Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike the cold weather when it arrives each year? And this year is no different. It always feels like it comes on suddenly, as if yesterday was a gorgeous sunny 70-degree day. But I know that’s just my brain stuck on something it wants and can’t have.
But the cold is not coming from just our weather, it’s coming as well from the frigid blasts permeating our world from the recurrent guy, his hires and sycophants. Not a day, not an hour, it seems, goes by without a new social media post or executive order or statement informing us that what we thought we knew about our country simply isn’t true.
Such as, we aren’t a nation of law-abiding people; we are a nation of criminals that requires military intervention into our nation’s capital and our cities. We aren’t a nation that has been built on the constant inflow of immigrants from every corner of the world, who have contributed in endless, valuable ways to make this country (until this year) the envy of the world in nearly every way.
We aren’t a nation with a long history of slavery and discrimination against our country’s Black citizens. Slavery? No, that simply didn’t happen and we surely don’t owe anything to those who have suffered, and still are, from that thing that never happened, even today.
We also aren’t a nation that respects and values the roles women have come to play in every occupation that exists across government, business, academia, medicine, theater, journalism, policing, the military and ever so much more. Certainly not, women should be relegated to the kitchen and baby making.
And speaking of women, we certainly aren’t a nation that values a woman’s right to control her own body, medical decisions, or family choices.
We aren’t a nation that believes in the Constitution and the rule of law, definitely not. It’s always been the case that the president can order the attorney general to prosecute anyone he doesn’t like and she, within minutes, announces her intention to do just that. Even people found guilty of crimes by a jury of their peers can always expect a pardon from the president. That’s just how it’s always been, right?
And we definitely aren’t a nation that believes in science. Oh no, not in vaccines that have saved the lives of millions of people. No, no. Scientific research is bunk, no matter how many years of verified studies have proven otherwise. We know that the information put out by the CDC is untrustworthy, at least that’s true this year.
We also aren’t a nation that supports everyone’s right to be who we are and love who we love and worship as we choose. Yes, we insist on involving ourselves in the intimate details of everyone else’s personal lives. You would think that life is complicated and stressful enough, that people would rather just focus on their own lives. But no, we are a people that work overtime to make sure that everyone behaves just like us.
And we aren’t a nation that cares about our place in the world of democratic nations. Absolutely not! We don’t believe that alliances like NATO are of any use to us. Since we don’t believe in democracy at home, why would we support democratic nations around the world like the European Union, Great Britain, Canada, Ukraine, and so many others? No, forget that democracy stuff, we love Russia, Hungary and North Korea too!
And speaking of Ukraine, our recurrent guy has come up with a genius peace deal to end the Russian war on Ukraine. Yes, give lots of Ukrainian territory to the aggressor, Russia, force Ukraine to change its constitution so that it can never join NATO, and make it reduce its military size, as well as end the sanctions against Russia. What’s wrong with any of that? After all, Russia did invade Ukraine for no good reason other than it wanted to.
So, there you have it. This is who we aren’t. At least, it’s what the recurrent guy and his buddies say we aren’t.
But wait, isn’t it up to us to decide who we aren’t and who we are? I think we are the complete opposite of what they think. And I know that we will continue to work hard to reclaim the nation that still believes in the rule of law, in the rights and protections of all its people, in science, in our democracy and the democracies of our allies around world, in our history and in our Constitution.
Karen Gardner of Haydenville can be reached at opinion@gazettenet.com.