Setting aside the argument over whether or not a nation can possess a soul, I’d like to add to your deeply well-intentioned letter to America. A nation’s “soul” is only as good as the souls who lead it. Currently, our leaders, many who purport to be followers of Christ, seem to believe that cruelty and greed are virtuous.
Many Americans voted for the current leadership to restore a better cost of living across the board for working families, and instead in the latest piece of legislation, signed into law today,they gave a tax break to the richest top ten percent while creating an unbearable burden on the poorest folks in the country. By cutting food assistance programs and Medicaid for the poorest among us, (17 million people will lose their health coverage while many will see their premiums rise), to make no significant reduction in the deficit to help future generations, lawmakers and the president are both cruel and focused on further enriching themselves and those who don’t need more to live comfortably.
This same legislation adds millions of dollars to ICE programs to deport immigrants. Now many voted to have the problem of illegal immigration addressed but now seem to have soured on the issue, due to the cruelty and lack of empathy/human decency shown by the leadership.
What kind of soul can a country have if it pays men in masks without badges or uniforms to unexpectedly show up to workplaces and schools, to detain human beings without a warrant, to send them off to prisons in foreign countries without letting their loved ones know where they have been taken. Tearing parents away from crying children, etc. In some cases, later to discover the folks they’ve “disappeared” were living, working and paying taxes in our great country for decades.. in some cases finding out that they had wrongfully taken a legally documented citizen because they “looked like” an illegal immigrant.
Again, the cruelty seems to be the point and that feels soulless to me, less American, more like Germany in the 1930s.
I truly hope what historian John Meachum says is true for our country now. None of this seems precedented in my lifetime.
If we’re taking time to honestly reflect on the reality of all that has transpired over the last few years, we’re going to need more than an abstract Dear America letter, or a stern letter to our soulless representative to save our nation’s soul.
I fear things will have to get a lot worse before they can get better. The people who voted for Trump will not only have to feel the consequences of their choice, but connect those consequences to him. What Trump excels at is deflecting blame, and now he has not only cowed and tamed the media, but has the whole power of the Federal government cowed and tamed as well. Speaking truth to power has only gotten more dangerous in this country.
Setting aside the argument over whether or not a nation can possess a soul, I’d like to add to your deeply well-intentioned letter to America. A nation’s “soul” is only as good as the souls who lead it. Currently, our leaders, many who purport to be followers of Christ, seem to believe that cruelty and greed are virtuous.
Many Americans voted for the current leadership to restore a better cost of living across the board for working families, and instead in the latest piece of legislation, signed into law today,they gave a tax break to the richest top ten percent while creating an unbearable burden on the poorest folks in the country. By cutting food assistance programs and Medicaid for the poorest among us, (17 million people will lose their health coverage while many will see their premiums rise), to make no significant reduction in the deficit to help future generations, lawmakers and the president are both cruel and focused on further enriching themselves and those who don’t need more to live comfortably.
This same legislation adds millions of dollars to ICE programs to deport immigrants. Now many voted to have the problem of illegal immigration addressed but now seem to have soured on the issue, due to the cruelty and lack of empathy/human decency shown by the leadership.
What kind of soul can a country have if it pays men in masks without badges or uniforms to unexpectedly show up to workplaces and schools, to detain human beings without a warrant, to send them off to prisons in foreign countries without letting their loved ones know where they have been taken. Tearing parents away from crying children, etc. In some cases, later to discover the folks they’ve “disappeared” were living, working and paying taxes in our great country for decades.. in some cases finding out that they had wrongfully taken a legally documented citizen because they “looked like” an illegal immigrant.
Again, the cruelty seems to be the point and that feels soulless to me, less American, more like Germany in the 1930s.
I truly hope what historian John Meachum says is true for our country now. None of this seems precedented in my lifetime.
If we’re taking time to honestly reflect on the reality of all that has transpired over the last few years, we’re going to need more than an abstract Dear America letter, or a stern letter to our soulless representative to save our nation’s soul.
I fear things will have to get a lot worse before they can get better. The people who voted for Trump will not only have to feel the consequences of their choice, but connect those consequences to him. What Trump excels at is deflecting blame, and now he has not only cowed and tamed the media, but has the whole power of the Federal government cowed and tamed as well. Speaking truth to power has only gotten more dangerous in this country.