What do I think about America?

I’m going to be there soon for the first time in almost four years.

I was thinking today what I’m going to say when someone in my family asks me what I think of America.

Maybe something like:

I think that you’re lost control of your country. And I think you need to stop worshiping the people who’ve taken it from you.

I think you’re all fighting over what amount to minor differences relative to the actually major issues on which you mostly agree. You get lost in the weeds on issues like abortion because you end up stupidly yelling at each other without even discussing the details of the actual laws on the books.

I think you’re all right about some things and shockingly, tragically wrong about most things and I think the things that you’re the most passionate about are exactly the things that you’re the most wrong about.

I think most of you have lost any empathy for admitting that the people with other ideas might have a point about some things, which is obvious if you acknowledge how complicated and complex issues actually are. The only people who are certain there are simple solutions are the ones who don’t need them. They’ll be just fine if nothing gets done.

I think you have to stop hating the poor when it’s super-obvious that being poor isn’t even close to being someone’s own fault these days. There are so many external factors that “personal laziness”—the go-to reason and explanation—doesn’t even show up in the top-ten list.

I think you really need to dial back the violence and the militarism and the wars and the empire. It’s killing you, it’s killing everyone else, and it’s killing the planet. It’s also just plain immoral and unethical and hypocritical.

I think you’re all wrong to focus laser-like on the presidency when it doesn’t matter who’s president if legislatures are the ones passing the actual laws. Someone like Trump or Biden will convince you that the president is the most important thing, but that’s because it’s the most important thing to them. They want to be president, but they don’t actually want to accomplish anything.

What you all should be focusing on is figuring what you need most and then getting it. Living wages, health care, infrastructure, industry are all a good start. Instead, the NYS governor gives away $1B to a football team when upstate New York is dying, and no-one bats an eye.

The 0.1% have yoked the media into keeping you all fighting each other instead of banding together with torches and pitchforks to get your country back.

The way most of you are being screwed over from day to day, I’m honestly surprised there isn’t an attack on the capitol building every day. To be more effective, you should be storming the state legislatures and putting the fear of god into them.