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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region Forums"My America, I hardly know you anymore"
https://www.chicagotribune.com/opinion/commentary/ct-opinion-america-guns-patriotism-20190816-gnht5zypy5aghhx2w6mrvatwiy-story.html?fbclid=IwAR2rH6LUmE_4coGlSerY8Z9JVF-fi2Qtjwb3NWGUbdCU4xiHdjMgBFnUphk
Commentary: My America, I hardly know you anymore
By Stephen J. Lyons
Chicago Tribune |
Aug 16, 2019 | 12:45 PM
snip//
Oh, my America, no more yellow ribbons for me. No more moments of silence. No more hand over heart as the fighter jets roar above an oversize flag in some tricked-out stadium bursting with inebriated fans drunk from the strange brew of sports and war. Instead, I will take a knee.
Oh, my America, you have traded my goodwill for your bad deeds. Pawned my obedient childhood pledges of allegiance for extended ammo clips, open carry and body armor. You sold me a hologram of life, liberty and the pursuit of freedom. But when I needed protection you handed me a shiny Glock and said, Heres your protection, pal. Aim for the heart. Trust me, you will get the hang of it.
Oh, my America, my eyes are filled with the endless tears of the traumatized. When I look at you today I see the coffins and the mounds of teddy bears stacked up at curbside vigils. I also see the dead-end faces of the 20-year-old white shooters who are high on hate and racism. I see the cynical profiteering pimps of the gun industry, cashing in on the latest mass shooting. See? they lecture us. We told you only a gun can protect you from each other. #gunssavelifes, they bellow. Tell it to the grieving families, I say. Look into their grieving eyes and tell them.
Oh, my America, you have told me over and over again that I am nobody to you. I am not a lobbyist, a senator, nor billionaire. I am not a brand name or media megaphone. I am invisible to you, the next statistic in your casualty count. But I am your American boy, the one from the mythical Heartland that you ally yourself with when you need to serve your political agenda. What will you do with me now that your fair-haired native son no longer believes in you?
Oh, my America, you will dismiss me as ungrateful. As simply noise that can be silenced with another slick public relations campaign. Its all about the right messaging, you whisper. You will slur me as a radical leftist. Yet, I am more patriotic than you. I believe in what was once special about this beleaguered nation. I believe in that shining city on the hill. I believe in Lady Libertys torch and the immigrants dream. I believe in welcoming the stranger to my door. I believe I should have the right to buy groceries without the fear of ending up as another chalk outline in some crime scene. I believe my grandchildren should not have to wear bulletproof backpacks to class and be forced to participate in live shooter drills. And, yes, I believe no one has the right to own an assault rifle.
Oh, my America, I ask, what is it you still believe in?
mcar
(42,371 posts)bronxiteforever
(9,287 posts)Demovictory9
(32,468 posts)lunasun
(21,646 posts)Oh, my America, you have always been violent. Wounded Knee. Hiroshima. My Lai. Selma. And now Columbine, Sandy Hook, Las Vegas, Orlando, Parkland, El Paso, Dayton. What to call this? Here, I will name it for you. I will say the word out loud so there is no longer any doubt.
This is madness. Are you even listening?
Hermit-The-Prog
(33,400 posts)hibbing
(10,107 posts)ffr
(22,671 posts)I remember growing up in an America where people didn't own and couldn't own assault rifles.
Oh, my America, you've lost your way.
AwakeAtLast
(14,133 posts)So spot on, so well done!
Aussie105
(5,420 posts)due to the daily violence, poverty, political instability.
New Zealand is nice this time of the year. Actually, quite a few countries are nicer. Denmark, Greenland, you name it really.
crazytown
(7,277 posts)The first 20 African slaves arrived by boat - and with it 'the right' to rape, maim, and murder human beings.
The 1619 Project (outside pay wall)
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/08/14/magazine/1619-america-slavery.html
NCLefty
(3,678 posts)And so true. :/
PandoraAwakened
(905 posts)raccoon
(31,118 posts)Scarsdale
(9,426 posts)for a raving lunatic and the republican party to destroy everything good about the country. They are traitors. I just read that Paul Ryan (aka Eddie Munster) is moving back to DC. Must not have been able to find a job as easy and lucrative as being in politics. These bastards NEVER go back to regular jobs, or even are able to support themselves without government grifting. Now they do not care who knows it.
last chance
(72 posts)Where I live fire arms used for hunting have limits on magazine capacity. A semiautomatic has a four shot limit to bad our law makers wont give people the same consideration as deer.
AllaN01Bear
(18,353 posts)spanone
(135,861 posts)Nitram
(22,853 posts)holding the line again Trump's attempts to reduce us to a dictator-led banana republic. We will use the constitution and due process to restore everything Trump has tried to destroy.