On November 5th I Learned Something: I am no Longer Living in the America I Loved and Respected
I saw the signs, but ignored
them. I wanted to believe that the American people were beginning to move
forward and join all developed nations, moving bravely into the 21st
century. I have been wrong before, but this one is both painful and
frightening.
Statistics are not something I
trust, most of the time. The mainstream media is no longer interested in facts,
their goal is to increase advertising revenue. However, some facts, produced
from statistical analysis after the election, are undeniable.
The results of the 2024
presidential election proved that there are more of them than us. The number of
people who share Trump’s beliefs in racism, misogyny, anger, hatred, violence,
and revenge, or in a single word, “fascism,” is greater than the number of
people who believe in the principles of what it once meant to be an American.
What does this mean? It’s simple
and extremely sad: my America, the country I loved and respected throughout
most of 78 years, ceased to exist nine years ago.
I was proud to be a citizen of a
nation in which compassion, understanding, and acceptance were the primary
emotions we shared for all of our country’s people. I believed that we had
become a nation which cherished the precepts of the Declaration of Independence
and the Constitution, that “all men are created equal and that they are
endowed, by their Creator, with certain unalienable rights, that among these
are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.”
However, I am now in the minority.
Trump’s supporters have proven that millions of like-minded racists and bigots
were simply hiding in the shadows until their leader ascended to the throne carefully
hidden in the private living quarters of the “very” White House.
Between 2017 and 2021, Trump, his
party, and his “basement dwellers” moved our nation backwards into the very
dark days of the mid-twentieth century. They erased 60-70 years of progress. In
the world of developed nations, the United States is now in 15th
place out of 15 nations, especially in the most important areas; healthcare,
education, human rights, and quality of life. This is Trump’s legacy: destroy,
destroy, destroy.
However, I must admit something.
After years of offering the truth to the American people, who obviously refused
to read facts or simply ignored them, I have lost all desire to save America in
my own, small way. I simply don’t care about more than one-half of our nation’s
people, because they don’t care about you, me, or even themselves and their
families. Every expert believes that the people who will experience the most
harm from another four years of Trump are his supporters. I hope they are
right.
Op-ed by James Turnage
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