This idea that “America is the greatest country on Earth” that the majority, if not all of us, have been force-fed since birth is an illusion. That’s clear now. If one good thing will come from this shitshow we are living in right now, hopefully it will be that all of us will be able to see through new, clear, informed, and disillusioned eyes the problems that we have in this country, the things that have appeared normal to us that are not normal, and we will continue to fight alongside each other to fix those things.
We do not live in the greatest country on Earth. Far from it. We live in a country where money and greed are what get so many ahead. If you are in a position of power, you likely won't be penalized too harshly for violating policies or even for breaking the law. Officers can shoot and murder unarmed men and women, even children, and 9 times out of 10 will not be charged with any crime. A racist, sexist, xenophobic, egotistical, lying pig can be elected President, with some people rooting for him to the point of completely shutting out reality and taking everything that he says as complete truth when the fact is that he lies constantly.
We live in a country where adults live on social media and fight like teenagers, trading personal insults and calling names. We live in a country that is plagued with mass shootings, school shootings, and gun violence and where the majority of people don't seem to go about their days any differently when another group of innocent people are shot to death. We live in a country where people are more concerned with superficial bullshit than with paying attention to deeper meaning and trying to educate themselves. We live in a country where the attitude seems to be, "If it's not effecting me or my life directly, I don't care enough to do anything about it."
We live in a country where the easiest thing you can do to try and change things for the better is to vote, and yet while people are willing to sit behind their computers and bitch and moan about all of the problems that are going on in our government, they still cannot be bothered to click over to another tab, to type in “Absentee Ballots”, and to order one so that they can try and change the things they are bitching about by voting. We live in a country where a lot of people seem more concerned with mindlessly scrolling through Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or Instagram, or with binge-watching the Kardashians and other ridiculous TV shows, than with dedicating any of their free time to trying to help fight to improve a country that is broken.
We need change. Everyone who cares at all needs to stand up and demand change. If you agree, do something about it. There are a lot of things you can do: help canvass, phonebank, volunteer for a campaign that you believe in, volunteer to stand outside a polling place on Election Day and help anyone who has questions, make phone calls, write letters, visit your Senators’ offices, protest...those are all things that do make a difference, even if it’s not an immediate difference. But you know the biggest way to make a difference, in our government and society? Vote. That should go without saying, but even now unfortunately, some people need reminding. They need a push in that direction or they will sit on their hands until Election Day passes and say, “Ah well, my vote doesn’t matter, anyway.” It does, and could you imagine if everyone had that attitude? No one would vote!
That’s basically where we are; not enough people vote and that is why you don’t see everyone and their different ages, races, genders, cultures, beliefs, etc., represented in the people in our government. That is why we have a bunch of old, ignorant, conservative white shitheads running this country and making decisions that do not reflect the majority of the American people and what they care about in 2018. That is why we live in a country where progress has not occurred as quickly as it has in other countries. That is our fault because so many of us don’t take part in our democracy and vote.
We all need to work to make positive change happen in this country, because we are the only ones who will. You shouldn't talk or complain about the issues in this country unless you are willing to fight to improve or to fix them. We do not live in the greatest country on Earth, and we don’t need to, but we do need a lot of things to change here before anyone can make a statement like that without it seeming like a desperate attempt to prove something and to overcompensate for our many problems. We can and need to do better. Please keep this in mind and do your part.