Election Day is 4 days away. We all have an opinion. Our democracy is founded on the principle that a workable answer for all our outstanding citizens comes out of a diversity of opinions. Indeed there is more that unites us than divides us. Violence is never the answer. Hateful rhetoric against a political opponent is dangerous. Departed Senator John McCain wanted to win the Presidency when Senator Barrak Obama was his opponent. Yet when a woman falsely accused Obama of evil intentions…McCain defended him and called him a good man with whom he differed politically. When politicians buy into the lie that the last Presidental Election was stolen…they are doing so for their own political expediency at the cost of ending our democratic form of government…and in favor of Authoritarianism.

A lie that supports our worldview is a damaging balm to our weary and forgotten souls. I have traveled to the towns and villages and hamlets of Southern Illinois for most of 2022. Many of the people that I met do not feel seen by their government. They are the invisible women and men and children of our country. So many of the residents of Little Egypt are food insecure. Many of the children would not eat if their school was not feeding them.

My friend and State Senator Dale Fowler is tireless in his efforts to help the poor…and he is a Republican. Neither political party has cornered the market on…kindness…

Demonizing a political opponent is horrendous and dangerous and is cancer that is taking over our political and religious way of life in our great country. Many Germans during World War II stood idly by and watched as Jews were loaded into cattle cars and taken to concentration camps and gassed. They were not troubled by what they had seen…they thought their Nazi government was doing…God’s work.

Some who are running for office have made campaign jokes regarding the Speaker of the House of Representatives husband’s attempted assassination. Would they laugh so heartily if it was their husband or wife…who was bludgeoned?

The insidious banality of racism and prejudice and the pervasive feeling of us versus them is often not proclaimed from a bullhorn. It is what we say to our friends…or wink and nod approval when those who are different than us are marginalized. We assume that everyone must understand how the game is played and how to succeed in a diverse world. We say that we are not racist or misogynistic…until we are with our group…who nod in agreement as we support fascism and tribalism and seek the…people…who are keeping us from getting ahead…and getting our fair share of the American Dream…

Hoist the flag…we do. Wear it on our lapel with pride. We know that the majority of people want to retrieve America from those who are not in our club…The Land Of The Free And The Home Of The Brave…to Americans…but…how did we get into this elite club…

Ashes…and gravestones…carnage…and corpses…while leaders laugh at the lies that we believed…