Let's not hate!

I've always liked Glenn Beck, ever since I first saw him. He makes me laugh, he is real and he says it like it is, no apologies, no bull. You may disagree with him, but you'll always know where he stands. I like that. It is refreshing. Apparently, he was accosted in a Wendy's line trying to buy a frosty. This is just wrong. Of course, the man in the line has a right to his opinion and to even express his displeasure to Glenn, it is still a free country, isn't it? But geez, Glenn is just trying to buy a frosty for goodness sake, leave him alone. Regardless, assuming he is earnest in his description of the event, this shows some true hatred from the left toward the right. Why is that really? Okay, disagree on policies and principles, but hatred? I'm sure Glenn is right that there is enough hatred to go around on both sides, but only someone who doesn't actually listen to Glenn Beck would actually call him a racist, oh, or someone who is trying to convince us they are right by intentionally misleading us on what he actually said (Keith Olberman on Glenn Beck anyone?). At any rate, I think we can be thoughtful in dealing with people without having to compromise our beliefs. We used to pay lip service to being kind to one another, living the golden rule and trying to get along. We know longer seem to care to do this. What's changed? Caring about people requires something this country is fast forgetting. Truly caring for others, rather than doing so because it is somehow in our own best interests is not something the majority of the population is capable of. Left to our own devices, we WILL be selfish. You need God, or a least some sort of moral standard, in order to live a "good" life, because without it, how does one define good. This is what is missing in our society and this is what is changed. You'll constantly hear those of us who believe in freedom be accused of all sorts of things like racism, bigotry, intolerance, hatred. None of these things are true, at least not for me, but I've been accused of them anyway, by people who believe in equality. Having equality under the law is a great goal (we don't have it in this country, minorities have greater protections) and I'd argue in favor of it, but I do not argue in favor of equality, so I'm branded something I'm not. These accusations do show us one thing, if we are bothering to pay attention. They show that those who claim to be tolerant only practice that tolerance with people they agree with or people they perceive as having been mistreated somehow. Ask them to care about freedom though and they'll pay lip service to it because they don't even know what it means. Finally, I love to talk politics or religion, or anything that causes disagreement and controversy. Why? Because that's where the interesting stuff is. I've even been known to espouse an opposing position with someone I actually agree with just to have a more interesting conversation. I can talk about the weather all day, but nobody would be interested and I'd even bore myself. However, these two topics are now entirely off limits. Why would we, as a people, choose to make the two most important topics in our life off limits to general conversation? Surely this isn't an attempt to stifle freedom of speech, is it? I'm not sure, ask the thought police or the politically correct party in this country to answer that for you. It doesn't matter one way or the other. No topic of conversation should be off limits, because whether it is intended to stifle freedom of speech, that is exactly what you achieve. I will not stand by and say nothing while my country walks down a path that leads it to destruction. I will speak out. I will not be one of those people who quietly sat around in Germany while atrocities were being carried out. However, we can disagree with others, but we MUST always remember to show God's charity and love. They will call us names and they will hate us, but we must stay firm and we must be able to express ourselves without using the same hateful tactics of name calling since those tactics are designed to shut people up, not engage them. In addition, when confronted with unreasonableness, as Glenn was here, we can simply act as he did and say absolutely nothing. Let the person rant and rave. Maybe they'll feel better in the end. It achieves nothing to engage with a person like this because they'll probably just end up hitting you. So, again, why is all this happening? You could argue it is our insisting on political associations which Washington warned us about or that people prefer to be led around like lemmings rather than have thoughts of their own or that this is just human nature in some way. The real answer to all of this is actually very simple. We are fast leaving behind the cherished concepts of our founding fathers that established us as a free country and sliding down the hill right toward becoming a society of "equals" instead. I say, thanks but no thanks, the Soviet Union tried this approach already, did we learn nothing?