A Tough Country to Love

 Sometimes, this is a tough country to love.

I know. Just by saying that, I have raised the ire of many and completely ruined my chances of ever running for political office. Oh, well. That ship has longed since sailed, anyways.

I've always believed in the Martin Luther King quote, "the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice." When I was younger and more idealistic, I thought I would see that bend. Now, at 66, I'm not so sure.

Some things have gotten better. But even those steps forward have been brought with backlash and steps backward.  

I have seen some things improve. But I also have seen that the Empire always strikes back.

Voting rights are passed and guaranteed, only to see voter suppression legislation chip away and reverse progress.

Women's reproductive rights can be granted and then taken away.

And with the Supreme Court no longer supporting a right to privacy, we could see reversals in access to birth control, gay marriage, and even interracial marriage.

The very foundational creed of this country, e Pluribus Unum - out of many, one - is being challenged and abandoned as the racist, immoral, and WRONG Great Replacement Theory destroys everything meaningful about this country.

I know gun control measures alone won't solve the cultural sickness we suffer from. The promise of America is tempered by the sins of America.

We (the white Europeans) committed genocide against the original natives of this land - using our guns. We enslaved millions of people based on the color of their skin - enforcing it with our guns. Even after slavery was ended, that did not stop the brutality toward African-Americans. 

One of the significant factors behind us having more guns than people - it's not hunting. It's not even ordinary self-defense. It's not trying to take down a tyrannical government. It's FEAR. Fear that you will be treated as you have treated others.

And that's not easy to solve with simple gun control measures.  

But that doesn't mean we shouldn't try. 

Can you imagine if a plane were to go down because of a defective part or something that could be changed by a new safety measure, and we did nothing to change it? If we said, "Well, that's not going to solve all the plane crashes. Planes are still going to go down." Can you imagine dismissing doing anything?

Background checks won't solve all the problems. But it WILL HELP. Closing gun-show loopholes WILL HELP. Reviving the Assault Weapons Ben WILL HELP A WHOLE HELL OF A LOT.

But...the reality is that little to nothing is going to happen.

We need to control guns. We won't.

We need to reverse climate change. We won't.

We need to treat healthcare access as a human right. We won't.

We need to protect voting rights. We won't.

We need to preserve our privacy rights - women's reproductive rights, access to birth control, LGBTQ rights, and the right to marry the consenting adult WHOM YOU LOVE. I fear we won't.

The only thing that will change this is if PEOPLE vote based on these things. As long as politicians win who are in the pocket of the gun lobby, who kowtow to Christian Dominionists, who spread the fear of THE OTHER, who love fossil fuels and their money more than people, as long as they keep getting elected, then things will never change. The arc of moral justice will be delayed until nothing is left to save.

I believe in the American Creed. I believe in the melting pot. E Pluribus Unum. We are stronger when we are united, when we respect and love our diversity, and when we work to make things better for all. That is one thread of American History. And it's the thread that I love. That is what I envision when I say the pledge of allegiance - liberty and justice for all. THAT is what the flag stands for.

But there is another thread of our history - one this is vicious and mean and violent.

And right now, I fear that thread is threatening to engulf us all.

I love what my country has often struggled to represent.

I hate what it so often becomes.

You have a decision to make.

Which thread do you choose?

Choose now, while we still have a choice.