My Turn, Evelyn Uddin-Khan: Our democracy and its unsolvable social issues – Salisbury Post – Salisbury Post

My Turn, Evelyn Uddin-Khan: Our democracy and its unsolvable social issues      

Published 12:00 am Tuesday, October 18, 2022

By Evelyn Uddin-Khan

American democracy is losing the battle against social issues. Anyone who can take a critical look and analyze the news that dominate our air waves and newspapers will realize that we are being fed lies and propaganda.

We are presently being fed what some “regimes” fed their people in the early 20th Century. Have we learned anything from Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin, Franco? Their history is all around us and the history channel can illuminate their contributions to one-party rule.

We need to let go of the social issues because they are private matters which the government will never be able to regulate and politicians are using to evade their responsibilities and stay in power.

For example, television and the news media are dominated by abortion, but the government will never be able to do anything to stop abortion because women will continue to have abortions.

The gender issues — LGBT — are here to stay. We can make new signs for bathroom doors, and ban gay bars, but LGBT is here to stay. Persecuting people for their private lives is probably unconstitutional anyway. After all, what crimes are they committing in society?

Some politicians are selling America as a Christian country. What sort of Christianity? Weren’t the Irish and Italians persecuted here on American soil because they were Catholic? Catholics are Christians, aren’t they?

Another issue that dominates the news is our open borders and migrants entering illegally. From the time America was “discovered” Europeans have crossed the Atlantic Ocean and landed on Ellis Island, Boston and other places. People from China and the Pacific rim have crossed the Pacific Ocean and entered American soil on our western border. And then we have the Caribbean and boat loads of Cubans and Haitians arriving in Florida.

Can we really stop the needy, hungry and hopeful from landing on American soil? Not really, but we could respect them as human beings. No simple solutions here unfortunately, unless Third World countries can begin to feed their people and find meaningful employment for them.

It’s America’s blessings that we immigrants risk our lives to get here.

It’s America’s curse that this land is the dream of every poor soul in the world.

At this moment in our history, we need to fight for education. On the world scale we are No. 25 in reading, No.31 and No. 32 in math and science. That’s a crime and a shame. We are the richest country in the world and we “import” scientists and mathematicians. Education should — must — begin for children from PK to college.

Health care for all, is not social medicine. Good health is the people’s right. Health care from birth to senior care to death is a must, not a privilege.

We need affordable housing and helping people out of the “below poverty” category.

So, here are politicians hiding behind social issues while democracy and the life threatening/sustaining issues that would make American lives better and more bearable are cast aside.

It seems as if our present politicians’ grip on power and money are here to stay unless we the people make the changes that will change our lives.

The message is clear: It is now or never.

We are on the short run here and we need to recall Europe in the early 20th Century when men like Mussolini, Hitler, Lenin and Franco thought they could rule the world. Now we have Putin trying to replace them all. We pray there are no Putins on American soil!

If we believe in democracy and want to preserve our freedom and enjoy the fruits of our labor and the benefits we have paid for, then we need to forget the social issues and vote for what make our lives better. We vote for what benefits us and our children. Not what empowers politicians and put money in their pockets.

Please vote with your head.

Evelyn Uddin-khan moved to Salisbury in 2018 after living in the New York City area for most of her life. She taught in public schools and for a community college in the New York City area.