What else do I believe?

First and foremost, I’m an American.  I believe in this country and what it’s supposed to stand for – liberty and justice for all.  And I don’t like it when people try to write exceptions into the word “all”.  We don’t turn our backs on homeless, or queer, or foreign-born, or religions we don’t understand, or disabled, or any other lines someone wants to draw between us.

 

I’m not too fond of the rhetoric coming out of Washington these days.  Everyone wants to build higher walls, not longer tables.

 

I was born and spent most of my life in Kansas.  For me, Kansas was always a safe place to come back to after spending half a year in India, a couple months in Guatemala, or that year I lived in an apartment in Missouri.  I don’t see any reason why it’s only me that Kansas should be safe for.

 

Back in 1776, the Continental Congress wrote pretty clearly that they believed we are all created equal, and endowed by our Creator with certain inalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  Ever since then, people have been trying to make unscrupulous excuses for not listening to the “all” in all created equal.

 

The Great American Experiment had as an underlying principle that we are all equal.  Not “Just Protestants are equal”.  Not “You’re only equal if you’re of Anglo-British heritage”.  None of that.  We were always meant to be a diverse country.  Our diversity is our strength, and that’s by design.  And I’m getting tired of people pushing their “conditional equality” agendas.  It’s un-American.