THE UGLINESS OF IT ALL

     Are you embarrassed to be an American right now? Are you wondering where the country has gone, how it chose the terrible path we are on? Does the constant inching away from democracy bother you at night as you stare into the darkness, feeling the ever increasing darkness of the country which once provided a light to the world?
     Ugly American is no longer a term from the 50's but rather a term which describes so many of us right now, particularly among the Republicans, the man in theWhite House, his VP, and yes, some Democrats who seem to have lost the realization that anti Semitism needs to be fought and is not an okay prejudice! It is not okay to show one's pc credentials through fear of condemning Moslem Jewphobia, to coin a term, allowing them freedom to voice terrible statements.
     We have ugliness as Trump, in his demented plans coming from his demented mind, uses people as pawns, not caring whether they are children, sick people, helpless in a strange country, a country which used to treat its immigrants properly. So now we have dumpings to "punish" cities who dared to criticize his inhumane plans and treatments of asylum seeking migrants. We have ugliness as he and his minions spread falsehoods about them, calling them all sorts of dangerous names, even as they are not, even as statistics prove him wrong.
     We have ugliness every time that man and his stooges open their twisted mouths and use their forked tongues. They portray uglinessin its darkest manifestations as they accept support from white nationalists, from individuals of twisted opinions and minds. We have ugliness in their approach to democracy, trying to eliminate it, trying to destroy the very basis and form of our government, as Trump constantly challenges the constitutional limits to his powers and his reach.
     And yet, we also have some lights that shine through in the darkness that encroaches upon our country. We have volunteers. We have protests. We have determination to forge forward and do the right thing. But we also must have the courage to turn away those who leech upon our protest, our movements and use them for their own hateful purposes and goals. Prejudice does not belong in the Women's March. Linda Sarsour must go. In Congress, proper censure must be made on Omar and Tlaib when they voice hateful and hurtful and dangerous lies re Jews and Israel and our country.
     This hatefullness that pervades our country is also found in the rest of the world. It seems that darkness is catching. Dictatorship is on the rise. Nativism is on the rise. Isolation as a principle of government is on the rise. Battles for power with no leavening of reason or justice is on the rise all over the world, here and in other countries.
     The ugliness of Trump and his minions, of his statements, policies and plans permeate the firmament of the world. Evil does its best work under cover of darkness and the fear and cowardice that comes with it. We must break the growing darkness. We must eliminate the fear, the rising tides of hatred. We must fight the ugliness of it all.