Half of America

Posted on by under Global Issues, Social commentary

No man is an island,

Entire of itself,

Every man is a piece of the continent,

A part of the main.

If a clod be washed away by the sea,

Europe is the less.

As well as if a promontory were.

As well as if a manor of thy friend’s

Or of thine own were:

Any man’s death diminishes me,

Because I am involved in mankind,

And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls;

It tolls for thee.

– John Donne

Yesterday, Americans had a choice.  Almost equally divided, half of America chose to bring to a close 240 years of a mostly great nation.  Half of America spoke and here is what they said:

  • We no longer wish to be a part of the larger world, but rather we wish to be an island. On our island, we wish to have only people with very pale skin, Aryans, so to speak.  On our island, we wish to have only those who believe in the same God as we do. We wish to expel all those who believe, think or look differently than we do by whatever means are necessary to achieve our goal of an all-white, Protestant, Anglo-Saxon, heterosexual population.
  • We no longer wish to spend our time and resources to help other people, but to attend only to our own comfort. We no longer wish to pay taxes to ensure that those less fortunate than us can feed, clothe and shelter their families. In the words of Marie Antoinette, “let them eat cake!” We no longer care whether people who are sick can get medical attention.  We have too many people on earth using our precious resources as it is – let the sick people die for all we care.
  • We no longer value human life. Although we plan to abandon much of the U.S. Constitution in favour of a more authoritarian form of government and a more elitist society, we will continue to expand our 2nd Amendment rights. We do not intend to have restrictions on the possession of, not only firearms, but any other weapon. We believe that each of our lives are more important than any other, and we will be armed wherever and whenever we so choose.
  • We no longer wish to participate in our government, but rather we prefer a dictator to make all decisions for us. Participation in the decisions of government require effort on our part, require that we read and learn about pesky issues such as the economy, infrastructure, and foreign affairs.  We prefer to leave such things to the men at the top so that we may spend our days watching Duck Dynasty and gossiping on social media.
  • We no longer care about preserving the earth and the environment for future generations. Rather, we think of ourselves as the ‘now generation’.  Who knows what will happen in the next century, decade, or even tomorrow, so we shall live for today and let future generations worry about themselves.  We consider it an inconvenience to be told to turn our thermostat down, or to drive our cars less.  Our comfort is paramount.
  • We no longer believe in the importance of education. We are tired of our tax dollars being spent to send our children to schools where they are not even taught the values we believe in, but rather are taught such frivolous things as environmental science, history and the like.  We are tired of our young people being taught to think for themselves in colleges and universities – we prefer that their minds remain closed to outside ideas.
  • We no longer believe that women should be considered equal to men, but rather that they exist solely for the comfort and convenience of men. We believe that a woman’s place is in the home, not above some imaginary glass ceiling making decisions that men are more capable of making. We no longer wish there to be laws to suppress a man’s natural inclination toward women, and further, we will henceforth allow men to make all decisions about a woman’s body.
  • We no longer wish to be a nation that supports equality or promotes financial security for all. We do not believe that wealthy people should be obligated to share their wealth, nor to pay taxes in accordance with their wealth.  We believe that wealthy people are special and that they have been chosen to rule our nation, to make the decisions for us so that we do not need to think for ourselves. We no longer support minimum wage laws, nor will we continue to support such programs as Social Security and Medicare.
  • We no longer wish to trade goods and services with other nations. We wish to produce what we need here in the U.S., keep our products in the U.S., and we do not wish to import goods and services from other nations.  Our new motto will be ‘self-sufficiency’. We no longer wish to see cheap clothing from Taiwan, or Christmas ornaments made in China.
  • In sum, we no longer wish to be the United States of America of yore. We no longer support the values of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness for all, but only for ourselves. We no longer care about people who are struggling, but only ourselves.  We no longer wish to concern ourselves with the world as a whole.  Other nations will no longer be able to rely on our friendship, and we no longer wish to have friends outside our own borders. We believe ourselves to be a race superior to all others and we no longer need to have tolerance for any who are different than us.  Those who do not wish to live in our new nation have exactly 72 days to ‘shape up or ship out.’

And those are the values, if one can call them values at all, that will define the nation after January 20, 2017.  To the half of America that made this choice, I say only that I hope you will be happy with the results of your choice, but I suspect that you will not.  When you realize the consequences of what you have chosen, be very, very quiet, because the other half of us will not wish to hear your lament, nor will we be quick to empathize with your plight. As the old saying goes, ‘you made your bed, now you have to lie in it’.  To the half of us who tried to do the right thing … I send hugs, love, and a hope that we can survive whatever comes next.

Note to readers:  I realize the tone of this post is sardonic and negative, and I apologize, but I needed to say what I said.  Bear with me, please, while I find my new direction.

21 thoughts on “Half of America”

  1. Pingback: Half of America — Filosofa’s Word | Ms. Shada Burks/ Self Published Author

  2. Things seem like they are certainly going to get worse before they get better but i still have hope that they will get better. I wouldn’t write off America just yet. There’s a reason why you are the greatest nation on Earth. You’ll be fine, fam.

    In something not completely unrelated, am I the only one who is not as worried about Trump as about Pence. One of the lasting impressions about President Obama’s presidency I’m going to have is how long he spent reading. I have read severally on how much time he spent reading up on policies and other important stuff.

