I’m not American either, but re-blogging this for my American readers, at the suggestion of V. M. Sang
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A cry of despair
I’m not American either, but re-blogging this for my American readers, at the suggestion of V. M. Sang
Letters from Athens 
Thanks for sharing that.
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Thank you for posting this cry. I am an America–one known as a “blue dot in a red state.” I’m surrounded by people who mostly think the current president is doing a “good job” though a few have seen the light, they are not a large enough number [yet?] There are protests going on–but I’m told the television news sources don’t cover them much. (I don’t have t.v. ) I read the British Guardian news and a few other sources and I scan social media like Threads. It is terrifying right now. Both because people with whom I’ve been friends and who I know to be very smart and well-educated professionals are full of approval and because every level of government is following the Leader’s edicts. I hate seeing the way the Christian faith has been hijacked by this Cult of Personality.
Those of you abroad–do not think it is only “ignorant hillbillies” who are driving this. Oh, there are plenty of those–no question. [There are also ones who see through it–Tik Tok has some excellent comentators of this variety] Doctors–yes MEDICAL doctors, lawyers, engineers, teachers, nurses, and any other profession are all very well represented. Many with very impressive University degrees–it isn’t only Vance who has an IVY degree.
John Pavlovitz is one commentator who really hits hard at the dilemna for Americans right now–do we keep of maga-friends and realatives? Do we stay in church?
Heather Cox Richardson and Robin Snyder write daily [semi daily] posts that explore what is going on, the laws, the treachery, etc in very readable ways.
We also have the elite on the left who can leave and say they are leaving the USA. I know there are some “ordinary” people who have gone to great pains to do so, but let’s be honest–most of us are stuck right here. And we need to be speaking out. Writing and calling our Senators and Representative in Washington should be a weekly if not daily chore. Pressure them. While we may want to limit contact with magas if someone says “This isn’t what I voted for,” we must bite our tongue and enourage them to speak and process and win them over to protesting and helping to end this.
My brother is a supporter. I’ll be sadly interested in what happens when he and my non-supporter nephew’s family come back from Europe in late June. So much bad is happening when Americans re-enter the country. Is a Red hat enough to make you safe? I doubt it.
Remember that while the Electoral College is crazy, we have no power to get rid of it–only Congress can do that. Remember also that so-called Red States are not 100% red and Blue States are not 100% blue. Not even 100% of Evangelical Christians support this. While a huge number of people did vote for the current president, most did so without looking at Project 2025. And the huge number of people who voted against him did the same, but I’d wager more Democrats looked over Project 2025 than did Republicans. Some people say publically that they support the president but in private rue the day they voted for him. We are humans. We are doing our best to get through life here. On the whole, most of daily life is the same–we go to work, the kids are now getting out of school for summer vacation, we are paying more for groceries, gas is about the same price where I live, we make our mortgage payments or send the rent check, we do things for fun, but…. but….we are always under a new shadow of evil as we do it. For many of us, our state governments are now as bad which makes an added level of despair.
A newly re-published book, The Crooked Cross by Sally Carson, republished by Persephone Books UK while set in Germany in 1933 gives a good sense of where we are. The audio version is excellent and available on Audible [I know, I know–should be boycotting them]
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We are doing what we can, but with Congress and the Courts working against us and for MAGA (why??? I don’t understand why they sell their children’s futures so cheaply) it’s hard to know what to do. Thanks for the support–we need it. (K)
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Awful, Marina
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Marina, many of us who are US citizens are in despair over wicked the twist in our country that has brought us to this horror show. What is often not addressed is how we got here. Those now in power self identify as Christian Nationalists, an ideology as far from the principles of democracy and the teachings of Jesus as one can get. Oppressive dogma disguised as faith. It isn’t called out often enough. It’s given permission to those who believe in Jesus that they’re entitled to manipulate everyone else and force them to either embrace this false equivalency or suffer. And they don’t care who suffers because they don’t believe in democracy. There are plenty of other groups responsible for this debacle, given loud voices via social media. But the religious extremists drive all of them. At the very foundation of the current American quagmire is the issue of slavery, introduced in what were then The Colonies but still present today in all its vile creed. We suffered a Civil War to end slavery, and though the Union won, it never changed the hearts of the Confederacy. They still hate, and their hatred has grown to embrace everyone who stands in partnership with equality and justice. Millions of Americans, more than those supporting the current administration, grasp what is at stake. How to return to Democracy is not easy or guaranteed, and many of us fear what Mike stated: a probable second civil war. And possibly another world war triggered by the rise in dictatorships, authoritarianism, and autocracies all over the world. The thought terrifies me. Our future is at stake in a very real and ominous way. Our children and grandchildren will suffer, and it will be all children, not just those whose parents refused the maga ideology. Please tell Mike that we care. We’re marching, we’re speaking, we’re trying. My heart goes out to Mike, to millions and millions of Mikes. You don’t deserve this. No one does.
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