As an old flag-waving military veteran, it isn’t easy to say that I’m ashamed of my country. But I no longer identify with the America I once knew.
A failed system of justice has seemingly blinded many who witnessed the Jan. 6 insurrection, followed by presidential pardons, and they have accepted that no one was held accountable for inciting the attack on our democracy.
More recently, we forcibly and mistakenly removed people from their homes, denied them due process and whisked them off to another country for uncharged crimes. We then claim we can’t undo our error. There is talk of doing the same to “homegrown” Americans said to be terrorists. “First they came for … .”
Our president sides with a former KGB agent and Russian dictator and falsely says Ukraine, the victim, started the horrible war in eastern Europe. It seems this president has unlimited adoration for dictators.
The America I once knew and loved provided food and medicine to people in distant lands, even those this president calls “(expletive)-hole countries.” Do we no longer care? Have we no sense of decency or inclination to demonstrate acts of kindness toward other humans less fortunate than our own citizens … those with dark skin?
I am a stranger in this land where I was born, and I don’t recognize this America where I grew up, once proud to be known worldwide as the land of the free and home of the brave.
Glenn R. Plummer
Unity