Outrage in America

Outrage?
by Alisa Wilson, Ph.D.

On July 31, 2008, the Wall Street Journal had an article titled, "Where's the Outrage?"

Really? I can tell you where the outrage is.

The outrage is here, in this middle-aged, well-educated,upper-middle class woman. The outrage is here, but I have norepresentation, no voice. The outrage is here, but no one is listening, for who am I?

I'm not a billionaire like George Soros who can fund an entire political movement. I'm not a celebrity like BarbraStreisand who can garner the attention of the press to promote political candidates. I'm not a film maker like Michael Moore or Al Gore who can deliver misleading movies to the public.

The outrage is here, but unlike those with money or power, I don't know how to reach those who feel similarly in order to effect change.

Why am I outraged?

I am outraged that my country, the United States of America , is in a state of moral and ethical decline. There is no right or wrong anymore, just what's fair. Is it fair that millions of Americans who overreached and borrowed more than they could afford are now being bailed out by the government and lending institutions to stave off foreclosure? Why shouldn't these people be made to pay the consequences for their poor judgment?

When my husband and I purchased our home, we were careful to purchase only what we could afford. Believe me, there are much larger, much nicer homes that I would have loved to have purchased. But, taking responsibility for my behavior and my life, I went with the house that we could afford, not the house that we couldn't afford. The notion of personal responsibility has all but died in our country.

I am outraged that the country that welcomed my mother as an immigrant from Hitler's Nazi Germany and required that she and her family learn English now allows itself to be overrun with illegal immigrants and worse, caters to those illegal immigrants.

I am outraged that my hard-earned taxes help support those here illegally; that the Los Angeles Public School District is in such disarray that I felt it incumbent to send my child to private school; that every time I go to the ATM, I see "do you want to continue in English or Spanish?", that every time I call the bank, the phone company, or similar businesses, I hear "press 1 for English or press 2 for Spanish".

WHY? This is America, our common language is English and attempts to promote a bi- or multi-lingual society are sure to fail and to marginalize those who cannot communicate in English.

I am outraged at our country's weakness in the face of new threats on American traditions from Muslims. Just this week Tyson's Food negotiated with its union to permit Muslims to have Eid-al-Fitr as a holiday instead of Labor Day.

What am I missing??? Yes, there is a large Somali Muslim population working at the Tyson's plant in Tennessee. Tennessee, the last I checked, is still part of the United States.

If Muslims want to live and work here they should be required to live and work by our American laws and not impose their will on our long history. In the same week, Random House announced that they have indefinitely delayed the publication of "The Jewel of Medina" by Sherry Jones, a book about the life of Mohammed's wife Aisha due to fear of retribution and violence by Muslims.

When did we become a nation ruled by fear of what other immigrant groups want? It makes me so sad to see large corporations cave rather than stand proudly on the principles that built this country.

I am outraged because appeasement has never worked as a political policy, yet appeasing Mahmoud Ahmadinejad is exactly what we are trying to do. An excellent article, also published recently in the Wall Street Journal, went through over 20 years of history and why talking with Iran has been and will continue to be ineffective. Yet talk, with a madman no less, we continue to do. Have we so lost our moral compass and its ability to detect evil that we will not go in and destroy Iran's nuclear program? Would we rather wait for another Holocaust for the Jews, one which they would be unlikely to survive? When does it end?

As if the battle for good and evil isn't enough, now come the environmentalists who are so afraid of global warming that they want to put a bag tax on grocery bags in California; to eliminate Mylar balloons; to establish something as insidious as the recycle police in San Francisco. I do my share for the environment, -- I recycle, I use water wisely, I installed an energy efficient air conditioning unit. But, when and where does the lunacy stop?

Ahmadinejad wants to wipe Israel off the map, the California economy is being overrun by illegal immigrants, and the United States of America no longer knows right from wrong; good from evil. So what does California do? Tax grocery bags.

So, America , although I can tell you where the outrage is, this one middle-aged, well-educated, upper-middle-class woman feels powerless to do anything about it.

I don't even feel like my vote counts because I am so outnumbered by those who disagree with me.

Alisa Wilson, Ph.D.
Beverly Hills, California

YES, your vote counts! So be sure to cast your ballot, and to encourage all your like-minded friends to do the same.

Frankly, we don't believe you are truly outnumbered (at least in this country) by those who disagree with you.

We do believe, however, that those who disagree with you are simply more vocal about their views. And that among those who do not share your views falls the mainstream media in this country. Thus you hear more about views that differ from yours.

Our press is no longer neutral and unbiased, as it should be. Reporters have become commentators, delivering editorial opinion as though it were "news," until the audience is lulled into believing that their opinions are facts. They are not.

The mainstream media is skewing poll numbers (which anyone who knows anything about polling or has studied statistics will tell you is very easy to do) to get the results they want. They want you to believe that it's a done deal, the election is decided, and you might as well get used to the idea of President Obama. They want you to believe that the fight is over and there's no reason to bother to cast your ballot. Because if you stay home, they have a better chance of achieving the outcome they desire.

We also believe there is a large, and largely silent, majority of people in this country who share your views. And we believe (and pray) that the Obama juggernaut has awakened this sleeping giant to go to the polls next month en masse and tell the much-more-vocal minority to "sit down and shut up."

We are seeing a growing number of people who, like you, are fed up and ready to say:

"We're not gonna take it any more. We've tried to 'play nice' and be tolerant of your views, but we are taking our country back.

This is the United States of America. We pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the Republic for which it stands: one Nation under God, indivisible, With Liberty and Justice for all. We are proud of our country, our history, our heritage, and our flag.

We print "In God We Trust" on our currency because it's true, and we believe it's right. You are free to agree or not, but you are not free to force us to agree with you.

We speak English, we teach our children in English, we publish our newspapers and magazines and books in English, and we label our food in English. We don't expect or intend to "press 1 for English." We may, however, give you the option to press a number for another language. Or we may not.

If you insist on refusing to learn English, you will never be able to participate fully in the American Dream which brought you here. We do not expect you to erase or forget your ethnic heritage. But we do expect you to become Americans. Not some sort of hyphenated-Americans.

This country was founded on Christian principles, which is the foundation for the tolerance we have extended to you. We believe in individual freedom, but we don't believe that your individual freedom outweighs ours. You are free to practice your religion here (or not), so long as its practice does not violate our laws, and you do not attempt to force it on anyone else. Because here, in America, every person has the freedom to accept and practice the religion of THEIR choice, not yours.

We believe in the rights granted by our Constitution. And your rights under our Constitution end where they begin to infringe on someone else's. Your rights are not superior to ours. You are not the only ones entitled to free speech, for example.

And we know that those freedoms aren't free. We support our military men and women, their families, and their mission, because they are the heroes who keep us free. We haven't forgotten that we are the Land of the Free because of the Brave.

So now you know who we are in the United States of America. We love the America we know, and we don't want the kind of change you represent. If that is not the type of place or the kind of society in which you desire to live, please board an aircraft or ship and go somewhere else. There are plenty of other places you can choose where the atmosphere may be more to your liking. But we like America the way our founding fathers created her.

And we're not gonna take it any more."

So, Dr. Wilson, don't lose hope. Keep speaking out, and encourage others to do so as well.