Monday, October 17, 2016

The Set-up Is Downright Frightening

When otherwise thoughtful people think the president of the United States is a traitor and deserves the firing squad, I am afraid for the United States.

When a presidential candidate says that the election is rigged because it is clear that he is going to lose, I am afraid for the United States. And when some of his followers call for violence to win for him, I am afraid for the United States.

When the same presidential candidate says that his opponent will be in jail after he gets elected, I am afraid for the United States.

When the presidential candidate wants to shut out the opposing viewpoint in newspapers or a comedy show, I am afraid for the United States.

When research has disproved over and over again the idea that IDs will defeat a non-existent voter fraud yet the move to make it more difficult to vote continues, I am afraid for the United States.

Yes, even as a liberal, when people suggest banning guns in general and working to overturn the second amendment, I am afraid for the United States.

But so does the unthinking support of gun ownership make me afraid for the United States.

When we have gotten to the point that we are as divided as we have become, I am afraid for the United States.

When it has gotten to the point where I am offended by what people I like are saying, I am afraid for the United States.

When simply being a "liberal" can make one get called anti-American, I am afraid for the United States.


You see, many of these positions I have talked about here, we cannot discuss. They become points of anger.

Yes, I get angry about these things. I get angry because I am deeply afraid for the United States. We MUST be able to discuss and disagree without extremes. But when we make extreme statements, even as I make them here, we stop the conversation.

Don't we see how angry we have become? Don't we see that we need to do things differently than we have been doing them? Don't we understand that democracy is built on dialogue and compromise, and not violence and hatred of others?

I want to cry- for our country, for myself, for friendships strained. I want to cry in pain, the internal paid of the incredible divisions that continue to develop, divisions which we all blame on the "other side."

Yes, I cry and rant.

Where is our decency? Where is our grace? Where is our American greatness? We don't have to agree, but we don't have to inflammatory. (Yes, me, too.) But we aren't listening. Even when we listen, we ignore. We have the final (!) debate of this election cycle this week. Finally. But I fear it will be far from over. The repercussions of this election may be with us for years.

God, help us all.

(By the way- I AM committed to doing what I can to facilitate the kind of dialogue I am talking about. Think globally; act locally.)

No comments: