Where the Loyalty Lies

This election cycle is bring up many interesting issues to the larger audience by virtue of it being the Presidential election which gives a bigger megaphone than most events. It is a good time to think through all the issues raised to establish a clear and coherent insight and perspective. The issues come from many different sources, actually, encompassing all aspects of the humanity. Since we are talking about the U.S.A. Presidential election, the issues involve the whole world.

In the maze of this endless number of issues, we have to find fresh insights that could simplify and make crystal clear what the fundamental questions have to be. One of the first questions to start the 'complex problem solving' is where the loyalty lies.

Everybody is talking about the 'Republican Party in a civil war.' Just like any other phenomenon/happening, it has a long and complicated story line. The story line is more or less coherently established by both liberals and conservatives. We know how the Republican Party has come to this civil war. The question, now, is whether the Republicans should coalesce around Donald and support his candidacy, or not. The Party loyalty, which the republicans are known for, or 'never Donald' is the question. The recent poll by The New York Times/CBS News, March 17-20, showed that 88% of Republicans think their party is divided, and 60% of them are mostly embarrassed by their presidential campaign. The numbers speak clearly of the problems the Republicans have of what and whom to choose from this embarrassing presidential campaign. The fundamental question should be where my loyalty lies, in the Party and its nominee or the Country.

All over the world, we witness the tragedies and horrors brought upon people by their misplaced loyalties. In the Middle East, there are so many different, short sighted, and misguided loyalties; no immediate and sure solutions to the problems being raised are emerging, now. It is because the circumstances require slow, gradual, and long term maturing processes. March 28/16,The New Yorker article, 'Exporting Jihad' by George Packer, a Tunisian young man, Walid, says that "We need to reform our country and learn how to make it civilized. In Tunisia, when you finish your pack of cigarettes, you'll throw it on the ground. What we need is an intellectual revolution, a revolution of minds, and that will take not one, not two, but three generations."

Knowing and realizing where the loyalty should lie take the long, hard, and sustained effort. The rub is that getting the loyalty right may take three generations, that is if provided, you're lucky.

North Koreans should know where their loyalty should lie by now: it's been three generations of utter stupidity. After three generations, they must realize that the Kim boys must go. Their loyalty shouldn't be on a person, or outdated, and idiotic ideology, or provincial patriotism. Their loyalty should lie on fulfilling the human potential of as many people as possible. They need an intellectual revolution, a revolution of minds. In the revolution of minds, the South Koreans have to ask where their loyalty should lie; in the god of money, face saving, vanity, feudal class system based on material, feudal morality, greed, utterly narrow, closed and selfish mind-set. Now, they have nobody to blame if the right kind of revolution of minds is not created. Very interesting to see where they go from here. Of course, it is a given that they come a long way already, but it is definitely not enough. There are too many problems. Where they put their true loyalty from now on will show what kind of character and class the Koreans have.

It is a very interesting time in the U.S.A., also. With this election, we'll find out what kind of character we, the Americans, have. There are many many important issues at hand. Most of them with long term consequences reaching into many generations. What kind of loyalty they'll show, that is the question.

mmdl1226@yahoo.com