Wake up and Get Real

What a difference a week makes, sunny and warm, Spring has sprung. And with it renewal is in the air, a sense that we Tennesseans are ready to solve our problems and move forward into a great future. But when I make the mistake of turning on the TV, I see another story playing out. These news stories sound like more than a few “bad apples” to me. In the last week, epithets have been hurled, windows have been smashed, cars have been crashed, and now, violent criminals have been arrested and charged with sedition and plotting to use weapons of mass-destruction. Are they illegal aliens, brown skinned terrorists coming from foreign lands to blow us up because they hate our freedom? No. They are born and bred Americans, pale skin, calling themselves Christians, determined to murder law enforcement officers and blow up the funeral’s mourners.

We need to wake up and get real.

We have traditions in this land of ours. Values I call them. They come from our common interests, embodied by the words of our founders. You know them. Say the Pledge of Allegiance to yourself: "...with liberty and justice for all."
Our Declaration of Independence rings true in our minds:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed”

But these are not easy values to hold. What happens when people find the easy way more palatable? The way of hate, fear, and unrestrained anger lights the way to violence. These are not America’s values. These are not Tennessee’s values. If you are old enough, you remember for yourself (or if not, I hope you have been taught your history) that we have been through the days of mobs, screaming and spitting, and hurling much more than epithets. They are not days to harken back to in fond memories. We must wake up. We must get real.

Tennesseans work hard every day, all over our communities to heal the old divisions. Build secure, safe homes for ourselves and our loved ones. It is purely nonsense for our politicians, our representatives, and our community leaders to raise the specter of violence in our streets, threaten each other with broken windows, “targets” on our peoples backs, and drunkards careening cars into bumper stickers. What broken promises are we forcing our children to live with? That they will bear the debt of health care reform? Unconscionable lies! Our children already bear the debt, not of future good health, but the debt of unfunded tax cuts for the wealthy to splurge and unpaid for wars for the sons of the common man to fight.

We Tennesseans will not sleep through the challenges that rise in front of us. Instead we will proudly claim the best of our history: the civility, the Southern hospitality, the manners and honor of our land. We will heal the worst of our past: with fairness, with justice for all. We will take pride when we no longer fear our neighbors, but instead sit down with strangers to break bread and go home as friends. We will move with determination into a future of exceptional security, freedom, and prosperity. Get real and join us.