Where am I?

Hello world - 

A lot has happened since I posted.  Mostly it's been Donald Trump winning the election as President of the United States.

How the fuck did this happen? We can blame it on so many things, but I blame it on fear.  Fear and deep rooted hatred has taken over this country.  We've allowed a narcissistic jackass to rule over the greatest country on earth and he is breaking it down to it's knees.  He incites violence, racism, antisemitism, anti- equality.....anti anything that isn't about making money and ruining our natural resources.

Even larger than that...the Republican party has become the party of greed.  The party of "What is mine is mine and I will not share with my fellow Americans". They want to deregulate and ruin our natural resources.  They want to strip away Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid to hurt some of the most vulnerable people - the poor, the elderly and the sick.  They call these programs "entitlements".  They are not.  How about we get rid of your healthcare and salary once you leave or are voted out of office?  I think that would improve some deficit issues.

:::sigh:::

I sit here some nights and I just wonder what has happened to a country who used to pride itself on helping others.  Now we are turning people away.

We are a nation of immigrants and on their backs we built this country.  Without them we do not exist.

From the arms of one of our most cherished icons is this:

"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

Now we push them away.  We tell them they are not wanted, not needed.  We feel threatened by their presence.

My Grandparents experienced signs like these: 

I thought we had come so far.  I had hope with President Obama, but I also had dread.  I heard the "Monkey in the White House" jokes and heard the "N" word for the first time in so many years.  

I remember a conversation with someone who said to me, very honestly: "Do you think this country is ready for a black man as the President?"  

My answer was, probably very naively:  "Yes...absolutely! Why not?"

He shook his head and just said to me that there were too many people who don't like it at all.

That was in 2008, ten years later we have fallen farther backwards then we have ever fallen before.

Please tell me there is hope for a better America.  An America that I grew up with that believed in taking care of each other and that we were all created equal and that if there is someone who is struggling....help them.  

Please...let me know this America still exists.