A Nation in Regression

This author turned on his computer this morning and scanned several news sites. After just a few minutes he stood and went to look at his calendar, to be sure he was living in 2022. What he had been reading led this author to believe that he had gone through a time warp. The right-wing has become so extreme, every effort, every plan is to move this nation back to the dark days of the 1950s.

COVID Vaccinations

This author will begin with everyone’s least favorite topic, vaccines. As a small child in the 1950s, people were excited to receive vaccines. Young people cheered scientific achievements that created vaccines for Smallpox, Diphtheria, Tetanus, Pertussis, and Polio. In the 1960s vaccines for Measles, Mumps, and Rubella became available. Thanks to a-holes on the right, thousands of ignorant Americans are refusing to be vaccinated preventing deaths from COVID-19, which is now responsible for more than 900,000 men, women, and children losing their lives. Thank you, Fox News.

Birth Control Controversy and Voter’s Rights

Encouraged by the Christian Religious Right, there is a movement to ban all forms of birth control, with the exception of condoms, which are only 97 percent effective when used properly. Another attack on women’s rights, and another violation of the First Amendment, is allowing a single religion to interfere with the government.

Instead of encouraging voters to go to the polls, which is what this author heard many times when he was young. More than 40 states are passing laws intended to suppress voting rights. Republicans cannot win elections when voters turnout at the polls in large numbers.

Of course, this voter suppression does not hinder wealthy, white men and women, it is focused on communities inhabited mostly by Black Americans and men and women struggling in the lower-income bracket. These groups tend to vote for Democrats.

First Amendment Violations

Along with suppressing votes, fake Republicans are attempting to pass other laws that violate the First Amendment. The right to peacefully protest injustices is under attack. The right-wing does not want anyone to increase awareness about how Black men and women are treated unfairly by law enforcement and the court system. Next for Republicans is to pass laws requiring Black Americans to step off of the sidewalk when approached by whites, and forbidding Black men to make eye contact with a white woman.

America is a nation in regression. Donald Trump and his party continue with their efforts to move the nation back into the dark past, and they do not want the children to know how bad and dangerous the country was in the mid-20th century. In a growing number of states, right-wing extremists are banning every book that includes information about slavery, racism, homosexuality, and even the Holocaust. Public book burning is next.

This author is not sorry to tell these new-age fascists the truth. Change is inevitable. this nation’s growing diversity is inevitable. Also inevitable is the growing fascism within the Republican Party. If allowed, they will destroy the dream of the founding fathers.

It is possible to win this war; true Americans have the numbers. But those who choose not to vote in 2022 and 2024 will be surrendering to the enemy. This cannot happen. Regardless of how difficult red states are making it to cast precious votes, do it.

“The Truth Lives Here”

Op-ed by James Turnage
Edited by Jeanette Vietti

Sources:

AL.com: Alabama omits Civil War president Abraham Lincoln in Presidents Day holiday; by Leada Gore
Daily Kos: While the US descends into dark ages, Columbia is latest Latin American country to legalize abortion; by Bric Elair
Daily Kos: News roundup: Putin all but declares war, convoy may be heading to D.C., and hide your birth control; by Barbara Morrill
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia: Vaccine History: Developments by Year

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First Inline Image Courtesy of VCU Capital News Service’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License
Second Inline Image Courtesy of H2Woah!’s Flickr Page – Creative Commons License