This is essay #92.
With a week to go, I’m very apprehensive about the future of America. I always say I don’t write much about politics, but like you, I’m living through a huge threat to my existence. Hence, my letter to the rest of the world. Thanks for being here.
All of you, around the planet, are watching us.
Staring at America in disbelief.
I can feel it.
I can’t blame you. America has been living a real time horror movie where you think no one will come out alive.
We should be better than this. Evidently, we aren’t.
I want to assure you that not every American is a selfish piece of shit.
Our Democracy is still very young. Compared to the rest of the world, our government is still in its infancy. We’re still learning how to walk. I mean, after all… we’re only 248 years old. But, you’d think in that time, we would have learned a thing or two.
We have not. We’re acting like petulant toddlers, pushing the boundaries.
Look, we’ve built one helluva country in those short 248 years… but democracy takes work, awareness, and effort to stay healthy. We see that some Americans do not want to put out the effort… an effort that involves critical thinking, asking questions, paying attention.
But trust me, the rest of us ARE paying attention.
It seems that a segment of our 348 million citizens have become entitled and complacent. They think they want a dictator tell them what to do.
We see that one of the bedrocks of our problems is income inequality. Over time, our government has made it possible for the rich to get even richer.
See, in America, we have oligarchs, too. Most of us know there is absolutely no reason for anyone to be a Billionaire. Not one. It breeds corruption.
We have become easy prey to the ultra rich. They have learned how to control some of us by keeping us poor, uneducated, sick, and appealing to our most primal, ugly tendencies.
And the rich guys are loving it.
Another pillar of America’s lurking demise is racism. The ultra rich figured out that it’s easy to get some of us to hate people who aren’t white. But, hasn’t this been a problem of humans throughout time? Will we as a species ever learn this is not in our collective best interest?
Racism is ingrained in the history of America… from the start.
It’s embarrassing. It’s stupid. It’s immoral. It’s appalling.
Religious intolerance is another… and really, throughout history, religion always been a convenient excuse to divide and conquer. Today, we have some elected officials who want all of us to be Christians. The rest of us want everyone to choose their religion… or be free to choose none at all.
It’s an obvious move for power and control… and we’re not having it.
For years, the wealthy have been diligently weakening the educational system in America. And their efforts have really paid off. We’ve lost critical thinking skills and the desire to learn more and do more.
Our social media used to be a place for cat videos and vacation pictures. Now it’s littered with foreign influence that aims to poison our hearts and minds. And sadly, it’s working.
I’m writing to tell you that not all of us think authoritarianism is better than democracy. Believe me, we’ve lost friends and family over this issue. When the people we love don’t share our morals and values, then we release them. It’s just not negotiable. We feel that strongly about it.
America’s tenuous experiment with democracy is-and I think will continue to be-a work in progress. Our Civil War was bad. Really bad. But many of us feel this era is equally as devastating. We have a lot of work to do to clean up the mess after years of complacency.
If you’re on the edge of your seat watching what the outcome of our upcoming election will be, trust me, you’re not alone. Many Americans are scared, scratching their heads, wondering how we got here.
The threat to freedom is real. We see it.
Government is hard. Maintaining a healthy democracy is hard. But you know what shouldn’t be hard? Being a good human being. Taking care of each other. We’re so much stronger when we’re working together.
So… in 7 days, we’re voting to repair our country, to undo the damage done by the ultra rich, the greedy politicians, and those who see us as easy prey to conquer.
I’m sorry we’re behaving badly. We’re trying to right the ship. It’s not going to happen overnight, but in just seven days, we’ll be taking a step in the right direction.
Hang in there. ✌️
You are so right. I am so afraid, even if Harris wins, that evil will continue. My own sister won’t even speak to me because of my belief in truth. I feel as if we are entering the book”Handmaids Tale” and will be forever fighting for democracy. God help us!
We've learned a lot but, unfortunately, few remember the bad stuff that happened. We have done a good job of forgetting the reactions to Brown vs. Board of Education -- all the people who were murdered for working to expand the vote or for crossing a bridge too far for some others to accept. We can do better.