'YA' GOTTA' HAVE FAITH

  ...And believe me, if the faith is not there, then well, I do not know how one survives this crazed, ever-growing in insanity, world of ours. It seems that there is not a whit of difference be it the insanity on a personal, one on one situation or on a national or international level. People are simply reeling, placing obstacles where they should not be and removing them where they most definitely need to be. Rhyme, reason, justice - all seem to have been abandoned by the wayside. Morality? Say what?

Not so long ago a certain level of off the proper path was accepted in politicians, kind of came with the job description. There were few, if any, angels among them. However, there was a modicum of understood strata beneath it all.  Politicians would remember that no matter the Party of choice, they were all Americans. As such primary loyalty was to the people, to the nation, not anywhere else. Certainly, larger, more glaring aberrational behavior would put an end to a career.

Today we are upside down. The more egregious the violations of once commonly accepted behavior the more likely to be rejected, even disgraced is no longer true. Today, the most glaring choice of favor seems to be the crooked, the morally challenged, shall we say. The bigger the lie, the bigger the audience of the faithful. The more obnoxious violations, the better excuses made to write off that behavior. 

Morality? Honesty? Duty to nation and country? Justice, fair and impartial? Inclusivity within the traditional mixing bowl that is, was, should always be America? Gone like the wind. Ever to return? Well, that is where faith enters. Faith that people can and will return to sanity. Hard push there, long haul up an ever increasing, hostile slope and in a most unwelcome climate. There is no other way to salvation other than 'ya gotta' have faith! Hard as that might be, as unlikely and far away as that retro reality, that change in attitude seems to be.

A letter to the editor in Saturday's NYT stated what we all know is the truth, as he writes that the man isn't in jail is amazing. That the man is running for office is a disgrace. I will add this: the growing numbers of those who follow this man, who accept lies as a permanent mainstay of life, who willfully, eagerly, jump onto a rickety, life-threatening wagon, is a dire threat to the survival of an American democracy. Why the hell cannot so many see it, fight through the fog blinding their eyes, see the truth as is, not as we wish it to be. Or is.

Faith in the basic goodness of the American people, with the memory strong within us of the confident even arrogant, American, striding through life, knowing that warts and all, America was the best thing for a sick world. Today, we are the sickest of all, fallen the furthest, cracked its terra firma,  shattered it, on the way to a weak scrum of 50 or so pathetic ministates, with no power, with no morality, with little in the way of takeovers by dictators, and a miserable life for the population at large. A great big ugly existential threat. Do we have the faith that we can and must overcome this, block this path to the dead future and instead revive an America almost dying, ready for its deathbed?

In Ukraine the people are fighting the giant who has invaded, sacrificing people, the very infrastructure of life to the idea of democracy, of law, of a civilian population functioning freely. In Iran, led by brave, mostly young women, to the point of death, there is a growing revolution which I so hope succeeds. Why are these people capable of sacrificing all in the name of freedom and justice while we, in America, are giving it away, throwing it away, hand over fist.

Today we are allowing ourselves to sink into a morass of holier than thou people who have one goal in mind - to rule this country, to impose their religion, their philosophy, their hatreds and biases upon us. Here are policies from two national giant chains of drugstores, the main source for Americans to receive their doctor prescribed medicines. Faith is eroding rapidly.

Walgreens updated its company policy to allow pharmacists to use their discretion and "professional judgment" when determining the legality of a prescription based on local laws. CVS has gone a step further, requiring its pharmacists to confirm a medication won't be used to terminate a pregnancy before it fills a prescription, 

Is that the world we want, we wish for our kids? I hope not. I do have faith, but I must confess that its bright colors are shrinking fading, becoming well tattered at the edges of hope.

Time to reject the morally filthy. Time to reject the aberrant behavior we have tolerated for too long. Time to be better Americans, better people, before we lose the chance.

Ya gotta have faith, and that faith must be joined with others professing faith. Faith in us, the people, the very core of this country. Before the opportunity is gone. Never, I fear, to return.