Sammy Sorrell Viewpoint on The Culture War, Social Issues, Moral Responsibility

Sammy Sorrell is a non-fiction author, writer and radio talk show producer and host on "Justice In America". He is in-house author for American Trend Publishing. He has devoted the past several years to the development of United Citizens For Legal Justice Reform, a national organization that he formed in 1990. The organizations’ goals are varied but all leading to needed changes in the present judicial system in America. Mr. Sorrell is a published author of over 500 non-fiction books, e-books, booklets, articles and information reports on a variety of subjects relating to current social issues and other subjects Sorrell Publishing Archives. His writings also appear on his four Blogs Click Here.
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Every violation of truth is a stab at the health of human society.
- Ralph Waldo Emerson -
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CULTURE WAR IN AMERICA

THE LAST WAR?

The United States of America was founded upon a fairly simple set of principles that in large part evolved from a Puritan heritage with a solid recognition of the importance of the family unit. For several decades it has been the family unit that dictated our cultural beliefs and traditional values. Perhaps the biggest casualty in the culture war has been the family unit that is herein described as the main battlefront.

With the growth of the nation during the past several decades, there have developed a number of influences that moved the people further away from cultural beliefs and traditional values. Those influences became such a focused part of our society at some point the nation literally evolved into a culture war with several battlefronts.

In the 21^st century these influences each bidding for a dominant place in society have become so active the culture war is now at the forefront of the nation. Many Americans may not identify with a culture war while at the same time they know there is an enormous pressure by these various influences to win over the hearts and minds of the people. There are many writings that identify the culture war and other writings that merely allude to a culture war. How do we define a culture war? The culture war is very simply opposing sides that reflect a very sharp breach in common beliefs about private and public morality and exactly what standards should govern individual, social and public behavior.

It is the intention of this writer to identify these so-called influences as the established battlefronts in a culture war that has escalated into an unbelievable vitriolic and mental battle royal that effect the lives of all Americans-present and future.

Without question the two original battlefronts in the culture war and today remain the hot spots are the religious and secular battlefronts. These battlefronts have been defined and identified in various ways. Some have defined the two fronts as; (1) Religious: Living by a set of fixed rules from God-being more important than self-expression and (2) Secular: The belief that self-expression and personal freedom based upon circumstances in a changing modern life is more important than traditional values and the standard should be situation ethics. An example of this secular philosophy came in a recent court decision in the state of Oregon that states that freedom of self expression is lawful for a couple to have sex in a bar or club on stage in front of the clientele. Coincidentally, it is the state of Oregon who has passed the only legal assisted suicide law in the nation. The religious battlefront holds to the belief that God is indeed our creator and should be the strongest influence in every area of our lives. The secular (self-expression) battlefront holds to the belief that a utopia of peace can be created without God. These two basic battlefronts permeate throughout the entire American society. Weapons used in these two battlefronts range all the way from the basic issue of intelligent design and the Darwinian theory of evolution to a plethora of issues that clearly attempt to define moral and immoral behavior. The “religious” battlefront believe that man in and of himself has a faulty moral compass and should rely upon the moral compass furnished by our creator-namely the Ten Commandments and teachings of the Savior. The “secular” battlefront would rely upon the intellect and reasoning of man without a religious belief being a part of that influence. The dividing line between these two battlefronts continues to become more clearly identified as the culture war heats up. The prize of course is winning over the hearts and minds of the people to one side or the other. Many religionists have boldly declared the war is between “good and evil”. Without question the secular battlefront has largely built their strategy around the 1^st Amendment of the U.S. Constitution and the guarantees of freedom of speech and separation of church and state. The self-appointed national guardian of freedom of expression is the ACLU. Any suggestion that resembles a God-like practice in the public arena will be immediately contested by the ACLU with their own interpretation of a constitutional violation-even if the facts have to be redefined. Also without question the religious battlefront has built their strategy around the biblical volumes and God’s laws. The spin-off of these two battlefronts is morality and immorality and all things related. The ripple effect in these spin-off battlefronts attempt to capture the people’s attention daily. Periodically the Icons in the freedom of speech battlefront get high exposure, the reverend Jerry Falwell, the reverend Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, Don Imus, Howard Stearn to mention a few. Almost always the focus results in some degree of hypocrisy. Then there is a culture war occurring both between and within the various religious denominations and churches. Many of these breaches are occurring because of the spin-off and ripple effect of the questions of morality and immorality.

While the religious and secular battlefronts are undoubtedly the hot spots in the culture war, there are clearly other battlefronts bidding for the hearts and minds of the American people. The American legal justice system is a huge battlefront. Any free republic is a reflection of its laws and how those laws are administered. An unbelievable 159,000,000 million crimes (many heinous) committed against Americans during the thirteen-year period ending 2002 has caused this battlefront to heat up with the justice system status quo and most Americans led by legal justice reform advocates as the chief rivals in this battlefront. The spillover from this battlefront reaches into the questions of morality and immorality by activist judges who short-circuit the law against legislating morality. Because of the questions of morality and immorality, the U.S. supreme court appointments have become so politicized it has become a shameful public spectacle resembling a political pony and dog show. An analysis of U.S. Supreme court decisions for the past four decades leads many to believe that some of these decisions have been political decisions and not based in the U.S. Constitution. Perhaps a recent glaring example of how the judicial system factors into crime and immorality is the federal activist judge who ruled that illegal immigrants with criminal records being held in state courts are protected by the law of privacy and their names do not have to be released. How utterly ridiculous this ruling is in the face of the law that any American criminal being held has a totally open file to the public from the court of jurisdiction. In other words no privacy protection for American citizen criminals and total privacy for illegal immigrants with a criminal record.

Looming high on the list of battlefronts in the culture war is the politics of our government. This battlefront is vicious and has become dangerous and destructive to the welfare of the American people. It has become so vicious that the business of the nation is often stymied with Americans being put at great risk on many vital issues. Illegal immigration has become a political football and is high on the list of political issues that has placed the entire nation at risk. Snarled also in political bureaucracy is the energy crisis now translating into a potential economic problem at the gas pumps of the nation and the heating needs in most American homes. The first political warning of this coming energy crisis came from the OPEC nations embargo of the western nations in 1975. The fallout from this energy problem showed a glaring need for more oil refineries in the United States. That issue became politicized and not a single oil refinery has been built since 1975.

Undoubtedly the evolution of professional politicians has provoked a near shooting war between the two major political parties that now govern the nation by proxy. As we look back upon the beginning of this nation politicians came from the ranks of patriotic citizens who were willing to drop the plow and do their civic duty for a couple of years. They were perfectly satisfied in returning to their homes-pick up the plow and get on with their personal lives. Professional politicians have become some of the most powerful figures in American society. With power comes corruption with an unbelievable level of that corruption occurring behind closed doors. The evolution of the political parties have now lulled the majority of Americans into a deep rut repeatedly sending these politicians back to Washington believing their own area self interests will be greatly enhanced. That enhancement generally appears. As the political war front heats up we now see “hate groups” organized to specifically target an incumbent president with venomous allegations comparing the president to rogue historical figures such as Adolph Hitler. Then when this so-called “Hitlerite” wins a clear majority for re-election by the American people and the opposing party immediately creates a cloud of suspicion by contesting the vote in various states declaring corruption in the election procedures and the vote total. The opposing sides in the battlefront of politics has been simplified by the public media to mean “liberal” or “conservative.” Most of the public media has joined the liberal movement. The American people now have to interpret the news as the liberal media attempts to “make” the news rather than “report” the news.

Great nations have been destroyed from within. Will history teach us or will the culture war be the last war that will destroy our nation from within?

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