I Can't Believe.....

"I can't believe this is the world and the country we live in today...."  I heard that lament today on a newscast and I have to say that I can relate to this person's distress.

All my childhood I was taught that the United States was the greatest country in the world.  Our democracy and freedoms were the bell weather for the whole free world to emulate.  But, the way things are now, that is no longer (or maybe it never was) true.  Women's rights have been stripped away because a Christian Nationalist movement has convinced the highly partisan Supreme Court to overturn Roe Vs Wade and now abortion is illegal, for all practical purposes in 26 states.  The movement by the Heritage Foundation to repel the separation of church and state as evidenced by Project 2025 continuing its efforts to move us toward a caste system much like 19th and 20th century India.  It is more important to many to have unfettered access to weapons of war than to enact some measures of safety for our children in schools, shopping malls and other places people gather.  There is no attempt at equal rights for ALL Americans and a growing effort to promote racism, anti-semitism, anti-LGBTQ+, anti-Muslim and anti-immigrant (legal and illegal) and a continued promotion of misogyny as a consequence of patriarchy.  And, there is something inherently wrong with a system that has teachers, fire-fighters and first responders paying a higher tax rate than billionaires and corporations.

Everyone in this country, except for those descendants of the indigenous tribes that originally occupied this land, are one, two, three or four generations away from their immigrant forefathers, but we seem to have forgotten that inconvenient truth.  Why?  Because a large percentage of immigrants over the last 50 years are darker skinned, speak Spanish and are not white skinned Europeans.  A lot of us have grandparents or great-grandparents that came to this country to escape oppressive governments and find a better life for their families.  Today's immigrants are coming here for the exact same reasons.  Now, I am not suggesting we should condone illegal immigration.  However, we should have a system that allows these immigrants to receive a fair and speedy chance at asylum and a path to citizenship.  But, when there was a non-partisan bill aimed at moving us closer to that goal, tRump instructed his faithful followers to vote against it so that he could personally benefit from no action.

And while we are at it, when did lying become the norm rather than the exception.  tRump and Vance continue to just make stuff up to enrage and engage the MAGA crowd.  Immigrants eating pets, lies about FEMA, conspiracy theory lies about election security, and even revisions on the economic performance of the previous tRump administration.  They even lie about what we all saw with our own eyes on January 6th!  When multiple former tRump administration officials and Military leaders warn us about another tRump administration, we damn well should listen.  Believe him when he says he will be a Dictator on Day One, that he will cozy up to Putin and forsake our Allies, try to disband NATO, that he wants to suspend The Constitution and use military force against his political enemies.  If he is elected, there will be no more "Adults in the room" to stop him from doing whatever he wants. 

Morality and civility no longer exists in the political world. As I have said, a number of times, never over-estimate the intelligence of the American public.  Due to constant telling and retelling of lies, and lack of intellectual curiosity to even fact-check those lies, the (collective) we are so misinformed and ill-informed to even know enough to rationally make an intelligent election decision!  

The whole world is watching and laughing at us for even giving this convicted felon a shot at The Presidency.

Twelve years ago, Aaron Sorkin wrote and Jeff Daniels (who incidentally was born in Athens, GA!) performed a soliloquy in the first episode of "The Newsroom" in response to the question:

 "What makes us the greatest country in the world?"

"Its not the greatest country in the world, professor, that's my answer.

And with a straight face, you're going to tell students that America's so starspangled awesome that we're the only ones in the world who have freedom? Canada has freedom, Japan has freedom, the UK, France, Italy, Germany, Spain, Australia, Belgium has freedom. Two hundred seven sovereign states in the world, like 180 of them have freedom.

And you—sorority girl—yeah—just in case you accidentally wander into a voting booth one day, there are some things you should know, and one of them is that there is absolutely no evidence to support the statement that we're the greatest country in the world. We're seventh in literacy, twenty-seventh in math, twenty-second in science, forty-ninth in life expectancy, 178th in infant mortality, third in median household income, number four in labor force, and number four in exports. We lead the world in only three categories: number of incarcerated citizens per capita, number of adults who believe angels are real, and defense spending, where we spend more than the next twenty-six countries combined, twenty-five of whom are allies. None of this is the fault of a 20-year-old college student, but you, nonetheless, are without a doubt, a member of the WORST-period-GENERATION-period-EVER-period, so when you ask what makes us the greatest country in the world, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about?! Yosemite?!!!

We sure used to be. We stood up for what was right! We fought for moral reasons, we passed and struck down laws for moral reasons. We waged wars on poverty, not poor people. We sacrificed, we cared about our neighbors, we put our money where our mouths were, and we never beat our chest. We built great big things, made ungodly technological advances, explored the universe, cured diseases, and cultivated the world's greatest artists and the world's greatest economy. We reached for the stars, and we acted like men. We aspired to intelligence; we didn't belittle it; it didn't make us feel inferior. We didn't identify ourselves by who we voted for in the last election, and we didn't scare so easy. And we were able to be all these things and do all these things because we were informed. By great men, men who were revered. The first step in solving any problem is recognizing there is one—America is not the greatest country in the world anymore."

STAND UP FOR WHAT'S RIGHT! Educate yourself to the realities, quit believing the bullshit, and focus on the truly important things and we will all be better off. AND VOTE!

And The Journey continues........