Should I Just Give Up Hope For America

Can someone give me hope that America, as we have known it, is not over?

America, is full of dreamers. It’s full of hard workers. It’s full of realists. It’s full of optimists and pessimists. Full of the young and old. The religious and irreligious. The liberal and conservative.America is full of people.Whatever you see on T.V. is giving you very little of who Americans are. We are mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, friends and family.Sure, there’s a little hiccup in our time right now, but it’s just that, a hiccup, we’ll deal with it as it comes, and push forward.If anything, this should be a wake up call, if you feel that America is over, then don’t give up. That’s ignoring the very integrity of what it means to be fundamentally American.I can say this, as a Pakistani-Muslim American, who was raised in Canada, that America isn’t over.We are full of brilliant minds who, if given the opportunity, will constantly help this country. Scientifically, politically, economically, or however else.I’m such an individual, I just need that chance, and with handwork, I’ll try to change what it is I don’t like and see needs changing.Don’t write this nation off as being so weak-willed.Find ourselves in union, and we’ll be mighty strong lasting for generations to come. But if we splinter, as a nation, because of our different religions, ethnicity’s, and skin-tones, then this country is over.It’s important to recognize different politics, and logically critique them, but in that critique, offer a solution.I can’t see the future, but America, and pardon my French, isn’t as royally fucked as you seem to make it out to be.

What gives you hope for American politics?

I’ve been searching for hope ever since Trump became president. It began with just shaking my head wondering how so many Americans could support a man utterly lacking in what I think of a ‘the important qualities a U.S. President.’ Then I launched into a Presidential research project.In an upcoming blog I will share much more, but here are some of the insights I’ve gained about the mix of good and bad U.S. Presidents and the resilience of our Constitution:Even though we’ve had hateful, bigoted presidents — like Andrew Jackson* who was brutal to his slaves and enthusiastic about Native genocide, leading half a dozen massacres as a general then signing the Indian Removal Act — like Woodrow Wilson who so repulsed by black people he segregated all government departments and even had curtains put up in the White House so white officials would not have to see the black servants. Despite this we as a nation not only arrived at emancipation we achieved the 1964 Civil Rights Act, championed by a white southern president, Lydon Johnson (far more aggressively than Kennedy).*And the contradiction — even though Jackson was a brute he was the first president to champion individual voter rights (as opposed to state’s rights and federal rights) and tried to do away with the electoral college <-> has it been so, we would not have ended up with Trump.While we had scoundrels like Grover Cleveland, an accused rapist (who also stole the child of the woman he raped and gave her to friends) and Warren G. Harding well-known for his mistresses and even better known the Tea Pot Dome and other major scandals — we also had a Rutherford B. Hayes who said in an 1886 speech (well ahead of his time): "free government cannot long endure if property is largely in a few hands and large masses of people are unable to earn homes, education, and a support in old age." He also set-up and supported scholarships for black students.You get the idea. We’ve had horrible presidents and presidents full of contradictions but somehow our Constitution has guided us forward — many times it was one step forward and two step back (Trump now the two steps back after Obama’s forward progress) — we continue to achieve milestone’s in civil liberty. Though we no longer set the best example worldwide (or did we ever), enlightened Americans are dragging the rest kicking-and-screaming into the 21st Century.

Why haven't you given up hope for progress in America in 2017?

I haven’t seen anything that would make me give up hope for progress.You have to understand that fighting for any political cause isn’t going to happen quickly and resistance doesn’t mean you should give up hope. If you have a strong vision for the future you’ll want to do what you can to plant seeds of change. It won’t be fun all the time — faith in a cause is much like faith in a religion, and if you ask any religious person they will tell you that there are times when their faith isn’t as strong.Stick with your hope for progress. Try and nail down a vision of the future that inspires you on its own. Figure out what’s wrong with society. Figure out what you’d like to replace that. Try and figure out how you can contribute even a little bit to changing things — even if you’re just changing minds. Surround yourself with people that have similar visions for the future.

Do Americans today give up hope that easily about political and social problems?

Here’s the problem: I don’t know how it’s possible to “come together” with a person who voted for a man who said Mexicans were rapists.The trouble is that we’re offending each other’s sensibilities. In my mind, we just elected a howling Oompa Loompa to the presidency who’s going to appoint a white supremacist as chief strategist. His VP is a crazy religious nutbag whose record in Indiana is dismal.And now people want me to sit at a roundtable with the ones who voted for this farce and try and talk reasonably about things? There’s nothing reasonable about this. They’re going to tell me to read Breitbart and WND and frontpagemag and a whole bunch of crazy shit and pretend it’s news. Because the Economist and Foreign Policy magazine are run by liberal heathens.I seriously got into a debate with a Trump supporter where I was basically disavowing every single link she was sending me because it was from a right wing spin site. She asked me what kinds of sources I’d believe so she could find me something. All right, at least she’s going to take a stab at something I’d find believable, right? I gave her a list of sources, one of them being Forbes.She found me an opinion article from Forbes and tried to pass it off as a news source. An opinion article. It said OPINION in the corner.What in the actual fuck?Now, look, there are some highly educated Trump supporters out there who likely know the difference between news and opinion. But these are not the people I’ve been talking with. They can’t even punctuate.And I’m supposed to talk with them about social problems? Again, a white supremacist just got appointed to the White House because of the way they voted. They voted for a man who wants to build a literal wall with Mexico. Or maybe a fence, because now he’s backtracking.That is not going to be a reasonable conversation, so I don’t see the point in having it.

What gives you hope for India's future?

Donald Trump gives me hope for India's future. If the so called beacon of democracy and free choice can be duped into electing a moron as President, I donot think we are doing too bad. Donald Trump's election has taught me about American voter suppression, racist congregations, gerrymandering and complete demonization of specific religions. Even the Democrats elected Hillary Clinton over Bernie Sanders , even after he was the clear favorite . Big money and the family name won. Just like India. Flint Michigan taught me that just like in India , rich are protected by politicians and poor people mean nothing.Americans needed 250 years of democracy to reach Trump and nuclear weapons, we went to Modi and Rahul and nuclear weapons in 70. I don't think we are doing to bad.

Why doesn't my heart want to give up? I have lost all hope in my life. Everything is just getting worse. But my heart doesn’t want to give it up. I had a dream since childhood to live my life in western developed world in a new culture, far away.

I believe it's the part that craves the western world, and fear of what you dont know will happen after.. that has you not doing this. And it's not hope. But fear. And pain. And the fear th hat change brings. And not that your afraid of what will happen when you ge th th o the west.. I just know that its hard to get here. And I'm assuming it's worse in as lesser developed country to do so. But I can assure you that there are Americans fighting for laws to be changed for the better. And to make it easier to com ed here legally. And also trying th o make it harder for illegals to cross the southern border. We let up to a million legal immigrants every year. If you have a profession, or the willingness to find manual labor, like landscaping.. cutting grass. Yhat sort of thing.. I would try to apply for a w lo rl vis as and try to become a legal citizen when you start getting work in America, or canada. Just do it the right way. I think c as nada is more hard on work visas, their professions skills, and immigration laws than the United states. But I cant be for sure. But if you can start as oth a work Visa and manage to further get into America or canada, that we would probably be a good way to start. Just make sure you comply with all of immigrations bull crap. You make one mistake and th er m might send you back to eg ed you are. So I'd be aware of that as well.