Primer on Moral Renewal in America

L. Wiley T.

Description

We are seeing our country evolve from a democracy to an oligarchy and we have lost our moral compass. The purpose of this primer is to review those things that are critical for redefining the priorities of our country in the best interests of our planet and the people who live on it. This will require a moral renewal in our country and it will require all of us participating in the process.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie
• Ideology

Informations

• Publié par: First Edition Design Publishing
• Date de parution: 15 février 2016
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781506900834
• Langue: English

Extrait

A Primer on Moral Renewal in America

First Edition Design Publishing
A Primer on Moral Renewal in America
Copyright ©2015 T.L. Wiley

ISBN 978-1506-900-82-7 PRINT
ISBN 978-1506-900-83-4 EBOOK

LCCN 2015957915

November 2015

Published and Distributed by
First Edition Design Publishing, Inc.
P.O. Box 20217, Sarasota, FL 34276-3217
www.firsteditiondesignpublishing.com



ALL R I G H T S R E S E R V E D. No p a r t o f t h i s b oo k pub li ca t i o n m a y b e r e p r o du ce d, s t o r e d i n a r e t r i e v a l s y s t e m , o r t r a n s mit t e d i n a ny f o r m o r by a ny m e a ns ─ e l e c t r o n i c , m e c h a n i c a l , p h o t o - c o p y , r ec o r d i n g, or a ny o t h e r ─ e x ce pt b r i e f qu ot a t i o n i n r e v i e w s , w i t h o ut t h e p r i o r p e r mi ss i on o f t h e a u t h o r or publisher .

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Wiley, T. L. ,
A primer on moral renewal in america / written by T. L. Wiley.
p. cm.
ISBN 978-1506-900-82-7 pbk, 978-1506-900-83-4 digital

1. POLITICAL SCIENCE / General. 2. Political Ideologies. 3. Social.

A11195
A Primer on Moral
Renewal in America

T.L. Wiley
Table of Contents

Preface

Chapter 1 Introduction: Mindsight
C hapter 2 Science
Chapter 3 Criticism
Chapter 4 Ignorance
Chapter 5 Friendship & Tolerance
Chapter 6 Honesty & Integrity
Chapter 7 Love & Hate
Chapter 8 Religion & Forgiveness
Chapter 9 Hunger & Poverty
Chapter 10 Money & Success
Chapter 11 Politics & Politicians
Chapter 12 Moral Renewal

Author Biographic Sketch
References
Preface

“It is horrifying that we have to fight our own government to save the environment .”
Ansel Adams

My world has changed dramatically over the past two or three decades. I am still proud to be an American and we have freedoms and opportunities that are characteristic of a great society. The political and governmental landscape, however, has become bitter and contentious. There seems to be a growing disrespect for science and the lessons we have learned over the past century. Significant numbers of people openly reject the validity of evolution and the value of vaccinations. We recently have participated in two major wars of questionable purpose and these wars have cost millions of lives. Terrorism is now a major issue worldwide and we have experienced mass killings in schools, movie theaters, and many other locations. The World Trade Center attacks should have been a major wake-up call indicating that our world needs to search for collective peace. The temperature on our planet is rising, species are dying off, the air we breathe is being polluted with the burning of fossil fuels, and sources of clean drinking water are shrinking. In spite of record wealth in the United States, we have millions of people living in poverty, without homes, and without enough to eat. Instead of solving these problems, our elected legislative officials are catering to wealthy donors for large sums of money for running election campaigns and passing legislation that benefits the wealthy to the detriment of the poor and our shrinking middle class. Our elected senators and congressman are no longer doing the work of their constituents at large but are answering to the wealthy donors who pay for their election campaigns. Elected officials are trying to redefine voting districts in a manner that favors one party over another and restructure voting procedures in a manner that discourages the largest numbers of voters participating in a given election. Partisanship is at an all-time high. As we may have wished to celebrate the election of our first Afro-American President, we watched as our Senate Majority Leader openly stated his major goal for the Senate during the President’s term was to block all legislative initiatives of the President. Racism and racial discrimination have reared their ugly heads again in our history (if they ever really were not present), as well as discrimination along the lines of sexual orientation and religion. Civility and respect among people is on the decline and many people are frustrated and angry which adds to the dysfunctional nature of our nation. We are seeing our country evolve from a democracy to an oligarchy and it appears that many people do not know this is happening, do not understand what this means, or do not care about the change. Somehow, someway, we have lost our moral compass. I believe we still possess the greatness that defines the United States and we possess the human potential and talent to solve our problems. But, we have misplaced our will to do what is necessary to solve the problems. The purpose of this short primer is to review those things that I consider critical for getting our country back on track and redefining our priorities in the best interests of the planet and the people who live on it. We need to reacquaint ourselves with what makes America great and provide the means for all of our citizens to experience the American Dream . This will require a moral renewal in our country and it will require all (or at least enough) of us taking an active role in the process. The treatment of topics is apolitical; there is no overt attempt to favor people or ideologies from one political party or another. I also wrote the book with younger people in mind and I would judge it is appropriate not only for adults, but for most upper level high-school students as well. Indeed, our young people may be the most important contributors in the effort to reshape the attitudes of America’s future.

