Maybe It's Time to Recognize That US Citizens Are Not Good People

Americans are not good people. Right away, I know what readers are going to say. They’re going to read my title and reply, “Hey now, don’t group us all together.”Or they’re going to say, “I understand your complaint, but I don’t like the way you’re saying it.” Or they’ll engage in some other form of tone policing. Or perhaps they might hit me with the odious #NotAllAmericans.In response to any criticism of those that occupy the self-proclaimed land of the free and home of the brave, I know I’m going to be lectured. I’m going to be sneered at. I’m going to be derided. I’m going to be shamed.Anything to distract from the content of what I’m saying.But they’ll overlook the fact that I too am from the United States. So is my family. So are my children. I know a lot of other Americans who are deeply stirred and frustrated by everything that has happened.There are also unique characteristics about the people I’ve met who object to the cruelty that has become, or has always been, our national identity. My family, for example, is multinational. My wife is an immigrant.Other people that I know are members of different communities beyond just being citizens of the USA. They’re members of scientific communities perhaps, or other nations, or sexual orientations or religions that don’t fit into the cruelty of white supremacy.Leading up to Christmas, I sent out a letter to the people that I still send a Christmas letter to. Over the years, that list has gotten smaller and smaller. In that letter, I wrote that my family was in distress, that we were being targeted by the government, and I was afraid daily for the life of my wife and my kids.Of the 30 or so people I sent that letter to, I only received one text message of support in response. From the rest, I received a kind of uncomfortable silence that felt like a rebuke. I sensed an acknowledgement that these things happen, but that it really wasn’t appropriate of me to mention it. It was very clear that my terror for the well-being of my wife and kids caused them discomfort that they didn’t want to experience.I don’t want to experience it either. But it’s not a choice for me.I’ve wasted a lot of my life trying to earn the approval of unworthy people. I know it started when I attempted to please my father. Eventually, I got to the age where I realized it was not something I was ever going to achieve. He withheld his approval even when it was deserved.It was not something he was willing to give.I recognized that early on. But now, after five decades, I’m starting to be aware that I don’t think there’s anybody in this entire country whose admiration I should earn.There’s people I’ve known, whom I’ve admired, who stand silently on the sidelines, observing the secret police abuse children and beat innocent people to death. What respect can I sustain for them?Then they have the nerve to show discomfort by the fact that I’m calling it out rather than at the fact that it’s happening?I left the country once when I was 26 and stayed in South America for 10 years. But then I had the sense that there was something I had to return to. I went to Peru in my early phase before I’d really come into my own identity. My assumption was that I’d struggled in the United States because of an inherent flaw and not something related to my nation’s identity.Today, having come back and raising my children here, I no longer feel any need to prove myself. At every chance I’ve done the opposite of what this nation commands. It works out so much better. Our venerated traditions and ideals are lies.The United States of America is wrong.I prefer to live my life based on integrity and compassion and empathy rather than superiority. Anybody who overtly or passively supports the cruelty of the United States of America is not a person who I want in my community. I think I’ve sent out my last Christmas letter.If people are interested in finding out what’s happening in my life, they can seek me out. I no longer go to them. If they wish to apologize for their indifference to the suffering that has gone on all around and been enabled by their lack of action, I will listen.But I’m not expecting it, and I won’t go looking for it. I predict that before the end of my life, I will leave this land, these shores, forever. Because this is a country that hasn’t done anything for me.It has made no effort on my behalf. There’s nothing I’m grateful for. Although I still respect the ideals upon which it claims to have been founded, I see no evidence that anyone has endeavored to ensure the realization of those empty words.Greatness is not a label you can bestow on yourself. The United States is nothing but an empty vessel, propped up by the broken, bloody, and beaten backs of the oppressed. This country can admire me as if it wishes. I do not admire it.Any criticism of this statement disrespects the first amendment, not that any of our rights or freedoms are truly sacred.You all make this newsletter happen! Thanks for your sponsorship! I have payment tiers starting at as little as twenty dollars a year.Upgrade at 30% offUpgrade at 40% offUpgrade at 50% offUpgrade at 60% offI’m so happy you’re here, and I’m looking forward to sharing more thoughts with you tomorrow.My CoSchedule referral linkHere’s my referral link to my preferred headline analyzer tool. 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