Our America is going through some difficult times right now.
Good times have been replaced by bad times.
Politicians on both sides are trying to convince us to follow them. They say what we want to hear, yet their talk doesn’t match their walk in many instances.
Running for public office has made them say just about anything that will make people clap and cheer.
They make us feel good for 50 minutes and then, like smoke, that feeling evaporates.
We are left disillusioned and disappointed.
The question at the podium is: can anything be done to change this feeling of despair?
In days gone by, we would not have to debate about civility and democracy going together.
It would be a no-brainer, yet today, we are living in times of mayhem and mean spiritedness.
When did this period of callousness begin?
It depends upon who you ask.
For some, this era of rancor and recklessness is just fine. They revel in it and love the confusion that it brings.
However, if you ask them about it, they ramble on about how much is wrong in America.
If you mention the January 6th catastrophe, they justify it in some awkward and nonsensical way.
I believe this period of insolence started in earnest with the last president of the United States of America.
Don’t get me wrong. There were problems before, but not to this extent.
As a nation, we were able to squash them, as they didn’t overwhelm us.
Bad people with bad intentions were in the background, however, they couldn’t get a foothold on our democracy.
I believe that closet haters and racists have come out of their dungeons, and are now in full view in America.
They spread lies and half-truths.
Sadly, they are influencing a significant number of people who lack understanding and clarity about the issues of the day.
According to reports by the Center for the Study of Hate and Extremism, hate crimes increased during the first half of this year. Data for this report was collected in fifteen major cities that have a combined population of 25.5 million people.
The FBI defines a hate crime as “a criminal offense against a person or property motivated in whole or in part by an offender’s bias against a race, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, gender, or gender identity.”
Arusha Gordon of the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights Under Law said, “It always makes me very nervous discussing the data around hate crimes just because we know that the data is really so lacking.”
With hate on the rise, America is falling and failing its citizens.
As midterm elections have come and gone, we will see what happens with those that we have elected to lead us.
Prior to the midterm elections, some states were being overly influenced by folks who wanted to see injustice reign supreme.
Candidates in some states had questionable credentials and dubious reputations.
America, we were being duped and hoodwinked.
Can we do better?
Yes, we can.
However, the sane amongst us must overcome the insane.
Whether you were a Democratic winner or a Republican winner, you must put America first on your agenda.
If you were a Republican winner, please do not talk about the 2020 election being stolen. It wasn’t, and Joe Biden is the president of the United States of America.
If you won, develop relationships with the other political party.
Being isolated and thinking that your way is the only way will not work.
Democracy is a cornerstone of the American way of life.
Be an advocate of right and not a carrier of wrong.
As we have all heard before, we are better together.