Respect

How do we solve America's problems? It all starts with 1 word. Respect.  Nothing will change until we learn to respect ourselves and others.
People do not respect themselves. If you do,  you will behave sensibly, Work to improve your life. Get yourself in good physical shape. You don't have to be a gym rat or a vegan. You don't have to shovel down vitamins by the handful or totally abstain from alcohol. Just use some sense. Stay active, physically and mentally. If you are misbehaving, you know it and the only real way to stop, is to stop. Folks can and will help you, but you must do the stopping yourself.
Respect others by looking at them and looking at yourself. Then,  compare the two. What you see in the other person, will be  a reflection of your own behavior. I know no  saints. I certainly do not qualify. Who are you to judge? Criminal behavior must be stopped, but you do not then throw the criminal on the trash pile. They are still human and they can still change, just like you. True psychopaths, despite what you might believe if you watch Law and Order, are very rare.
Men, respect women. They are not your play toys. Women, respect men. Do not immediately assume that any man who flirts with you is a mad rapist. Most men just have trouble understanding women and most women don't really understand men. The fun part of the game is figuring each other out, so stop being so touchy. At the same time, don't take real abuse, not for 1 minute.
Labels. liberal, conservative, left, right, Christian, Jew, Moslem, even young and old, are just labels and can never describe the whole person. They can, howevr, be used by advertisers, politcians and the media  to manipulate the public  and they do so very effectuvely. Recognize thus and stop paying attention to this dangerous nonsense.
When facing disagreement, discuss the issue using reason and fact and listen to the other side. Almost always they have valid points. Then, be ready, in most cases, to comptomise. The middle ground is usually where the best solution kies.
Respect is the first step towaed solving our priblems. Either that, or we keep on without accomplishing anything.

When Did We All Become Enemies

I truly believe that the USA has not been this divided since the Civil War. It is quite extraordinary. I lived through the 60s and, yes, that was bad, but the real hardcore hatred was actually quite limited, confined to a small group of radical leftists and a few extreme right wingers. Folks squabbled over the war, the sexual revolution. civil rights and drugs, but, mostly, there was at least a sense that we were all Americans. Most people condemned extremism of all sorts and, after much angst  things settled down  in a sort of middle ground. The whole thing was a kind of family quarrel, albeit a nasty one.
Now, well, it is much different. I have never seen such venom.  Congressional leaders have no intention of compromising on anything. Insults have replaced dialogue, on all sides, although the Democrats are the most guilty by far.
The non religious now openly mock believers and believers seem determined to take full control of the Nation as part of some fear reaction. The Churches are scared of scientific thought and scientists seem ready to push the left into complete acceptance of their world view, which seems to be a weird kind if neo-pagan secularism. What they plan fir those who don't accept their every word is not pleasant to contemplate. No one seems interested in the simple fact that throughout history, science and spirituality walked hand in hand.
Women seem to have come to think of men as their enemy and men seem to not really have a clue what is going on. Just wait. Such tension will nit end well.
Kids, left alone with huge amounts of electronics have decided that picking on kids they dislike is a fine pastime and have done much damage. In the recent past, psychologists noted that kids who pick on and torment animals tend to grow up to be at least a bit psychopathic. Spending the days of your youth tormenting your peers cannot be good, but there it is.
We no longer talk, we scream, we argue and we mindlessly complain. The  left, mostly confined to the West Coast and the NE, by all standards think of the rest of America as a bunch of simple minded bigots and those folks are sorely fed up by that condescending attitude.
I have no idea how this will turn out, but I do know that it cannot go on much  Either we learn to talk, reason and show respect to those we disagree with, or it will end badly.

A Return to the Rational

There has been a continuing effort in this Nation to leave the rational behind. You see it in the entertainment industry which has long been the propaganda arm of those who want to  control America and end freedom. Concerts, award shows and businesses now sport logos that would have been familiar to Medieval alchemists and ancient religions. The goal seems to be a return to ancient paganism and the mindless are caught up in thoughts of magic and powers. This content spills ove r into movie and TV content.
Harmless and gaudy fun? No, not really. The symbols flashed around are representative of a dark world. Read history. The ancient world of the old gods and goddesses was a horribly violent and bloody place, an irrational world where people spent time and lives trying to appease and manipulate the spirits. It did not work. Disease and famine mixed with bloody senseless battles to make a fairly hellish world.
The symbols being shown in these modern times have power. Images of Santa and the Easter Bunny bring smiles and the flag evokes pride. Dark symbols of ancient spirits that would scare the hell out of Cthulu evoke darkness. Are those spirits real? It almost doesn't matter. They get in the mind and spread like  a virus. especially on any with mental issues. Don't believe me? Look at the incredible rise in mass murders and human trafficking
Slowly, this changed. The Greeks, Romans and Early Church began to notice the patterns of Nature and began to understand that God had created a World that ran by rational laws. We still do not really understand all of those laws, but we make progress and now live in a World that has less disease, less hunger and far more comfort and security than at any time in the past. We are the product of the judeo Christuan ethical system, that is true, but we are also the product of Greco-Roman logic and the Age of Enlightenment, The Age of Reason, and a return to Darkness would be insane. The Greeks, Romans and Jews loathed witchcraft and sorcery with good reasin. Americans, think,