I Don't Like America

That's right. I no longer like America.

More precisely, I don't like what America has become. And I don't like what America is becoming.

I don't like the attacks on our voting rights, on our rights as women to retain control of our own bodies, or on the rights of our LGBTQ brethren. I also don't like the attacks on our ability to decide what we want to read. Book banning and book burning are hallmarks of the Hitler regime in the 1930s and 1940s. They should never be part of America in the 2020s.

I don't like attempts to turn America into a 'Christian' country. America has never been a Christian country, despite what the evangelicals claim. America was founded as a nation in which everyone is free to practice their own religion, or no religion at all. America should never be a theocracy. 

There is supposed to be separation of church and state, but that distinction has gone out the window, particularly after the Supreme Court's recent decision to overturn Roe v Wade. I don't like all the pandering to the so-called evangelicals in this country, whose words and actions are anything but Christlike. People are free to believe whatever they choose to believe in. But they should never be free to impose their beliefs on others or to pass legislation based on their religious belie

I don't like the growing sense of division among Americans. I don't like the hatred among people who used to be friends and family members. I don't like the fact that too many Americans are willing to accept mass murders, especially of school children, all in the name of the Second Amendment. I don't like the power and influence corporations hold over our elected officials. I don't like the fact that certain Republican politicians are using illegal migrants as pawns, flying or driving them all over the country in an attempt to score political points with their 'base.'

I don't like the fact that millions of Americans struggle to pay rent and buy groceries while the nation's handful of billionaires gets more wealthy by the day. And I don't like the price gouging that is going on, with corporations raking in record profits while ordinary citizens struggle.

I don't like the fact that Republicans believe they are the only true patriots in this country, or that they have usurped the American flag. True patriots don't attempt to overturn a legal election, or threaten to hang the vice-president when he refused to do their bidding. 

I don’t like the fact that calm, rational discourse on hot button topics no longer exists. Discussions have become nothing but threats, personal attacks and name-calling.

I don't like greed on any level, whether individual or corporate. I don't like the hatred and discrimination and all the other negatives that seem to have overtaken our country.

I realize that the idealized view of the America of the 1950s and 1960s was just that -- idealized. Women worked only in the home. They were subservient to the men in their lives. Minorities had no rights. So life wasn’t at all as portrayed. But people still turned out to help their neighbors, to visit each other when someone was sick or old or needed help. Sadly, those acts of compassion have become so rare that they often make the news. Now it's all about greed, about getting your share and someone else's, too.

America's rection to the covid-19 pandemic was a real eye-opener, and not in a good way. Refusing to wear a mask or to be vaccinated or even to practice something as simple as social distancing  -- simple steps to protect ourselves and those around us -- were commonplace.

I don't like what this country has become. And I don't like what far too many Americans have become.

I still love my country. But as it now exists, I don't like it.