DESERVING

A More Perfect Union #1 / 2018 / Russell C. Smith

We deserve the democracy we were taught in elementary school. We the People are deserving of the form of government and an administration that cares for all people, every citizen, and the rule of law. No one deserves brutal lawlessness, in the form of masked men, men who are beyond caring about harming kids and old people. Which these men prove again and again by abducting parents while their kid is sitting in the backseat of a car a few feet away. And by violently throwing older people down onto hard concrete with overwhelming, unnecessary force. None of these children and older adults deserved this despicable, brutalizing treatment. Growing up, we were taught about the fundamental truth of the phrase Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness as being something that was possible for every citizen in the United States of America. We the People deserve our First Amendment protection of freedom of speech, and of the press, regardless of what type of political climate we are currently weathering. We know we aren’t deserving of the ongoing horror being inflicted upon America, and we are past ready for this madness to stop and for the repair and rebirth of our country, so we can resume our striving for our more perfect union of a democracy, and our relationship with ourselves and the world – wanting to get back on the road to what America is supposed to be. Not witnessing fundamental rights being trampled, ignored, stolen – on a daily basis. It isn’t normal. Not watching history in the making documenting daily the unconstitutional, un-American, out of control police state violence. None of this is normal. It’s not the America that was here last year. Not the America of 2024.In a matter of months, an autocratic form of government has taken over and chosen to destroy what makes America a democracy, a Melting Pot of global humanity, and a welcoming place in the world.