(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . My country is hurting itself. [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.', 'Backgroundurl Avatar_Large', 'Nickname', 'Joined', 'Created_At', 'Story Count', 'N_Stories', 'Comment Count', 'N_Comments', 'Popular Tags'] Date: 2023-02-03 MAGA on display At some point today I realized there was one thing the GOP said that was true. I don’t love my country anymore. This is a fact, unfortunately, then I asked myself why. The answer was pretty simple, because of republicans and their beliefs and policies. Do I love the stripping of rights from women? Nope, not at all. Do I love the way the republicans talk about and compare women to farm livestock? Nope, in fact I really despise that. Do I love the airtime conservatives burn up talking about women as lesser, dumber and lazier than the almighty white man? Nope, I actually hate that. Do I love the churches using their unholy platform to demand that women be removed from public consideration and treated as property? Nope, and I refuse to force anyone into such a two dimensional fairytale. It was never true, you can’t return to a time that never existed. Do I love the way that republicans are trying to outlaw being transgender? Nope, not in love with that at all. Demanding that people who feel their gender is different than their physical situation suck it up and live in misery? Why? What possible benefit can come from their pain and unhappiness? Why should it be illegal for them to be happy in their own body? I may not be happy in my aging edifice, but, no one is trying to outlaw facelifts. Gender is very personal to each individual, it’s their truth! How can you outlaw allowing them to have the container match the content? Let them be who they are! Do I love paying more in taxes than billionaires? Nope, that’s just wrong. Why am I carrying Elon Musk and Bill Gates? They are NOT paying their fair share! They should be required to at least pay as much as I do. Taxing the poor to force them to support the luxuries of the wealthy? That’s just cruel and evil. Raising taxes on the poor to pay the wealthy? Un American! Hateful! Disgusting! I really hate that one and the republicans want to steal what little we have (Medicare, Medicaid, social security, snap, education) and replace it with…..? Higher taxes and longer hours? Shortening life expectancy? Slow death in servitude to the rich? Screw that! I really don’t love even the thought of that, the reality is even worse. By the way doctors and drug companies, how much will you make when only the billionaires can afford your services? Let’s not forget the rising cost of food due to CEO’s watching the rising profits and protecting the shareholders cuts at the cost of starving the people. As long as the market goes up it’s all good. People are going hungry and children don’t get food for a few days? Work harder for even less you peasants! No free ride! If you only work 15 hours a day, you ain’t trying! Minimum wage is too high and cutting into the profits! Get rid of it! If you enjoy anything happening in that paragraph, seek psychiatric help, you are a serial killer. Either that or you are a Republican…same thing. I am surrounded by trump followers who are armed to the teeth just waiting for the high sign from the feckless leader to cheer as someone else shoots me. They are champing at the bit to see me executed (by someone else) while they cheer. While the locals can’t wait until I’m dead and they will take everything I owned as theirs, they are not risking prison by doing it themselves. Do I hate that? Yup, I do. I quit saying the pledge of allegiance long ago because I view it as tying my full honor to everything my country does in the eyes of all I hold sacred…nope, not going to do that. I don’t believe in starving the poor, using prisoners as slaves, cops being above the law, cops murdering men, women and children in the name of…fear of minorities….wrong religion? It’s still murder and yes, damn it, BLACK LIVES MATTER! And dear little delicate white folks, this does not mean your lives don’t matter, yours are not under threat. Black lives are very much under threat, it needs to stop. Do I love the fact that many churches have become tax exempt political organizations? Nope, I don’t like that one little bit. Do I love the fact that the NRA is a tax exempt, money laundering free for all that is escalating gun violence in the name of….guns? Profits? Sales? Bigotry? All of the above? I’m sick of mass shootings. I know most of us are. I don’t go out much anymore because I’m sick of seeing some moron with a gun on their hip at McDonald’s, or baskin robbins. I’m so sorry for families who send their kids off to school everyday, school should not be a high risk area. If you can’t go for a walk in the park without one or more guns, you have mental problems and therefore are not safe with weapons. Fortunately I shop on a military base (no guns allowed) so I don’t take my life in my hands to buy groceries. I don’t go to movies (too many guns, not enough masks), or malls. If I’m shopping and someone comes in with their gun hanging handy? I leave. I figure a good guy with a gun looks exactly like a bad guy with a gun and should be avoided equally. This means it’s best to avoid Walmart on any day ending in Y. Do I love the country? Yes. I love the moments of joy and happiness. I had a young man (he looked about 10) trying to cast and accidentally hooking me through my jacket. He and his parents were very quick to try and untangle and unhook me. I was unharmed and they seemed very worried I’d be angry. I smiled and told the young man if anyone asked if he caught anything, tell them he caught a grannie. He smiled. His family laughed. No harm intended or done. As for the jacket? It’s old and already snagged…I wear it to work outside, why worry? I love seeing dogs walking their people and vice a versa. I love watching kids having fun with each other and/or their families. Kids vs adults playing games is usually good for a smile. Kids learning to ride bikes while their parents help and encourage them? Beautiful and always a joyful moment. Having an idiot show up with pamphlets and a church sign wearing a grim look? Kills the mood in the park and clears it out quick…hmmm says more about the state of religion than anything else really could. No one wants (or needs) you there…take a hint when it punches you in the face and leave. On second thought, I do love my country…I just hate the extremist who are destroying it. So if you love trump, putin, rand paul, or any of the magga crowd, you don’t love America, and I will be the first one to tell you that to your face. No wonder you fly the confederate flag, we beat you before you know, it’s the United States not The Confederate States. End the free ride for billionaires, corporations are NOT people, the solution to gun violence is NOT more guns, police are not above the law, neither are politicians. Let people love and marry, raise families if they want (2 dads, 2 moms whatever…as long as it’s a loving home). Let people be the gender they are inside and out, the silly bathroom argument is silly and everyone who uses it is admitting they would rape or molest young girls/boys given half a chance (think about it…they are). I’ve spent days worrying about my grandchildren and the world they face. I’ve lost many of my pets to age, I’ve got a dog, a cat and recently acquired a juvenile ball python, I’m running out of distractions from the stupids. I’m done with brainless magga nuts who hate my country and want to twist it into something that should never exist. They are attempting reverse evolution, they have climbed into the trees and started flinging poo and shreiking at each other. So far, no one has visibly grown a tail…yet, but, they are giving it their all. This is not a theocracy, it was not founded to be one, everything they say is a lie. They can lie from today and keep lying until they die of old age and guess what. It’s still a lie and you can’t force a lie to be true. They don’t love this country, they hate it. They want to steal it, they want to destroy us, they hate us and our country. But they envy us our freedom and will steal it if we let them. Don’t let them. Please, live your truth…be free, be joyful and vote to save our country. 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