This Is Not The Best of Moments for the United States
– By Ed Kociela –
Whether it is the open defiance to COVID-19 safety measures, voter suppression laws, or gun laws, this is not the best of moments for the United States.
In fact, the country has clearly gone off its collective rocker.
All signs of sanity have clearly been washed away in a tide of ignorance, racism, and paranoia.
Things weren’t this bad even when Dick Cheney was the puppet master pulling strings on the beleaguered George W. Bush when we went into a seemingly endless war chasing weapons of mass destruction that simply did not exist. Nobody held them accountable for their lies and sleight of hand.
Things, however, are much worse now.
We have had more than 30 million cases of COVID-19 diagnosed, resulting in more than 549 thousand deaths. That’s on par with the number of U.S. military personnel who died in World War I, World War II, and Vietnam combined. Yet, instead of pulling together to take every measure to protect ourselves at this time, many would rather spend time arguing about who is to blame for the disease and politicizing a common-sense method of masking up to protect ourselves. Who would have thought that the simple act of wearing a mask to prevent the spread of a virus would result in such horrible behavior?
Georgia seems to be leading the way back to the segregationist Old South with new legislation aimed at voter suppression in response to the Big Lie’s continuation that the last election was rigged and the winner didn’t win. Georgia isn’t the only culprit in this blatantly racist endeavor, as other states – primarily those with Dixie roots – are also doing what they can to suppress the African-American vote. It is, of course, in response to the United States having elected a black man to sit in the White House and the African-American vote being the impetus for removing, arguably, the worst blot on our history last November. It’s payback, baby, and, well, you people of color are going to pay the price.
The one thing we seem capable of doing without much effort is killing each other in large numbers, as we have seen over the last few weeks when senseless shootings have rendered the sensible community numb once again. The cowboy mentality prevails as the 2nd Amendment continues to be distorted to allow us to assemble personal arsenals to be used whenever The Oath Keepers, Proud Boys, or qAnon decide to march again, which will happen. They claim they need these weapons for self-defense, but, from what I have seen, most of these self-proclaimed patriots and militia types have stockpiled many of these weapons, along with a frighteningly large weapons cache, that would support a small military junta. Besides, if you feel the need to carry a weapon to defend yourself, what does that say about you as a person? Perhaps your mouth is bigger than your brain? I mean, if you have to pull a weapon to settle a discussion, you can’t be that bright to begin with, you are a bully, and you have no regard for human life. Besides, if you and your fellow rednecks ever decide to really get down in the dirt and brawl, do you really think you have a chance going mano a mano against the U.S. military? If so, let me know in advance where to send condolences because you will either die or spend a lot of years locked up in a cage.
It’s good practice, of course, to offer some kind of solution. It was easy with the last administration: impeachment, which happened twice, was the answer despite leaving an ugly open wound after a presidency that will leave a scar for generations to come.
But, the arguments have been made, common sense has been offered, workable solutions presented to help us through this COVID-19 stuff, the voter suppression tragedy, and gun violence.
Nobody is listening.
Oh, our friends on the conservative side of the aisle may give lip service to all of this, shedding their crocodile tears as they offer their thoughts and prayers, but the truth is that is faux compassion. It sounds good, gives good optics, but I’ll be damned if there is a kernel of sincerity in their faithless words. On the other side, progressives continue to be too timid to force the issue. Gutless, to be honest with you, is probably a better descriptor.
But, let’s do our job and offer some solutions.
As far as masks?
Petition your Legislature to make their use mandatory. Demand that social distancing protocols remain in place until we attain herd immunity. Yes, the economy sucks right now, but it was headed south anyway before COVID-19 despite MAGA lies. Lives matter more than dollars.
As far as voter suppression?
You can fix this at the ballot box. Develop suitable candidates for the mid-term elections; candidates without deep-rooted racist ideology; candidates who believe in the Constitution and equality; candidates who believe in a system that served us well over the years until it had its throat slit by some razor-toting thugs.
As far as guns?
At this point, I cannot seriously find it within my heart to believe that any American has a right to bear arms, especially when it seems that all they are doing is drawing down on their fellow citizens. I know it will never happen, but at this point of desperation, the only way to defeat this scourge of hatred and insanity is to take all guns from all people. Do you want to hunt? Go to your local wildlife agency and check out a suitable hunting rifle. Handguns? Assault weapons? Recycle them. We could use steel. The practical solution, of course, if somebody uses a gun in the commission of a crime, not only do they go to jail, but the person who sold the gun goes to jail as an accomplice for making the weapon available if they did not submit a background check before selling it. Remember, every new gun sold is sold legally with proper checks. However, once it gets into the hands of good ol’ law-abiding citizens and cash gets laid on the table, things change.
In the end, it’s all about accountability, something this country has been lacking for some time now.
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