Wednesday, July 2, 2025 at 4:38 PM
The Fourth will be celebrated with cheer by those who believe in the supremacy of the United States, who believe in ridding the country of immigrants, especially brown ones, and by those who believe that the country is on the right track. In other words, a minority of Americans will be celebrating the 4th, con gusto. Sure, we are all going to take the day off and barbecue and watch fireworks; but for most of us, that gnawing feeling at the bottom of our stomach will not go away; it’s there, like an upset stomach that Alka Seltzer cannot relieve. It’s like a slow- moving train running off the tracks, and the conductor cannot control the impending disaster.
In my opinion, America has already lost its supremacy. It has already lost its moral superiority it was once so proud of; that’s not my opinion, but the world’s. Europe, Asia, Canada, South America, Africa don’t respect us anymore. Some of these countries might fear America, but that supreme authority is gone. They are all looking inwards and to their neighbors for trade, defense and economic security.
Because of the unstable leadership by a president who is President, Congress, the Justice Department and all other institutions all rolled into one, including the Supreme Court, America is on a collision course with its own excesses. He does not consult anyone, acts on his own instincts, is his own advisor. Ruling with mafia-style precision, through blackmail and bribery and violence, when necessary, he has cowed everyone to do his bidding. And he’s having his way so far. But nothing good or bad lasts forever, and this nightmare will eventually end, hopefully before the damage to the country becomes irreversible and irrevocable. Wat a ting!
The level of corruption, of pettiness, of meanness, is at its worst under the leadership of this mad king. He has stopped arms shipments to Ukraine just as Russia is gaining ground in that forever war. He has held back food and medicine for children in underdeveloped countries. He wants to revoke the citizenship of those who protest his authoritarianism. He lets Netanyahu kill Gazans at will. Through his so called Big Beautiful Bill, he will be denying insurance and medical care for the same poor yahoos who supported him the most enthusiastically! The rich will get richer, and poor will be poorer, and America will sink further into debt. Oh, and the dollar is already losing its worth and currency worldwide.
The late George Carlin, one of the greatest comedians ever, said that politicians are products of the society they live in. They aren’t produced in factories; they reflect the people whom they represent. So, when Americans start whining about how they are ashamed of their country and the politics, they should look in the mirror and accept the consequences for their actions as citizens. The world is not looking at Trump with disgust, but every American citizen is a reflection of the chaos, the sturm and drang, that is America.
This administration is having its way, seemingly unstoppable in its attempts to recast America in its own image: White, male, Christian and superior! I believe that after the country has been exfoliated of the Browns, the Blacks and the Jews and the Asians will follow, unless the people rise up and demand a reversal of all these racist, anti-DEI policies, and all the illegal actions that this government is using to achieve its goal, of a White America.
I know, there’s a hopelessness and a feeling of inevitability, but I believe that people power still matters. Ask the czars and kings and dictators who have been brought down by that power. But the people have to wake up, stop waiting for intervention from someone else.
Until America opens its eyes and realizes that this is not the country or government we have always believed in, we will sink deep and deeper into that grip of darkness that is slowly eroding our democracy, our rights, our freedoms.
Happy Independence Day!
Glen