Taking It In

I wanted to research and do a deep drive into the gains and losses of the war in Afghanistan, because this year marked 19 years since the towers fell. It reminded me of this fighting. And its been going on for around the same amount of time as the Vietnam War took, however where America had the good sense to leave that country; we haven’t the sense to leave Afghanistan.

And then last night while I was hurrying to finish my next literature-based post, I heard Ruth Bader Ginsburg had passed. She was the one fading light of decency in our faulting Republic. While other Justices and other powerfully positioned people use their knowledge of the system’s workings to tear down established precedent and law, Ruth Bader Ginsburg did not. Her courage and morals in modern day politics, in modern day positions of influence are unmatched.

What do Afghanistan and Ruth Bader Ginsburg have in common? Mourning. The soldiers, civilians, and Afgan helpers that either lost their lives or had their lives ruined is sizeable. That last group is important. Afghanistan citizens that worked as translators and consultants, and had to run or take their families into hiding because the people they helped failed to help them back. Ginsburg held the torch not for progressives or liberals, but for people who believe in a common civility between each other in a large community, such as America. The same country that refused visas to Afgan consultants.

I mourn the shred of dignity and respect that died with hundreds of soldiers and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. I want America to turn around. I, in fact, need my country to turn around, but it feels like we need more than an election.

People aren’t going to stop protesting with a Democrat in the White House. People aren’t going to stop being separated from their families and killed in an endless war because a Democrat is in the White House. It’s the right step. Please god, if you want to stop the burning down of our institutions, vote for Biden! But the EPA has been deregulated, the tax reform was actually tax deform, the only thing left of the ACA is the tax mandate, and there’s no liberal organization to combat the weaponization of information created by the Federalist Society and the Cato Institute.

I’m mourning our country. I watch reruns of The West Wing, because since James Comey release A Higher Loyalty, there’s been a book a month covering the mad president and his buddies; and I hope watching a show based on what we expect from our government will somehow cure my anxiety. It doesn’t.

The war in Afghanistan rages on, the fight for civil rights in the country is ongoing, and Ruth Bader Ginsburg has passed. If you have no feelings for any of what has been mentioned, including the hardly-stated protests; if you can’t comprehend the danger our country, America is in, then you should take a hard look at yourself.