Terry L. Wiley
Chapter 1
Introduction: Mindsight

“Change is the essence of life. Be willing to surrender what you are for what you could become.”
Reinhold Niebuhr

A key question before we begin, is can a guy like me write a book like this? I grew up in a small, rural Iowa town during the 40s and 50s. I was an only child in a working family. We did not have much money in my childhood but I never felt like it. My mother was one of three daughters and her mother was a Normal College graduate who worked as a postmaster for many years in a small town. My mother’s father was a laborer who worked at a number of itinerant jobs when he was not hunting, fishing, or hanging out in the local pub. Like my mother and other relatives, he worked at the local Iowa Ordinance Plant during World War II. My father’s parents were farmers who lost all they had during the Great Depression. Later in his life, my grandfather Wiley worked as a court bailiff. My father was one of six sons. When my father was a junior in high school, the family did not have enough money to support all of the boys living at home, so he left home and worked as a hired man on a farm and lived with the husband and wife who owned the farm. My mother was valedictorian of her small high-school class and my father did just enough academic work to maintain eligibility for playing high-school baseball and to meet graduation requirements. My father, however, was one of the most intelligent people I ever knew. He was a lifetime reader across a variety of genres; as one example, he committed the poetic works of Robert Service to memory. I think part of this effort was completed during his enlisted tour of duty in the Navy during WWII. My father worked as a power lineman and worked his way up the ladder to become line superintendent for the district Rural Electrification Cooperative (REC). My mother worked in the Ordinance Plant during World War II, in the high-school kitchen for a number of years following the end of the War, and then in the office of the REC until her retirement.
I grew up during peacetime and had a great childhood and early adulthood. We lived in a town on the Iowa River and were only a few miles from the Mississippi river. We hunted and fished and game constituted a good portion of our family diet. Later, in the early 70s, we gave up hunting game in favor of exclusively picking wild mushrooms, nuts and berries in the same forests along the Iowa River. By then, a camera and sacks had replaced our shotguns. In the 50s, almost everybody worked starting in childhood, and I had one job or another from the time I turned 10 or so. Although I had planned to go to the Navy after graduating from high school, my mother had other plans so I attended a smaller Midwest state university. We had no college graduates in our history on either side of my family, and my mother was determined that I would fill that void. In the early 60s when I attended college, tuition and room and board was less than $900 a year so if you could get a good summer job, you could cover your basic college expenses. During the time I lived in the area, there were jobs for those that wanted to work. After undergraduate studies, I worked as an itinerant speech and hearing clinician for a couple of years before starting graduate work. I completed my masters and doctoral studies in audiology and spent the bulk of my working life (37 years) as an academician at a major research university. Most of my writing products have been original research articles, tutorial documents (including a number of book chapters and a specialty text book with a colleague) and a few assorted essays and newsletter articles. I came into the world during WWII and I have had the unfortunate opportunity to observe a number of world conflicts and wars as well as major terrorist events such as the World Trade Center destruction. I did not serve in the armed forces; I had a college deferment for the completion of my Ph.D. studies at the time of the Viet Nam war. Although I was an observer of the anti-war activities at the time, I was not an active protestor of the war and was not a member or participant in any anti-war movement or group. Right or wrong, I had my head in a book or was working in a faculty laboratory most of the time and was spending days and many nights learning w