DESTROYING AMERICAN HISTORY AND IT'S PLACE IN THE WORLD

Watching the past twenty years unfold in the political arena, I've become increasingly convinced that our founding fathers must be turning in their graves when they see what our politics has devolved into. It is almost as if we're repeating the mistakes of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries as the infant wilderness struggled with developing an identity that would take them from being a loose collection of religiously oriented settlements to the beacon of freedom and religious liberty throughout the world.

The adage, "unless we learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it" seems to be the operative phrase in the first two decades of the 21st century. The primitive tribalism that resulted in religious groups coming to these shores and establishing religious enclaves which became just as oppressive to other religions as the areas that they had fled, are again becoming commonplace in 21st century America. Now, however, instead of the colony being Puritan, or Quaker, or Lutheran, the neighborhoods are becoming "no Muslims allowed" or "no liberals belong here" or " if your skin tone is black or brown, you are a rapist and a murderer".

One only has to think about how long it took this nation to get to the point of moral leadership in the world. Throughout our history, we have shown that, left to our own devices, the inherent bigotries that people demonstrate throughout the world can easily take root here too. We began as a country of slave owners and slave enablers. It took us from 1607 to 1865 to eliminate this abomination. Women didn't get the right to vote until the second decade of the 20th century. Immigrant groups, whether Irish, German, Italian, Chinese, or Jewish were discriminated against based on their ethnicity or religion. It was only with an increased understanding within our national identity that being a melting pot strengthened not weakened our democracy that these biases began to fade.

We actually thought we were moving toward a nation that was becoming bigotry free when Barack Obama was elected president. We saw palpable changes in how the government treated minorities and actually saw equal rights being extended to groups who previously were excluded. People in the LBGT-Q community were being given equal rights in all aspects of life, including marriage, the ability to serve in the military, personal choice freedoms, etc. There was a temporary lull in governmental interference in women's rights issues and civil rights equality was pursued both through the courts and through the DOJ. It looked like we were entering a period where the words of our forefathers were beginning to echo more and more clearly……ALL MEN ARE CREATED EQUAL and the vision of Martin Luther King……THAT PEOPLE WILL BE JUDGED, NOT BY THE COLOR OF THEIR SKIN, BUT BY THE RESULT OF THEIR ACTIONS was becoming the majority viewpoint of this land.

But we were wrong. In 2016, through what may have been an unprecedented confluence of events or a misreading by a significant portion of the nation, we elected an individual as our president who has a long and active history of racism. Along with him, we elected a running mate who sees America as a Christian nation. Both of these men, as opposite as possible in their level of bombast and online vitriol represent a major devolution in the progress this nation has made in recognizing all citizens as equal. Today, the only groups that feel that their rights have been extended are the richest among us, nationalists, racists, and haters of all ilks.

The administration has been active in stripping away rights of group after group. Whether it is attacking trans-gender individual's right to serve in the military or self-identify gender or incite racial unrest by tacitly supporting neo-nazi and alt-right groups or whether it is lying to his supporters at rallies in order to incite them to violent acts against people who disagree with them or even it is separating children from their parents, while their parents are seeking entry into this nation, this has been the most anti-rights administrations in history.

While there may be debate on any of the actions the Trump administration has taken, the latest move, making the process of applying for green cards or becoming citizens for legal immigrants is, on it’s face, one of the most anti-American and racist actions that we have seen from this administration to date. Changing the rules of the game and utilizing those rule changes to deport people who you have biases against, is a clearly biased action. This administration has no qualms about hiding these types of biased actions.

It has become clear that among the most ardent supporters of this administration are those who were previously excluded from the mainstream political system. Neo-Nazis, Ku-Klux-Klanners, Racist Skinheads, and the most virulent groups in the alt-right including white nationalists have flocked to the Trump administration. Their websites are rife with their praise of the actions of the administration.

There is no doubt that many people who voted for Donald Trump and Mike Pence did so with altruistic goals and/or party loyalty. It is also obvious that a significant number of individuals who shared many of Trump/Pence's world view flocked to the candidates. These are the people who Hillary Clinton was referring to as the portion that fit in the basket as deplorables.

Unfortunately, these deplorables are the people in power today. The Trump administration is the most racist, anti-black, anti-brown, anti-Islamic, anti-woman, anti-LBGT-Q, and anti-immigrant administration in our history. It is systematically trying to destroy all of the gains that have been made in the United States over the past 400+ years, since the settlers landed at Jamestown. The republican congress has been complicit in their silence and their cowardice.

We are truly a nation at risk……at risk of losing our national soul…at risk of losing our status in the world…..at risk of losing our allies….at risk of turning American against American…..at risk of being a nation of lies instead of a nation of truths.

As Americans we have to stop this madness. Those of us who love this nation and have seen the dark shroud that this administration and congress has spread over the nation must vote in November to prevent any further erosion of rights and to reestablish the power of the legislature as a co-equal part of government. We must all remember that the politicians and even the president are our employees, not our bosses. We are the ones who choose whether or not they have a job. It is time to say to most of these do-nothings and collaborators…..YOU'RE FIRED.