I'm so sick of ALL of it.

And you are, too. Humans are behaving badly and our politics is killing us.

This is essay #88.

I’ve been writing Susan Speaks for 9 months and over 2140 of you have tagged along for the ride. Shout out to all you new subscribers, THANK YOU for joining us… there’s a lot of great writers on Substack, so I’m grateful you’re spending a little time here! 💙

I rarely, if ever, talk about politics here. Too many other people way smarter than I am are writing stellar commentary of the ongoing chaos in America.

But I, like so many of you, am sick of the current climate in my country.

Sick of the apprehension and the uncertainty.

Sick of the elephant in the room that is our shitty politics.

Sick of the hateful nature that people so freely display.

Sick of the armchair quarterbacking that has turned the guy in the produce department into a foreign policy expert.

Sick of the self-assured, smugness of white people, mainly older white men, who assure me I have no idea what I’m talking about. 🙄

Somewhere along the way, there are those who decided it’s ok to be uncivil and cruel to each other when it comes to the kind of country we want to live in. And lemme tell ya, nothing good is coming from that approach.

We have to be better than this.

Let me direct you to Jess Piper and her well-written stack, The View from Rural Missouri. I’m originally from rural Missouri and I feel every word she writes. Read her essay, ‘Faustian Bargains’ (in above link). It’s well worth your time.

She writes about the Trump supporters in our state:

Because these folks don’t know who they are and are grasping for straws to explain their feelings. They need to broadcast strength because they feel weak.

BINGO! These people don’t feel heard or understood. Perhaps by better understanding them, we can reason with them? Nah. The vitriol has reached a fever pitch now. The cult mentality of Trump supporters is strong. VERY strong. People have been told who to hate and that it’s ok to do so. No matter what facts are presented to them, they refuse to hear it. Like the father figure in Jess’ article. They’ve left normal life behind and are now lost. Gone.

There is no reasoning with these people.

The primitive way people are behaving may well be the undoing of America.

The Republican Party has worked diligently over the years to create this anger and division. They’ve played the long game and they’ve been successful. In the process, however, they have destroyed what they used to be… a functioning group of conservatives. Today, under the Trump influence, I see deceit, misogyny, racism, and concern only for the rich. Not the rest of us. They have also become violent and threatening. Two old white guys recently told me not to travel around election day because there will likely be violence.

WHAT? 😳

Thom Hartmann has a great piece where he said:

Republicans promote hatred of racial, religious, and gender minorities because when Americans are at each other’s throats they’re not organizing to throw off the GOP/corporate yoke.

He’s right. They WANT us to fight among ourselves.

We’re still a democracy. Just barely. I think government should do the will of the people. But the GOP is trying to shove their beliefs down our throats and cut them at the same time… in the name of power and money. And we make it easy for them because we’re lapping up the convincing lies they serve.

I have yet to find someone who can define a conservative for me. But, if this is the definition of a liberal, then I definitely am one, like my grandparents before me. Why is it wrong to want to live in a compassionate society, where equality is a given, where we do the right thing for all people, not just the wealthy, where human decency is the norm.

Finally, Jess writes:

How can I choose “politics” over family members? I’m not. This isn’t a matter of politics anymore. This is an issue of safety and trust.

I don’t trust anyone who still supports Trump. I don’t want them to file my taxes or clean my teeth or put tires on my car. I don’t trust their values or morals. I don’t trust their character. I don’t feel safe in their presence.

I am in total agreement here. And it makes me sick.

I have found myself wondering if the person checking my groceries is part of the cult. I avoid traveling in the deep south because of the extremism. I tiptoe around friends who I suspect are voting against the equality and rights women and minorities have fought so hard to achieve. When I see Trump signs in a yard, I immediately assume they are horrible people.

Has history taught us nothing? 🤦‍♀️

As a species, we should be more evolved than this. Shouldn’t we?

Clearly, fascism is pounding at the door of democracy. Why aren’t we all working together to stop the very real chance we’ll become an authoritarian country? Where the wealthy get even wealthier, where education is weakened even further, where our climate becomes even more erratic and dangerous, where women and people of color are treated like second class citizens.

This is NOT OK and we can still do something about it.

They say the pendulum swings in society, and I’m hoping after this election, it swings back to a middle ground where we can live in relative peace, where we can engage in civil policy discussions and pay closer attention to what our elected officials are saying and doing. More of us need to be active participants in our government so we can level the playing field and allow ALL of us to have a chance to succeed.

“I don’t know how to explain to you that you should care for other people.”¹

‘We The People’ need to realize we are in this TOGETHER. (Thank you, Joyce Vance.) It’s time we start acting like it before our freedom is taken away because we were too busy yelling at each other to notice.

But the way things are going, America will be a distant memory. And we’ll only have ourselves to blame.

1. A quote by Lauren Morrill that was mistakenly attributed to Anthony Fauci. I think it sums it up nicely.