Dear Editor,
Galileo claimed the earth was round, and orbited the Sun. For his scientific observations, Galileo was persecuted, ridiculed and punished with virtual house arrest by “conservatives” of his time who could not tolerate new ideas or change.
When Henry Ford came up with the idea of mass producing automobiles, his contemporaries…“conservatives”…thought the idea nutty, because it had never been done before, and should not even be tried.
America’s founders had another such radical idea: A nation OF the people, BY the people, and FOR the people, with equality for all. “Conservatives” of the time predicted it could not last, that investing power in THE PEOPLE would be a disaster.
Progress can be scary, and progress comes with many costs, but many more benefits. For example, the advent of motor cars pretty much devastated the horse and buggy industry. Conservatives simply do not like change, and will resist progress. Given opportunity, “conservatives” will turn back the clock to the “good old days” with which they were comfortable, and where they knew where they stood in the order of things.
America has seen lots of social progress, but still has a long way to go. The fact that a black man was elected president does NOT “prove” that all racial problems have been solved. A “conservative” might put forward this belief, because to do otherwise would mean more things in our society and systems would need to change and progress, and this would move the nation farther from the world where the conservative felt comfortable. A world where the white male was at the top of the power structure, and everyone else had to “know their place”…and STAY there! Young people? Seen but not heard. Blacks, subservient. Women, barefoot and pregnant in the kitchen. Others of color: stay in or return to your land of origin. Immigrants need not apply. Gays. Keep your preference to yourself; do NOT expect equal rights. All of these examples are of people who, TODAY, are being discriminated against in many ways, as part of our “system,” and are thus being denied full equal rights in this nation.
Change is hard, and change is sometimes scary. But change is inevitable. We simply cannot go back to a flat earth with horse and buggy as or main transportation, and where full equal rights could be denied based on race, gender, or any other characteristic not approved by the ruling class. Progress will continue, and it will happen despite the irrational fears of those who oppose change. And it will certainly continue despite attempted insurrections or event the (American hating) threat of a military coup.
Jeff Harrison
Buffalo, Texas
