America – Great? Or not?

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I do not know about y’all,  but, as a Citizen of America,  who loves my country,  I am getting pretty damn tired of the Donald saying it is a pile of shit,  and we would be lucky for him to come in and clean it up for us.   That, to me,  is a combination of living in a beau monde’/Fantasy World and,  a painfully strong level of hubris  – allowing him and his minions to buy into this lies about America,  and the idea that The Donald is likely to “clean it up for us”.

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America has its problems;  No one argues about that.   Over the decades,  we, as a society have supported our government’s engagement in illegal,  secret wars in Southeast Asia,  the Middle East, and other places around the world.   We have supported our government imprisoning civilians on foreign soil,  and torturing them on a daily basis,  in a vain attempt to extract information about terrorist activities around the world.   This in spite of the facts that many of these civilians were swept up by their own country,  in order to cash in on the bounties offered by our armed forces;  that they were, in most cases,  totally in the dark about terrorists,  because they were often the target of said terrorists;  We have supported our government in participating in illegal activities ranging from drug running to arms sales to anyone,  friend and enemy alike;  We have supported our police turning into a pseudo military force,  with the toys,  but not the training or understanding to avoid treating the citizenry as if they were enemies on the battlefield;   We have allowed the powerful in our society to luxuriate in their riches,  and leave people in need (the poverty stricken,  the folks with mental or physical health issues,  the Veterans we have created by our wars) to rot in the street;  We have allowed our governments to oppress subgroups of our society for no sane reason.   I could go on for a LOT longer,  but, this hits the high points.

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Too many of these problems come from the intolerant and hateful speech of the Right-Wing,  although we Left-Winger’s can hop in that cesspool too.   Too many of these problems stem from the contempt for education and rational thought that has been growing in America for the past 30+ years.   There are many facets to this sad state of affairs,  but these are big ones.

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    That having been said…in a larger sense,  America is STILL a great country.   Every day,  when I skim my Face-book connection,   I see stories of police and firefighters putting their lives on the line to go the extra mile and save citizens or their companion animals from disaster.   I see stories of citizens who go out of their way to rescue abused animals,  and try to get them healthy and into a good home.  I see stories of random acts of kindness to strangers.  I see postings from friends and strangers,  including pictures,  of experiences and lovely places in this great country that they have enjoyed.   I even have had the opportunity to debate, in a civil,  rational way,  the pros and cons of both Presidential Candidates.   So, it is my claim that for the Donald to claim that America needs to be made great again is an insult to every citizen of this country.   As noted before, we have problems.   However,  fixing those problems does not mean taking a wrecking ball to the country’s government, and world-wide reputation,  and rebuilding from scratch.   That is not the view of a negotiator,  but it certainly is the view of a fairly bad developer.

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This election cycle is, with no doubt,  the slimiest and ugliest Presidential election I have seen in my 60+ years of life.   As the time grows short to November 8th,  when the election actually happens and the questions are resolved about who will occupy the White House for the next four years,  the Donald’s level of rhetoric is getting increasingly insane.   Just the other day,  at  a rally of his minions,   he claimed that if he loses the election it will be because of a world-wide conspiracy involving President Obama,  HRC,  and the vast ocean of uber-rich Commies  and Muslims out there that want to destroy America.    If this election were not so outrageously important, it would be a great TV Reality Show…   Should we, as a society,  accept and reward this kind of hateful rhetoric that is so obviously a lie?    The donald claims that he is the only one that can clean up the problems.   This is foolish,  and impossible.  If America is to improve, then, it will take the efforts of ALL of us…not one person.

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How can we go about this?   We, citizens,  must focus on supporting the President,  and demanding of our elected Representatives that they take actions that DO move America forwards.  The petty tantrums and obstructionism of the past eight years have got to end.   The Right-Wingers need to look up and incorporate the definition of the word “Compromise” into their lives,  and remember that if they want to keep their cushy, well paid jobs,  they must GOVERN…not simply engage in infighting.

Pleasant Dreams

Bee Man Dave