The Poor, Immigrants, People with Disabilities Identified as Enemy

As I've listened to the national debate over health care, immigration reform, the government budget and shut down as well as so many other issues, it has been striking how people in public and leadership positions have identified poor and in many cases disenfranchised populations as the enemy and the problem.

The rhetoric is strong but sometimes subtle. It doesn't only come from one party, faction or group but it does seem to come from people who feel very threatened by economic, social and cultural change. The groups and people who are identified as the problem aren't just the folks identified in the title of this post either. You can add the unemployed, people of different sexual orientation, the uninsured, the homeless and on and on.

What's surprising to me is that so many of the individuals who identify these 'problem' people also espouse strong Christian and Biblical beliefs and backgrounds. The Christian principles of the Sermon On The Mount and helping your brother and sister seem to have no place in the thinking of these folks. There seems to be a mindset of keeping people down, in their place and out of sight if not out of the country. These are really harmful and hateful beliefs in my opinion and go against everything that most religions and philosophies stand for in one way or another.

The people I see in all of the groups identified are people who help make this country diverse and who also help get much of the work done. In most cases, the working poor made up of immigrants or people who want to be immigrants, people with disabilities, and others who are struggling in a fragile economy, are people who are doing things as best they can to live their lives just like everyone else. In addition, we have people of different cultures and people from the LBGT community who are some of the best and brightest in our growth industries of technology, medical and health, communications, etc.

But somehow, the inclusion of all of these people in our society is a threat to what I continually hope is a small faction of the population. My best guess is that this diversity itself is a very real threat to people who have always thought that things should and would stay the same forever - that our population would always be dominated in a set pattern. That's really the only conclusion I've been able to reach. If not then why is the immigration debate mainly about Hispanics moving across boarders from Mexico? If not, why does there seem to be such hatred among some of a Black President? If not, why are people challenging a Health Care Act that was passed by Congress, upheld by the Supreme Court and validated through a re-election of the President? Something else is at work here and it really is hateful.

Although I see diversity as challenging, I also see it as something to be welcomed and embraced. It's where ideas, change and growth always come from. I hope more people begin to speak up about this negative rhetoric and belief that others in our society will take us down, will make us worse instead of better and will be a drag on our economy and society.