vastly different from others before him but that is how our political system works.....far from an ideal good government. The government that President Lincoln envisaged in his Gettysburg Address:".......and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth." never took shape, and remains unattainable.
Government and politicians aside, it is a great country. The diversity, the incredible energy, the natural splendor are overwhelming. Not always proud of it but I love my adopted country. As the NY Times blogger Maira Kalman wrote "Happy to be here". I am, I certainly am.
