Hatred or Unity

Up until now I have presented stories from the second phase of the In Search of America Project. I have endeavored to bring to light stories of people’s struggles, conquests, hopes, and fears; in an attempt to shed light on what America is now.

In doing so I have failed in one critical aspect: I failed to speak truth to the lies and misinformation that permeated the recent Presidential, Senatorial, and Congressional election races.

As I have always done, I have remained as unbiased in every story I have presented. I have told them with the utmost honesty, and authenticity. That will never change. What is changing is the subject matter of the stories I present. Many of them will be in the same vein as they have always been; but I will also begin presenting stories that elevate us above the misinformation, and outright lies - from all sides.

Since the Presidential election each of my Facebook posts have been commented on - in part, by those who voted for President-elect Donald Trump.  Those in this category have unanimously said that I was being extreme, unreasonable, and even misguided.

When I have replied with my reasoning - that many Americans are currently living in fear, the responses by those who voted for the President-elect have dismissed us.

Our fears are not unfounded. They are based solely on the words - the repeated threats of retaliation by the President-elect. Our fears are based on the President-elect’s repeated comments of how much he admires Adolf Hitler, as well as other dictators. Our fears are based on the President-elect’s repeated declarations of locking people up who disagree with him - including those who protest against him. Our fears are based on the President-elect’s words that - continuously, further incited hatred, divisiveness, and even violence.

The President-elect’s constant rhetoric that I refer to was what was spoken from his own mouth; not the assumptions or propagandized words of media outlets.

In a time when this country needs unity, more than it has since the Civil War, those who voted for the President-elect can only find words of condescension towards those of us who voted differently.

We are a divided nation, and if we don’t find a way to heal the division we may very well crumble.

Again, many of you will say that I am overreacting again, but look at history: the Roman Empire - an Empire so great that no one believed that it could ever crumble. Babylon, quite probably the first great nation… crumbled into antiquity. 

According to the Julius-Maximilians-Universität Würzburgdemokratie matrix

As of 2020 the United States is ranked 36, out of 176 countries for Democracy. The United States also begins the transition on the list from a “Working Democracy” to a “Deficient Democracy”.

Again I want to reiterate something that I have made clear in each of my social media responses: for me this election was not about political parties. For me this election was about voting for hatred, and anger, and divisiveness - or voting for unity. For the first time in all of the years I have been voting, the issues of the economy, foreign policy, etc., were secondary to hate vs unity.

That being said, if one takes an honest look at the primary issues: economy, border security, etc., they would see that our economy is at one of the highest levels since former President Clinton - who brought our budget into the black. Our current GDP has risen 4.94% just in the past year alone.

One would see that, during the Biden administration, more undocumented persons who crossed the border illegally, were returned.

As for oil production, from 2018 to present, the United States - in a steady incline, has produced more crude oil than any other country.

These are the facts. They have been retrieved from legitimate sources of origin, not from a media channel, or politician’s stumping. It is the facts that we must all pay close attention to - regardless of our political affiliations.

In closing I will leave you with this; on the day after the election - as my heart weighed heavy, I turned to music. Instead of playing one of my many playlists, I instead just hit ‘shuffle’. The first two songs that played spoke so appropriately, and gave me the clarity that I needed to move forward.

The first was “Broadsword”, by the band Jethro Tull. The other song was “Jerusalem” by Steve Earle. Both reminded me of where we are, as a nation, but also reminded me of the hope that still exists. But this hope that still exists must be dug from beneath the rubble, and lifted into the light once again - and not by a political party, but by us - the citizens that make up this country.

This is a time for us all to put aside political parties, and to reconnect with our common threads. During the five years that I was on the road with the In Search of America Project, I found our commonalities - and I found so many Americans who were connected with one another through these commonalities.

Let us crumble the current paradigms of hatred, and anger, and divisiveness - and return to our roots to reclaim all that was good about America.

Broadsword:

“I see a dark sail on the horizon
Set under a black cloud that hides the sun
Bring me my broadsword and clear understanding
Bring me my cross of gold as a talisman
Get up to the roundhouse on the cliff-top standing
Take women and children and bed them down
Bless with a hard heart those who surround me
Bless the women and children who firm our hands
Put our backs to the north wind, hold fast by the river
Sweet memories to drive us on for the motherland”