I'm from the US.
In many ways, I am fortunate to be have been born here, but the nation is becoming unstable, something I was instilled was never going to happen here, not in this day and age, anyway.
The USA is a country founded on some pretty good ideas, but it has never lived up to that. Not even from the very beginning when slavery was legal and us women were still treated like property. It wasn't until throughout the 20th century that us women finally began getting rights, from voting, working, no-fault divorce, bank accounts for ourselves, and abortion. Native Americans were tortured, killed and had their land stolen. Slavery remained legal in the South until after a large civil war. Even still, racism ran deep in the country. Segregation remained a thing in the South for a whole century afterward (my parents were around at the tail end of the Jim Crow era.). As did cruelty and violence toward black people. And unfortunately, the flagrantly racist lines drawn in states to disadvantage black peoples' votes and power during the reconstruction era remains in place to today. "Sodomy" was not legalized until the early 21st century. A man who stood in opposition to that legalization sits as Speaker of the House in our nation today. SMH.
I think some German leader recently said that to love a country like this requires loving it with a broken heart, and that resonates so much.
I was raised to think the country exceptional, I was raised to think that we'd gotten so much better on everything and we have gotten better on much of it. But not anywhere near all of it.
One thing that the country did do very right was separation of church and state. A great idea that the nation was founded on, to ensure religious freedom for all. Unfortunately, a powerful group wants to completely tear down that separation of church and state and turn us into a theocracy. If only we could laugh that group off, but they have money, they have power. They have a chance of gaining the federal government if the presidential election goes the wrong way.
The truth is that democracy is being strangled by a number of issues, some put into place under different circumstances (like the electoral college), some being even broader issues (like money controlling everything).
The religious right made an unholy alliance with the dark money of the so-called "libertarian" rich (people who are so greedy that they will remove any and every regulation to keep us safe, if only it makes them a single penny more). Since then, a minority of people who are against what most of the US wants have gained a lot of traction. The electoral college gave us George W Bush in 2000 instead of Gore. And then in 2016, the electoral college gave us Trump instead of Clinton. These two presidents elected against the will of the people have gained complete domination over the Supreme Court, which took away the right to abortion, and openly plans to go after contraceptives, same-sex marriage and more next.
We can't get any progress done because the lines drawn of the House and Senate also favor the same unpopular party, that even when technically they are in the minority, they have just enough power to keep progress down.
And then we have Trump. A conman, a sexual predator, a wannabe dictator who somehow won the hearts of the above mentioned unholy alliance. No matter how depraved and unChristian is, he never loses the support of the religious right, many of which now see him as some kind of messianic figure. Now I could go off on a long tangent on this point alone. Evangelicalism in the USA has taken on its own nature, it has become meshed with right wing politics, to the point that it betrays much of the Bible and many so-called "sincerely held religious beliefs" have no basis in the Bible whatsoever, but are just political issues sold to the base. It is its own monster now, and people need to recognize that and understand that's why Trump is loved by them, when he should be shunned.
I could go off on that tangent for a veryyyyy long time. The monster that is the religious right in the USA is truthfully terrifying, and entire books could be and have been written about it.
Trump is extremely dangerous. He incited an insurrection, he has 91 indictments against him, and yet.... Little has been done. It's like little CAN be done. He's a blatant crook, a blatant danger to the nation in illegal ways and yet the government seems powerless to stop him. We've seen this happen many times before in history. It never ends well. Plans for a second Trump term have been drawn up, very, very scary authoritarian plans like Project 2025 (which is signed onto by MANY dark money organizations. Project 2025 is absolutely no joke).
The insanity that is the USA today is extremely scary. I have lived all of my life up until now in a red state, but I can't do it anymore. I am a member of a number of different groups that the right is scapegoating (not all of them, but some of them). I have already had many freedoms and rights taken away from me in my red state and am scared. I unfortunately have to remain scared even after moving, because things like Project 2025 seek to reach out and punish blue states if they do not comply with the taking away of freedoms and rights.
I have no clue what's going to happen if Trump takes a second term. I am so scared. All I know is that this country isn't stable anymore. Whether we're heading for authoritarian, "Christian" dictatorship or lots of violence and instability I do not know. All I know is that Biden MUST win. But I'm sick of fighting off the fascists with every election. I'm sick of being scared to death every election. The USA somehow needs to stand up and put an end to this fascist threat or we could be dealing with this for a very long time, and I'm afraid that even if they don't take this election, the ignorance of the populace, the brainwashed, etc. will eventually give in and they will take power. Very scary.