    Trump doesn’t seem like the type of person who’ll have the time or patience to do the hard work of ruling. I feel he’s just gonna be a proxy, the face of the presidency and Pence is gonna do all the hard work and a United States being effectively managed by Pence seems kinda scary……

    Liked by 1 person

    • Hey there, li’l bro! Yes, I am getting my voice back and coming up out of the sadness that engulfed me immediately after the election, so I expect we will all survive.

      As for Pence … you are not the only one to comment that he may be worse than Trump. I have thought about it, discussed it with some fellow-pundits, and I’m just not convinced. Now, granted, I abhor his stance on LGBT, and the legislation he helped pass in Indiana. That won’t do at all. However, I think he is less reactionary, less thin-skinned and narcissistic than Trump. The thing that most concerns me about Trump is that he will not ‘play nice’ with leaders of other nations, as he thinks he is superior, and will start WWIII. Alarmist? Perhaps. But we have no history by which to judge him, so we can only judge based on the rhetoric he has spouted for the past 16 months. Time will tell, but already he seems to be backing down on some of the things he promised his blind followers, and I am finding humour there!

      Glad to hear from you tonight … I’ve missed you, but haven’t even had time to pop into your blog. Hopefully life will slow down just a bit now that the election is over. 🙂

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      • Alarmist? I don’t think so. War has always been a possibility what with Putin’s need to flex Russia’s very large muscles and having a completely unpredictable person as leader of the free world just makes that possibility grow…..

        I wrote an article which will be published tomorrow that considers how the US reneging on its alliances, notably with NATO, which could embolden Putin to do a Crimea on Estonia for example and kick start a series of events similar to WW1.

        I’ll send you a link when it’s published.

        Liked by 1 person

  3. Powerful comparisons of “them” and “us.” Well done. Now? We pick up the pieces. Re-group. All is NOT lost. The glass is still 48-49% half full. NOT down and out. (Deep down…way down…I am locked and loaded…and excited: I am really curious to see how it all plays out. I have my passport–and your letter to the Prime Minister of Canada. AND a map of Costa Rica. Just in case. But don’t you want to stay around for the party? Just think: FOUR MORE YEARS! Now it is “OUR” turn. What does Sen. Mitch say/do now? A white man is in the White House. I am excited when I heard Sen Rand Paul. And the times are a changin’!!!)

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  4. Jill, as we reacted to Brexit with concern from an outsider’s viewpoint, the world is reacting with even more concern to our election for all of the reasons noted. Nonetheless, we must come together as a country. And, we must support the President Elect as his success is ours. I share all of your concerns and disappointment, yet our coming together has to be more from the ground up, as we can not rely only on our leaders. Keith

    Liked by 1 person

    • Sigh. I know you are right, Keith. My head knows it, but my heart still wants to lash out. But your comment has given me pause and made me think. If we continue to simply rant, then we are, I suppose, lowering ourselves to his standards, and that is something I never wish to do. As Michelle Obama said, “when they go low, we go high.” So I am going to try to go high, though I don’t promise that I won’t still be a sharp critic, because I cannot simply lie down and pretend to like the things that I think are wrong. Thanks for making me think … I think 🙂

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    • Dear Keith and friends.

      Having been a republican until recently, you would think that it would be easier for me to be gracious in DT’s victory but alas, this is not the case. I left the party of Abe Lincoln because I could no longer condone all the hate speech and that too many in this party were condoning and supporting the likes of DT.

      However, I am more than willing to see how he intends to govern. For example, if he presses forward on rebuilding our infrastructure; providing the incentives to create great paying jobs, I’ll be thrilled to be supportive.
      If he goes forward with the repeal of Obama Care without offering an alternative, I do not intend to be a doormat.

      Ciao, Gronda

      Liked by 1 person

      • You know what makes our blogging community so interesting, Gronda? As I just told Hugh, we may all address the same general topic, but we offer differing perspectives! I find the uniqueness fascinating, and I always learn from others, especially you, Hugh and Keith! So, you write from your heart, I will write from mine, and hopefully we all benefit from the variety! Hugs and love! ❤

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    • Thank you for your kind words. I was afraid I might come across as too negative, but I am not feeling at all positive at the moment. Yes, a ‘sad’ button and a ‘mad’ button might be a good idea … especially now!

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  6. I suspect that a great many people are going to start regretting their vote soon after the man takes office — if not before. They were swept up in a group dynamic that wears off eventually. And when the dust clears they will wonder what the hell they did!! And don’t forget if the man pisses off his colleagues in Congress (and how can he not?) they may impeach him!

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  8. I can see it is going to be hard times for the U.S., trying to come to terms with this election and with what will follow. I hope there will be enough sane people in the government to guarantee some common sense and balance. As for us here, on the other side of the big pond, we try to keep our doors open, but we are on guard (except for the right-wing populists who shout with glee…). In every I comment I read from European politicians (except for the aforementioned populists) I hear caution, wariness, bundled with politeness and half-outstretched hands. A bit like “ok… we are still partners, but it would be good if some explanations about our future relationship would follow soon.”
    … As for the personal reactions of people I know… well, I will send you an email about that… 😉
    Take care, don’t despair! Hugs!

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    • Yes, that is EXACTLY how I read their comments! Most impressed me with their dignity, except for your Geert Wilders and Le Pen in France, both of whom may end up on my idiot of the week column before long! Looking forward to that email … I thought about you and wondered your reaction. I am feeling better this morning … a bit of sleep helped! Imagine that! 😀

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