THE IDEA OF AMERICA

   America is more than a place, a country. It is far more than that. It is an amalgam of ideas, of ever evolving ideas, ever more interested in the right side of an issue, be it human rights in another country, or safety nets here in the USA,  or equal rights and the list is long. Was, or is, America perfect? Absolutely not. It has had its share of bias and prejudice and I remember my mother telling me of how in many places of work Jews were not welcome, or the signs or covenants of developments that forbade the presence of Jews. We, in our lifetime, have seen the colored and white signs, the anguish of segregation, the Freedom Riders, and the growing acceptance of the idea that people are people, no matter the color or ethnicity or religion or gender or orientation.
     We also found out that a great deal of abuse of women had gone on, a dirty open secret to many, and finally, people have spoken up, but of course, though many have been penalized, look at the creep in the White House, in the center of Trumpland, who has remained scotfree  and only time will tell if he faces the consequences. Look at the campaign to take away the rights of women over their own bodies, to make their own choices.
     America was a place built on immigrants, on fresh blood, bodies and ideas. Immigrants gave much to this land, from the simple laborer to Andrew Carnegie. Immigrants and their children have created marvels of technology, of medicine, of literature, of any field one can imagine - and others that arise. Without these immigrants we would not be America. Would only that that German immigrant who came here, left and then had to come back because his native country rejected him, his draft dodging, would that he had gone elsewhere and we would not have been burdened by his grandson, the draft dodging, selfish, biased degenerate we now have as our ostensible president. For shame on us!
     America was where one came to improve oneself, where one could sit freely in a cafe and discuss ideas to change society for the better. Were some ideas wild, or not thought through? Of course, but that is how mankind progresses - with discussion, refinement and action.
     America is the country where people cared, where the crudely and cruelly biased were forced to hide deep within a disguise for their views were not welcome here. Yet today, here they are, out in the open, attacking all who are not like them, refusing to accept all as Americans.
     So we have become a nation who imprisons children and in awful conditions. Read the story of the 15 year old who tells of the crowded cages - yes, cages, wherein girls were placed, even as young as three years old, how cold it was, how crude the accommodations, a mat and an aluminum blanket, how crowded, poor food, poor sanitary care and what the hell are we doing? Where is the America that strived to reach its ideals, that made mistakes, but tried, ever and always trying to improve. Instead we have an America of Jeff Sessions who is one of the worst people I have ever heard of and his hatred, his awful plans, expressed in his southern drawl, set shivers up and down my spine. He has essentially, with his new regulations, set up a formal and definite underclass of people living in this - OUR - country. He has taken the idea of America and turned it on its head.
     America has become an outcast among the nations. The Dutch prime minister put Trump in his place and showed up the stupidity, the moronic statements of Trump that something done is good, positive and if not done, also positive. Well, he was taken to task, swiftly and tersely, for that statement. This man likens the campaign against immigrants to clearing out a town in a military operation and he says he watched it  happening.  Yet another lie. He likens the forces of ICE to professional golf players. Huh! This man is hallucinating, obscene already with this garbage he spews out in a steady dirty flow.
      Is this America where a women injured badly is screaming in  pain but also begging not to call the ambulance as she cannot afford it? Where is the America that would defy plans to change our healthcare system that will turn into a two tiered one - one for the rich and one for the others.
     Where is America when private land is appropriated for border walls, when we take the land from the original people, for example Apaches, and build blockades on it against other people. We are the immigrants of so many years, hundreds of years and look what we have built. But also look at the original ideas of America and see how we have continuously striven to reach those idea, to attain them. We have fallen short in many areas, but we continued to try.
     That is the America I was so proud of, the America that made me proud to be an American. Today, on July 4, 2018, this is not the America that makes me proud. Instead, it makes me cringe in shame for what we have done and are doing. Our world literally is broiling in the sun and scientific facts are ignored all in the name of money or hate. A definition of a psychopath is given as In the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM-5, antisocial or psychopathic personality types are defined as having an inflated, grandiose sense of themselves, and a habit of taking advantage of other people.
Know anyone like that, a person of no remorse or empathy? I sure as hell do!!
     I want my America back again, a country of good people, trying to do better, to raise a family, who care for others, where life is getting better in every generation, where politicians remember that they are citizens of a country where their job is to serve the people, not their President alone. I want an America where when I sing G-d bless America, a song of gratitude written by the son of immigrants, an immigrant himself, who today would not have been allowed in, Irving Berlin, when I sing that song I mean it but for me to ask G-d to bless this America, the one we now have - I cannot, I simply cannot. I cannot ask a blessing for the progression of hate, of wrongdoing, of evil.
     Let us find the America we all know and love, the one that strives to care for others, the one that reaches out a helping hand and provides opportunities for all. 
      "America, America, G-d shed His Grace on thee, and crown thy good with brother(sister)hood, from sea to shining sea." Please.
      Happy July 4th. Appreciate its meaning.