March, 2016
We have a candidate for president of the United States who says of a protestor at one of his campaign events, “I’d like to punch him in the face.”
We have a candidate for president who says of protestors at his events, “I love the old days — you know what they used to do to guys like that when they were in a place like this? They’d be carried out on a stretcher, folks.”
We have a candidate for president of the United States who told one of his audiences, “If you see somebody getting ready to throw a tomato, knock the crap out of them, would you? Seriously. OK? Just knock the hell — I promise you, I will pay for the legal fees.”
Is there any hope? Are we really nothing more than a species of sentient beings run amok, blowing up H-bombs under the ground to prove our invincibility, ending criminals’ lives by injection to demonstrate our righteousness, allowing hundreds of children to die of starvation every hour as we defend a global economy that benefits one-tenth of the planet’s population?
Have we so lost our collective mind as to think that the way to stop gun violence is for everybody in the world to carry a gun?
Have we so lost our collective will as to find no way to stop the wars that create refugee crises rendering millions homeless?
Have we so lost our collective morals as to find it actually preferable for divisiveness, rudeness, insults and tasteless verbal bullying to become the hallmark of political leadership?
Is this what we have come to? Gun-toting, fist-pumping, verbal-bashing, jaw-jutting, loud-mouthed intimidators and strong-armed tyrants daring anyone to stand up for what is gentle, peaceful, and—God forbid—loving?
Just asking here.
