My Heart Breaks

What have we become?

The republicans have agreed to bring the BBB to the floor about an hour ago, as of this writing. The spineless holdouts from the GOP folded in the middle of the night as expected. I almost began to hope that maybe, some of the House members from the GOP would realize what they are about to do. In typical fashion the “freedom caucus” said they wouldn’t vote for the bill. But after the caffeine or cocaine or some combination ran out, they changed their collective mind. Funny how that seems to happen.

I am not going to go over the numbers again. I’ve propabably written how damaging this bill will be in at least 3 or 4 articles. Not to mention there are mountains of articles that have come out from many other amazing writers here on substack. Their expertise on the details of the bill will be much greater than mine. If you are interested check out my recommendations under my profile. I am sure you will find many thorough explanations there.

I want to talk a little bit about how we got here. How have people become so hateful, vengeful and downright cruel that they are willing to accept the things that are unfolding right before our eyes?

It is unfortunate that I have to say this, but it is in our nature. Our morality is attached to what we see and hear, whether or not we want to admit it. People, as a group have been doing this for thousands of years. The thought of putting all of that down in this article is a bit overwhelming. I will try to summarize the best I can with the little time that my house is quiet and I am not working my day job.

We look to leaders for direction. We then want to be part of the winning group because it feels good to win. Choosing the opposing view can cause feelings of exclusion. So we find ourselves sacrificing morality a little bit at a time.

So people have always wanted direction. Sometimes a person came along and decided that he or she heard a voice. That voice told them to do this or that thing otherwise the rain won't come and the crops won't grow. Or the woman would not be able to bear children unless some ritual gets preformed.

A feeling of community, something to rally around allowed people to feel united. And there were times when people have rallied around good causes.

Unfortunately, for some reason our minds find it easier to hate and be angry instead of stepping back and really thinking about what we are doing. We inherently want to react. I see this with my children daily. We want instant answers and reactionary responses.

That temptation to take the easier path is always hard to deny. This is especially true back when we have not educated ourselves.

In the ancient past if a leader says that the group over there across the lake is evil demons. They are stealing our crops and eat babies then there will be a natural reaction of disgust. Then, if the leader says it over and over, that feeling grows into fear then hate and eventually violence.

It has been this way for so long and many of us don't even realize it. Many religions have done it by putting a dividing line between those that are good and those that are bad. If you follow this “leader’s” interpretation of the sacred texts then you are good. If you don't then you fall down that societies hierarchy and considered less than.

Politicians have done it, “those people are taking away your wages, those people are taking away your housing”. “Those people don't believe in God so they must be demons”. “Those people are attracted to the same sex so they must be bad”. “Those people must have done something awful in their previous life so now they should suffer”.

The word I have failed to mention in this article so far is propaganda. If you refuse to listen to both sides of a story, you will never have the full picture. Propaganda dehumanizes people. You get pounded with lies. Newspaper, TV programs, internet culture, church gatherings. They will say things about the Jews being rats and Black people as monsters and criminals and Mexicans as rapists and murderers. That propaganda heard day in and day out fuels that anger. This is what fueled that MAGA extremist to kill and severely injure the politicians in Minnesota.

Religion has been used to fuel this for so long. A preacher stands in front of a crowd and says this or that person is evil or a witch. The people believe him because the preacher supposedly represents God. He claims to know the Bible better than everyone so if you don’t know otherwise, and you hear that this or that person is bad week after week, eventually our stupid brains accept it.

Just like news outlets that claim over and over that the people who disagree with the President are the “woke mob”. That makes us dangerous and that we are part of some deep state conspiracy, and we cannot be trusted.

Now we have religious extremists in our government like Mike Johnson claiming to be a modern day Moses. (Yes he actually impled this). This is the worst mix of all. When you have religion mixing with political strife it creates a monster that has no boundaries. This is because religious extremism makes mass cruelty acceptable. If that religion is twisted in such a way as a politician can spin it and then claim God told him to do it you have a monster. That’s the only reason I can come up with for these politicians to justify that disgusting bill. Anyone who is not sick in the head knows that this bill, just on it's face is a death sentence to many people across the United States.

It has been this way for so long not to belabor the point. It is very hard not to see this cycle of base cruelty just by reading a little history.

The United States colonists did it to black people in the U.S. In so doing, it caused a civil war that in my humble opinion has never ended.

The Nazis did this to everyone unless you were white, without jewish decent. Causing world war.

Middle Eastern countries do it to each other still to this day. I dont think they ever stopped fighting.

And we are now doing it again.

The above pictures are there to show that we have been here before.

My subtitle to this article is “What have we become?” This is my answer. We have never changed. We are just wrapped in different packaging. The same hate, bigotry, cruelty, injustice, prejudice, discrimination, and racism has always been here.

Some of us choose to step back and really look past what is on the surface and contemplate what is really happening and the majority just choose to be reactionary.

I am so sad that we find ourselves here in this fight. That this evil has happened again makes me feel such hurt. I intend to still protest and stand up for what is right. I never thought that I would be an “activist”. I have always been shy, and not a very outspoken person. It really isn’t in my introverted nature. Many of you may feel the same way I'm sure. I cannot let this go however.

Our time is now. We must stand up against tyranny. We must stand up even if you feel uncomfortable. This time right now will echo forever. We need to make that choice to stand up or hide in the corner. I for one will not stop until they force me. I hope you all feel the same way.

Love you all,

Erik

(Liberaldad)