Are You a ‘Blue’ or ‘Red’ Thinking American?

Some Americans are committed to creating a just, compassionate, inclusive society where wealth is measured by the depth of a person’s character, not their bank account. Let’s call them, Blue Thinkers.

Some Americans are committed to an America where some are more equal than others by virtue of their race, faith, genealogy and financial wealth.   In spite of the bigotry, discrimination and judgmental nature the latter group imposes on society when they can, the second group really believes that every American has the opportunity to be rich and successful if they are so motivated. If you are destitute, handicapped, uneducated, ill, mistreated and discriminated against in all walks of life, it’s your own fault.  Let’s call that group, Red Thinkers.

Here are but a few of the stories in the news this week that highlight the reasoning and values of both groups.  All things considered, it’s amazing that we’ve only one civil war.

(Blue Thinker) California Gov. Jerry Brown has signed a groundbreaking bill which will allow transgender youth to use whatever bathroom and participate on whichever sports team they believe matches their gender identity.

(Red Thinker) DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — A Florida beach safety officer has been fired over comments he is accused of making on Facebook

regarding Trayvon Martin.  Todd Snipes was fired Friday for unprofessional conduct. County officials say Snipes showed “horrible judgment made worse during a racially charged atmosphere.”  Snipes is accused of writing a post on Facebook after George Zimmerman’s acquittal in the 17-year-old’s death that read: “Another thug gone. Pull up your pants and be respectful. Bye bye thug r.i.p.”Snipes was a county lifeguard for 24 years and a law enforcement officer for 15 years.

(Red Thinker) Ted Cruz’s father Rafael Cruz spoke to the Family Leader’s Summit in Ames, Iowa over the weekend, comparing President Barack Obama to former Cuban leader Fidel Castro, and warning that the United States was chugging toward socialism via gay marriage.  “Socialism requires that government becomes your god,” Cruz said. “That’s why they have to destroy the concept of God. They have to destroy all loyalties except loyalty to government. That’s what’s behind homosexual marriage.”

(Red Thinker)  North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory (R) signed a bill Monday requiring photo identification at the polls and eliminating a slew of voting measures designed to protect against voter disenfranchisement.  The bill will require voters to show photo identification — a driver’s license, passport, veteran’s ID, tribal card — beginning in the 2016 elections. Student IDs are not an acceptable form of identification. The bill also reduces early voting by a week, eliminates same-day registration, ends pre-registration for 16-and-17 year-olds and a student civics program, kills an annual state-sponsored voter registration drive and lessens the amount of public reporting required for so-called dark money groups, also known as 501(c)(4)s.

(Blue Thinker) SAN FRANCISCO — Potential 2016 presidential candidate Hillary Clinton kicked off a series of speeches on Monday with a call to combat what she called an “assault on voting rights.  “She spent most of her 45-minute talk to about 1,000 members of the American Bar Association assailing a recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling striking down a significant part of the Voting Rights Act and discussing what she sees as “deep flaws in our electoral system” as it relates to racial discrimination at the polls.

(Red Thinker)  Speaking to a group of supporters this weekend, Rep. Dana Rohrbacher (R-CA) completely dismissed global warming, rebuking belief in its negative effects as part of a greater plot by “liberals” to institute “global government.”

(Blue Thinking) Organizing for Action, the advocacy group born from President Obama’s reelection campaign, has a simple message for its 35 million Twitter followers as it seeks political support for the White House’s climate agenda.
Gravity exists. The Earth is round. Climate change is happening.

(Red Thinker) Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-TX) told a town hall crowd this weekend that he believes there are enough votes in the House to impeach President Obama.  Responding to a question about the president’s birth certificate, Farenthold said “I think, unfortunately, the horse is already out of the barn on this, on the whole birth certificate issue.” He lamented that the time has passed to effectively “do” something about what he believes is a cover-up surrounding the president’s misleading birth certificate: “The original Congress — when his eligibility came up — should’ve looked into it and they didn’t. I’m not sure how we fix it.”

(Blue Thinkers) NEW YORK, NY–(ENEWSFP)–July 31, 2013.  With tomorrow marking the one year anniversary of the implementation of the Affordable Care Act’s women’s preventive health benefit, Planned Parenthood Federation of America today celebrated the fact that millions of women have already been able to receive no co-pay birth control, cancer screenings, and other preventive care. Approximately 47 million women nationally stand to benefit from the Affordable Care Act’s women’s preventive health care provision, including no co-pay birth control. Already, an estimated 27 million women nationally are benefiting from the preventive services provision which went into effect on August 1, 2012.