America: Land of the Lost

This year is supposed to be the first one that I can vote, but things aren’t looking so good. We have Donald Trump and we have Hillary Clinton. From looking at both of their policies, they are not good candidates at all in my honest opinion. For the past few years, I haven’t really agreed with the two party system anyway. I am looking for a third party politician, specifically one who advocates libertarian values. Gary Johnson was looking alright until I heard his views on discrimination laws and illegal immigration. I didn’t have too much high hopes for him to be honest though. What’s really crazy is that people are supporting their candidates not because of what their policies are, but just for the fact they dislike the opposite person. You have people who support Hilary Clinton mainly because they’re scared of Trump. They see how offensive he can be and want no parts of that. There are people who support Trump because they fear Hilary being in office. Both groups can’t give you a clear explanation on why they endorse them. It’s all based on fear for the most part and that’s sad. Before I reached the age to vote, it was about choosing a politician who had the best policies. Things have taken a drastic turn over the past year. This hurts all people, but it definitely has a huge impact on minorities. Us minorities need to get knowledge on how politics work and the different political philosophies. When we do this, things will progress for us. We really only vote Democrat because society views conservatives/Republicans as the only racist party when it’s on both sides. The Democrats are the most racist if you want to be real. Folks don’t think this because they present themselves as good people. They’re the ones who created the welfare state and all of that. They think that we can’t solve problems on our own. If that isn’t racist, then I don’t know what is.

Hillary Clinton has always made desperate attempts to pander to minorities, but the ones of recent are just flat out hilarious. Now, she’s been talking about a group online called the Alt-Right and how they are this evil white supremacist group that minorities need to be aware of. I did some research on this group and from what I concluded, there are supremacists in the group. However, a lot of them promote white nationalism more than they promote white supremacy. They have the freedom to promote the ideas they want to. Race based nationalism isn’t negative by itself. It becomes that way if you are bashing other races in the process. As a young black man, I am not offended. As a libertarian, I really support freedom of speech. There is speech I don’t agree with, but I will not go out of my way to censor it. A lot of my heroes are black nationalists, especially folks like Marcus Garvey. If black nationalism can be accepted, then it should be the same for other races. Just don’t go around hating other people. It’s that simple. With all the issues minorities deal with, the Alt-Right is hardly one of them. They’re an online group that can easily be avoided.

Controversy stirred up when Colin Kaepernick decided to protest the National Anthem a few weeks ago. There has been mixed reactions to this. What do I think of it? The man has a point, but with the influence he has, he must play a role in improving race relations. Otherwise, what he said just feels empty. As far as the negative reactions, it is alright to disagree with him, but calling for censorship or death isn’t a good move. It is Colin’s first amendment right to do what he did. Colin isn’t the first athlete to protest something. Jackie Robinson and Muhammad Ali are two famous examples of this. This type of thing won’t go away soon. As a matter of fact, Colin’s protest has spread to other teams in the NFL. What I find funny though is that the media doesn’t show the other half of the clip where Colin criticizes Hilary Clinton. I guess they didn’t show it because at this point, a lot of the news channels endorse Hilary. They are close minded to other view points. Another thing funny is that the people calling for censorship act like they speak for military veterans. For one, he didn’t disrespect the military. Second of all,there are veterans that have supported his protest. The third point? America doesn’t really care about them like they claim. Otherwise, you wouldn’t see a lot of veterans homeless or suffering from PTSD.

I am for social justice, but the way some people my age are advocating for it actually makes things worse. There’s a difference between calling out bigotry and getting offended over dissenting opinions. Just because someone’s opinion doesn’t fit your worldview, it doesn’t automatically equal hatred. Stop basing everything on emotionalism. Emotionalism definitely prevents good dialogue from happening. There are people out there who think that you are oppressive just for being white, heterosexual, or male. It’s ironic when people do that because they are the main ones criticizing Christianity (which does need constructive criticism). Christianity teaches that you are born in sin. The regressive left teaches you that you are born an oppressor because of the identities I just named. You can’t spout nonsense like that and wonder why some people are afraid to talk about certain social issues. They’re afraid to voice their opinion because someone will use how they are born against them. If you want an issue to be discussed, we must listen to what everyone has to say. Every single person isn’t “woke” like you are. At one point in time, you weren’t either. Yelling buzzwords won’t change someone’s mindset about a social issue.