Do you remember being addressed as "My Fellow Americans" by a president?  As if there was something that unified us, even with our differences, our prejudices, our fears.  I remember.

I remember it coming out of Richard Nixon's mouth, when the Watergate crisis was about to chew him up and spit him out.  I remember it from George W. Bush, when he had to address this horrified nation as we watched the towers fall.  I remember it from Barack Obama when he address the nation to tell us Osama Bin Laden had been killed.  

But there's one man that refuses to embrace our nation as a whole.  His aim has always been to divide, alienate, belittle and outright lie about anyone that has a differing view.  Now there's even an attempt to criminalize those that disagree.   Silencing opposition is not constitutional behavior, it's authoritarianism.  "My way, or else."

I think people are good, for the most part. We are a people who have built a belief system based on our upbringing, our level of education, our travels, our circle of friends and the information we consume.  So, if there's something that fits into our belief system, that thing is comforting, so it's right, and the opposing idea is wrong and we'll shout at each other until we're blue in the face, defending our beliefs.    

But beliefs aren't facts.  Beliefs are a chosen set of ideas or ideals.  They. Are. Chosen.  

Well, I choose to believe that we are a nation of people trying to survive.  99.9% of us are a couple missed paychecks, or a serious illness and medical bills away from homelessness, and we all know that.  That should be something that unites us...a common thread. But we are a nation being poisoned by what we consume.  Poisoned by the demonization of anyone we might consider "other", and there is a propaganda machine that feeds us hate every minute of every day.   Fear, hate, and a sick Schadenfreude fills our TV screens, and there's a person in power that has surrounded himself with others that spew out the lies and hate then they feed on our fears.  

Caption reads, "[View of the huge crowd from the Lincoln Memorial to the Washington Monument, during the March on Washington]" Original black and white negative by Warren K. Leffler. Taken August 28th, 1963, Washington D.C, United States (@libraryofcongress). Colorized by Jordan J. Lloyd. Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, D.C. 20540 USA https://www.loc.gov/resource/ds.04417/

Unseen Histories

We The People

The long lost idea of unity

Do you remember being addressed as "My Fellow Americans" by a president?  As if there was something that unified us, even with our differences, our prejudices, our fears.  I remember.



We The People

The long lost idea of unity

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Frances Leah King

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We The People

The long lost idea of unity

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What "Me" am I now

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