It feels as if so much I was ever taught by or learned from people who did the hard work of gaining my respect was ultimately wrong, including that I was fortunate enough to be born into a country ruled by laws — not kings, despots, dictators or charlatans.
And that we periodically elected people of character to debate, craft, enact, and judge those laws against a founding constitutional document expressing our highest desires of a free and just people. And that while born under a great many sins against humanity, this country’s historical arc had always bent toward expanding freedom, opportunity and justice for all humanity.
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That through scientific inquiry and analysis, we could advance our society and fend off threats to our health, understand the natural laws that govern our matter and correct our mistakes.
That mendacity was a sin against our mutual trust. To be named a “liar” was an indictment against a virtue that was difficult to repair.
That the bully’s dark victories were ultimately short-lived in the light of truth and honor. That power expressed in violence and deprivation of individual rights was something to be challenged and vanquished — within and outside our borders.
That my children should be taught to be civil to their peers. To not lie, cheat or steal for self-gain, but work and earn their due respect, compensation, friendships. That my daughter would live in a world where she held dominion over her body and would be protected from rape and medical malfeasance driven not by religious freedom but religious tyranny. That her reproductive decisions were her choice.
That democracy was the instrument by which we could aspire to all these noble goals. But democracy has proved this all to be a mirage. America has failed my expectations. The first time we sent Donald Trump to the presidency, we could be forgiven a passionate mistake.
The second time voting citizens in our country chose to send this man back, our democracy showed us all that truth has no more place in our public discourse. That the lies and bullying taunts are a preferred model for leadership.
That scientific inquiry will have no impact on our avarice and greed.
That the freedom of individual self-identity and expression is servant to a specific religious myth.
That there is an ideal genetic purity to that which we call American.
That we bear no responsibility to our fellow citizens to collectively protect us from violence, disease, injury, negligence or chicanery.
That wealth is more important than virtue, honor, love, peace and happiness. That wealth — by any means — is the single greatest ideal humanity can aspire to.
These are the new rules a majority of American voters just ascribed to.
We now will have held up a certified con-man, adjudicated rapist, bully, liar, cheater and vainglorious media illusion to our highest office — twice. And, because he promised to replace career civil servants with loyalists, we also have elected his sycophants to aid in his goals.
We can never erase this stain from our history. And we can no longer blame him for the grievous crimes against our republic that he commits. We have just ceded the Cold War victory to Russian President Vladimir Putin and his various allies. Nice job, America.
We only have ourselves, collectively, as a nation to blame for that.
Was his opponent worse? For what? Challenging unchecked wealth? The price of a loaf of bread? Being slow to address a crisis at the border but being willing to do so just the same? Was it gender? The shade of her skin? Or some lie we heard from a media bully?
I guess the selfish jerks won. I thought we were better than that. I was grievously mistaken. It’s not our democracy that’s broken. It’s our humpty-dumpty virtue.
David Huntington is a freelance writer and business consultant based in Decatur. He and his wife have lived and raised their family in Dekalb County since 1998.
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