The passing of Trump's Big Ugly Bill undermines the best of America and will cost millions of lives worldwide, but what does he care? Americans picked a creepy reality show guy who doesn't give a damn. Even most legislators who privately claim not to like it voted for it for fear of losing their Big Ugly Jobs and Big Ugly Money.
I used to be goosebump patriotic. Not for the bombs bursting in air part, but for the amber waves of grain part.
I used to be religious. Not the fear of hell part but the love and generosity part.
Today I can't align my deepest values with the kind of religion co-opted by the most fundamentalist branches. (I am glad to have grown up in church before it married nationalistic and self-serving patriotism.) July 4th rah-rah doesn't do anything for me since Trump happened. I'm embarrassed that our country has sunk so low in the eyes of the world.
The religious right today (not all religious people by any means, but the loudest of them) are doing everything they can to shove their evangelical beliefs down the throats of the country, posting The Ten Commandments in classrooms while withholding food from needy children in those classrooms.
The very word, patriotic rankles, suggesting a loyalty to the "father" land. I deeply love this country for its beauty and its potential, but until it's true, I can't say the words "liberty and justice for all."
This Maga-Mega-Bill may be the most disgusting move yet--though it's hard to rank Worst in Nothing But Ugly when there's something new and cringeworthy every single day.
The Trump Supreme Court, the Trump cabinet, the Trump Republicans in Congress, the Trump voters--all are culpable :
Withholding funds for food and medicine from people who won't survive without it.
Dumbing down education.
Ripping away reproductive freedoms.
Appointing and electing criminals--including the recent Justice department appointment of one of those convicted, then pardoned, for January 6th.
Privileging the already privileged and impoverishing the already impoverished.
Closing of rural hospitals and clinics.
Refusing to continue to provide life-saving vaccinations and AIDS medicines to those who need them.
Dismantling USAID--which has been doing good work for 60 years.
ICE agents attacking innocent people at their jobs to deport them.
The damage of this Big Ugly Bill will be felt for generations--and all of this will flow from the Big Ugly Magic Marker of the current president of the United States.
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