I LOVE & RESPECT

I was washing my clothes at the apartment's laundromat when I struck up a conversation with an elderly woman (I better be careful with the word "elderly" because she may have been younger than me, but she gave me the impression that she had surrendered to old age) during which we agreed that the winters are wonderful in the Rio Grande Valley. I asked her if she had had her COVID vaccination and she answered that she wasn't scheduled until March.

"I'm hunkering down although I went with a friend yesterday to eat at a nice restaurant in Port Isabel," she said.

"I haven't had mine either, but I'm confident that with Biden leading the charge that the availability of the shots will be more accessible soon," I replied.

She didn't say anything. Instead, she bowed her head and became very solemn.

"He scares me," she finally uttered in a low voice.

"Who scares you?"

"Biden."

I didn't say anything except to wish her a good day. The fissure in our country is deep if this person perceives the future with trepidation. Joe Biden is scary? I can't fathom that seemingly normal people feel safer siding with the scariest person in the world. How did this happen? The Right, with its indoctrination machine Fox pumping out the propaganda, believes that Antifa and Black Lives Matter are more dangerous than Coronavirus. The Republicans were running on this platform to gain support for its candidates until the militias shot that message into a thousand tattered pieces.

In simplistic and symbolic terms, we have people who believe that white cops don't have the right to shoot unarmed blacks and we also have people who believe the exact opposite. After the killings of George Floyd and other African-Americans, protests in major cities dominated the news for weeks. I must confess that I don't understand the reasons for the non-stop violent demonstrations in Portland.

But these confrontations pale compared to the insurrection inspired by Donald Trump that led to the attack on the U.S. Capitol Building and five deaths. But, again, I don't understand these Trumpsters' anti-government attitude. Our government has provided well for me, my family and my friends. For anyone who wants to work and study, the opportunities are boundless. I embrace and respect our government.

What are Trump's traitors' gripes? My religious freedoms as a Catholic haven't been taken from me. Last time I looked Jehovah Witnesses were still knocking at doors and Mormons were still riding their bikes. My First Amendment Rights haven't been restricted except when my rhetoric exceeds the rules imposed by the various platforms I access no different from my days as a reporter when the editor would draw a line though my best sentence in a story or would throw an entire story into the trash because he didn't want to risk advertising revenue. There is nothing that prevents me from accumulating a small arsenal in my apartment to protect myself in case Trump's troops break down my door in the middle of the night.

I believe that our government is our friend, not our enemy. We are a successful nation because our governments at the local, state and federal levels have sustained us. I don't necessary agree that we are the greatest country in the history of mankind, but I might argue that we have created the greatest government in the history of mankind when it comes to meeting the needs of our citizens. 

In my opinion to despise our government is to despise our nation. Governing is always a work in progress. It will inevitably fall short of meeting all our expectations, but we have recourse if we find ourselves behind the eight-ball and in danger of disappearing into the corner pocket.

There will always be differences about legalizing drugs, abortion, the death penalty and scores of other issues, but these issues can only be resolved through our government. But when King Rat Trump and his mendacious mice convince millions of their fellow rodents that government is bad when they aren't in the majority, no good will come from this undemocratic mentality.