What a weird time to be an American. On a day where we find ourselves gathering with friends, grilling out and getting a bit of sun, the President is readying for a North Korean-style military parade/nationalist rally this evening, complete with tanks and flyovers.
While families gather together in parks and on playgrounds, immigrants sit in concentration camps (yes, that’s the proper term) on U.S. soil, a situation that’s apparently not a dealbreaker to a significant portion of the country that’s been radicalized and drained of compassion by hateful rhetoric and a bone-deep fear of their decreasing national relevance.
Conversations about “supporting the troops” have transformed from a solemn nod to sacrifice into the verbal equivalent of a MAGA hat, as military/law enforcement culture and Republican politics (quite often with evangelical Christianity along for the ride) have become hopelessly and terrifyingly tangled together as an all-or-nothing proposition.
The founders would be disgusted, and we should be too.
Those that fought for our freedom deserve truth, accountability and open dialogue (no matter how painful), not jingoistic propaganda and dismissive “let’s not be divisive!” attitudes. Nothing is more patriotic than ongoing self-reflection and a perpetual willingness to speak truth to power.
House of Kyle 