There ARE good people in America, I know there are.  I’ve known many all my life; I meet them every day.  They are neighbors, store clerks, mechanics, plumbers, medical professionals, and civil servants.  They are caring parents, law abiders, have high moral standards, and abide by the Golden Rule.  I’ve worked with them, played with them, drank beer with them, argued with them and cried with them.

So where are they today?  Where are they when the elected President continually and purposefully reaches in their midst to bring the scum within their ranks to the surface; to support those without those values who believe their only responsibility  is to their immediate personal gratification, economically and morally.  Where are they when our government looks more favorably at the current economic and political polls than it does at the immediate and long-term health and safety of its citizens and their environment?  Where are they when their President publically blames ethnic groups for all the ills of the nation?  And where are they when they succumb to the 42 percent who approve of this philosophy?

It scares me to see them sitting in the front rows of the Trump rallies, waving placards and laughing when he condemns those of different ethnicity; different political views; different moral values; different religions because from all outward appearances they all look like the “good” people I described earlier.  It scares me more to see how many of them are accompanied by their children, obviously too young to vote but indoctrinated in the bias of hate their parents support.  And, what scares me even more is my realization that some of the “good” people I’ve known for a long time have successfully hidden from me their self-serving and ethnic prejudices and their self-serving interests over the rights of others.

We used to call them hypocrites.  No!  Hypocrites are those who believe in something but, at times, unthinkingly act oppositely.  The “good” people who scare me are like Jack Finney’s “Body Snatchers”, having taken over the appearances of rational people but professing a determination to move American society to a herd mentality, wishing a sameness in lack of morality and domination though physical and economic strength.

This has become an America I was not brought up to respect; not one where my eyes get teary when I hear the Star Spangled Banner; not one where I can continue to place my hand over my heart and repeat the Pledge of Allegiance.  This is a foreign…maybe an alien…country I never dreamed of residing in.  I’m scared!

Maybe I’m just being too unassuming; too practical; too simple-minded.   But it just appears to me that if you keep poking yourself in the eye with a sharp stick you’ll go blind.  And maybe we have already gone blind; blinded by the now almost weekly mass shootings in our country. (“Oh…another one of those?  So what channel is the Raiders game on?”)  We’ve been blinded by the NRA (a.k.a. Not Responsible for Anything) telling us the Second Amendment protects us from tyranny and that we all must have our military weapons to thwart takeover by a foreign invader (who are currently using Facebook & Twitter??) or a tyrannical government when we long ago surpassed the point where a citizen army could compete against government forces.  We’ve been blinded by a do-nothing Senate who refuses to consider protections that are supported by 90% of Americans because it is against their lead party’s platform.  We’ve been blinded by a President who blames inner-city problems on the ethnicity of the mayors.  And, we’ve been blinded by our societal trend towards being only concerned over what affects “ME” at this moment in time; let the future generations fend for themselves.

It’s time to consider what the more progressive societies have done, as did New Zealand.  Ban private ownership of all military weapons; limit sporting weapon capacities to 6 rounds; require background checks and licensing of ALL firearm ownership.  I own 6 guns; two of them will have to go.  So be it.   Yes, there are hidden dangers, but minimal compared to where we are headed at this time.