Tolerance and "The Day My Momma Socked it to The Harper Valley PTA"

Tolerance and "The Day My Momma Socked it to The Harper Valley PTA"

I was Pondering what I see as a growing lack of tolerance in our American society   these days, and for some reason an old song by Jeannie C. Riley came to mind. The song is titled Harper Valley PTA and basically tells the story of a smarmy little town in the bible belt of America. The narrator is a school girl whose single mom does not fit into the acceptable social behavioral norm of the local citizenry. Ultimately the song ends as the school girl is vindicated by her mom who attends the PTA meeting with the proverbial
" who's doing who and who' doing what" list, and “calls them out” for the hypocrites, and close minded, intolerant boneheads they are.

If memory serves me well, which is subject to question, this song came out in the late sixties, a time of social change and upheaval in American society. Now, I will be the first to concede that some of the excesses we experienced and promoted in the sixties were a bit over the top and possibility did not produce the vibrant, productive, cross-section of American society the baby boomer generation has become. That being said, it was a time that shook up an uptight society and really resulted in profound changes in the tolerance level of a lot of folks and some serious universal acceptance of equal rights regardless of race or sex. It has been my personal observation that progress in the right direction continued for several decades with equal opportunity increasing for Blacks and Women. We now have a Black president and Female Secretary of State......progress indeed.

I am grateful for the progress we have achieved, but today, I speak to a newer level of intolerance, an attitude that has certainly always been around but has recently gotten far more pervasive. For the sake of this piece, let's call this phenomenon the "moral values war" or MVW for short (might as well use an acronym, as it is another trend we might have to rant about in a future post). I believe that the MVW really began to escalate in earnest in 2000 with the election of George W. Bush. What has ensued is a decade of increased fear mongering and polarization.  Our U.S. Political parties, and system in general used to be about management of our "ship of state", and not about taking sides on personal, moral, spiritual, and religious values! Those values could be discussed, and argued on a personal basis irrespective of political party, and quite frankly I think that's the way it oughta be!

The current incarnation of the Republican Party (RP) has become the torch bearer for the New Social Conservative Army or NSCA to use another acronym. So here is a news flash; RP joins NSCA in new surge aimed at the North American Theater of the ongoing MVW!!!!!!! In my humble opinion this is simply not good news. Legislating social issues is not only inappropriate, it simply does not achieve any positive outcome, but only serves to further the political divide we are now experiencing. A viewing of any of the nearly dozen republican debates thus far will reveal this social divide in all its ignoble glory.

Don't get me wrong the liberal side is not devoid of war crimes in the MVW. Let's call them the New Social Liberal Army or NSLA. The NSLA has fought skirmishes in the school prayer arena for example. You know, getting national retailers to not refer to the "Christmas" season; rather the "holiday" season and as such not referring to a "religious" holiday. Personally I find this rather chicken shit as well, but will admit to paying more focus to the NSCA right now. Maybe this is due to the Republican nomination process and associated media that's constantly putting this boorhah in our faces.

The main thing is that I simply don't believe that the current political divide on “social" issues as portrayed by the NSCA or the majority of republican candidates is an accurate representation of the feeling of most Americans. In fact I don't think it's even close. I highly recommend reading commentary by Fareed Zakaria and Thomas Freidman in Times mag. And New York Times for further history, possible remedies, and reflections on this apparent disconnect. Better yet, read “That Used to Be Us" by Thomas Freidman and Michael Mendelbaum. While I do not pretend to have any solutions to this dilemma, I do suggest that a Lack of Tolerance, across the spectrum is affecting our society in a very pervasive and destructive fashion.

This post is not about my personal views on any of these issues. I do have strong spiritual feelings, strong values, and personal beliefs. I am happy to share them with whoever wants me to. I am happy to have civil dialog and debate about them with whoever wants me to. I am also happy to keep them to myself since what I chose to believe in, and my relationship with my Higher Power are in fact very personal. I am happy to respect the personal beliefs of others and exchange ideas when it is mutually agreed upon. What I cannot abide by is the attempt by anyone to enforce their personal beliefs and values upon me or anyone else without express permission to do so!!!!!!!

Tolerance is the key. Tolerance of Religion, be it, Protestant, Catholic, Mormon, Lutheran, Baptist, Buddhist, Hindu, Scientology, Agnostic, Atheist, and yes, Muslim. Tolerance of race and ethnicity be it, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, Inuit, and yes, Canadian. Tolerance of personal belief; if you don't believe in abortion....don't have one! If you are a man and don't believe in gay marriage, for God sakes, don't marry a guy!
So, just like the bone heads in “Harper Valley" if you don't care for some else's life style....tuff shit, get over it and get a life!

Maybe our elected officials could use a little more tolerance and lead by example. Maybe on the other hand we really need a bottom up, grass roots, world wide effort to promote Tolerance in all things and set an example for our leaders to follow.

From Harper Valley PTA to the halls of Congress, a little more tolerance may be just what we need.
MERRY CHRISTMAS