The Top Ten things Killing America

The weapons used by conservatives to either control or destroy

I am a liberal: a radical liberal. If you are a conservative, and want to attack me for this article, I ask just one thing: for those of you who think the 2020 election was stolen, please name one Republican who won election in 2020 but refused to take office because the election was rigged.

I figured that would be your answer, so sit down and shut up!

The past few years have been a whirlwind for most of us. If you’ve been paying attention, you’ve no doubt noticed the winds of change are blowing: the only question left remaining is from which direction.

If you haven’t been paying attention, go back to sleep.

Conservatives have thrown off the Klanwear they have been hiding behind for most of the past century and have stepped out of the closet. Hidden away for decades was their unrelenting lust for control of the empire known as America Incorporated. They are now ready to assume the mantle of manliness once again, stripping away the God-given rights the rest of the nation has finally gotten a whiff of: it is in their nature to rule, they say.

Liberals, on the other hand, are continuing to fight off Russian — I mean Republican — aggression with everything they have. Unfortunately, too many Democrats in leadership roles are completely useless, clueless, and helpless. They are also deaf: they hear nothing we say.

So the battle rages and the only inevitable outcome is where the union is ripped in two, and we are overrun by China, but hey — who cares? It’s apparent that not enough of us do.

I have written truckloads of political commentary here: no one reads it. A few other writers here on Medium are also ringing the Liberty Bell, trying to stir the nation’s people into waking up to the fact that America is on the precipice of collapse, but…hey! Did you see the latest cat video? Ah, such a cutie!

Our priorities are almost as intolerable as our ignorance: we don’t know and dammit! we don’t care!

A few days ago here on Medium, someone posted an article titled “Ten things you don’t know about me.” Clever, I thought. Perhaps I could recycle that theme in one last-ditch effort to save America. I doubt it will work, but in the immortal words of Doc Brown, “I figured, what the hell?”

So now I give you the Top Ten Things Killing America. (you might wanna write this down)

Distorted Christianity.

There is this book called the Bible, that most Christians have never read, but that they continue to try to use to pass and enforce moral and legal judgments on the rest of the people of this nation. I’m not sure but I seem to recall something in one of our laws about freedom of religion, but who can keep all that stuff straight? It’s probably no big deal that one group — who has no true understanding of their own faith — is trying to use that faith to rule over the others here. Right?

Isn’t that the same group that came here from Europe in search of religious liberty? Isn’t that the same group who called the native people on this continent ‘savages’ when they expressed their own religions liberty by rejecting Christianity? Isn’t that the same group who is now trying to force their own twisted understanding of God’s word into laws so they can control others even today? What kind of god causes this kind of hatred in people?

If your god causes you to beat, maim, or kill another, you need another god.

Insane Wealth hoarders.

Somewhere along the way, power and control became synonymous with money. The more money you have, the more others tend to follow you. This explains my paltry group of followers on Medium— they know I’m broke!

As greedy newcomers to this land, Americans ravaged the landscape, stealing the home turf from those who had lived here for centuries — just so they could rape the land for oil, minerals, and gold. The wealth this brought them also gave them leverage: an unlimited ability to get their own way. What started during the Gilded Age with Carnegie and Mellon, has exponentially exploded in the era of Bezos and Musk. Their greed is only surpassed by their deceptiveness: they spend their days trying to convince the rest of us they are brilliant and shouldn’t be taxed.

The chasm between wealth and sustenance wanes in comparison to the distance between the stars. Wealthy Americans no longer even know the meaning of cost: they simply have everything, while most everyone else struggles for food, shelter, and medical care.

Power and Control Freaks.

Some would say the nation is being ripped apart by those who protest for justice. When Colin Kaepernick knelt during the National Anthem, conservatives lost their damn minds, claiming he was anti-military, anti-peace, and anti-American. These same fools love the Founding Fathers though: you know, the guys who threw all that tea into Boston Harbor?

Protesting against wrongs is an American value guaranteed by the Constitution. The law gives every American the right to protest peacefully, to redress grievances against the government, to seek new leadership through elections. The influence of foreign nations in our elections is been strictly prohibited by law, but that didn’t stop those from the last administration from taking money, influence, and direct assistance from the enemy. Their goal has always been the same: to keep the wealthy white man in charge.

Since Reagan, Republicans have held close to a strategy that embraces unlimited funding for campaigns (done); packing the courts with conservative judges (done); outlawing voting rights for anyone not white, not male (in-progress); packing state legislatures with Republican rodents (in-progress); and stealing elections when necessary (done-2016). But even with all the illegal help, crooked judges, hell-bent state legislators, and his 30,000 lies, the former guy couldn’t keep hold of the office. Never let it be said these people are quitters though. Instead of accepting defeat with grace and dignity, this fascist wanna-be dictator formed an army and chose to attempt an overthrow of the legitimate U.S government — right in front of us all.

All done in the name of power and control.

Killing machines.

Guns are the bane of the American experience: once used to defend a nation, they are now being used to kill it. There are now more than 100 gun deaths every day in this country, and guns have become the leading cause of death in children.

Why?

Because the money-grubbing fools on the right know the only way to hold onto their wealth and their power and their control over this nation is with an army of gun-toting nut bags. The ‘elite’ have spent decades convincing the gun loons in this country that Democrats are coming for their guns, and the morons bought it — lock, stock, and barrel.

Fine: let the bastards keep their guns and their Second Amendment. We’ll just ban the ammunition: there is no constitutional guarantee to ammunition.

Fear is the weapon of choice for the rich and powerful: they spread fear through constant lies to the gun crowd, who in turn think they will ‘stay safe’ and keep the masses in line.

“Let them have their toys, and when things start to look bad, we’ll call on our ‘friends’ to save us,” says the rich snob.

They have forgotten that while the left is passive, we also know how to fire a weapon, and are smarter than the idiots with guns. We don’t shoot the soldiers; we aim for the leadership!

Unequal treatment.

Whatever the left does, the right tries to undo. When the left wants to feed the poor, the right says ‘let ’em work for it.’ When the left wants to give health insurance coverage to everyone, the right says ‘it’s too expensive.’ When the left says let the woman decide for herself about her own body, the right says ‘we must protect the unborn.’ Obviously the right cares more for the unborn than those who need food or health care.

One of the deepest disagreements this nation faces has been over equal treatment of its citizens, a disagreement borne out of the simple notion written about in the Declaration of Independence:

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.

It doesn’t get any more clear than that, but those on the right have been arguing that was a mistake. Since before the Civil War, those on the hateful right have stated clearly and plainly that not all men are created equal, that some men deserve privilege while others do not. American women were given no rights, mind you, in any of the founding documents.

Now the right is fighting tooth and nail to go back, to re-write the essential concept of America: liberty and justice for all. They want — and are willing to destroy this nation again — over this issue. They believe rights belong only to those in power, and — oddly enough, because they believe Jesus was white — think that only white men have been ordained by God to rule.

I wrote this as a comment the other day, but it’s worth repeating here.

“This is [how] the United States was founded: rights, written into our founding documents, were simply denied to most of the population for most of our existence. Only since the 1960s, when Blacks, women, and all POC decided to [demand] change — and starting seeing the benefits of those rights — did the wealthy white man decide he would have no more of it. That’s when they picked Reagan to start this return to the fucked up way this place started, with rich white men in charge of everything.”

Those dammed immigrants!

When you ask most people where they’re from, they’ll give you the name of their hometown. If you ask them where their family is from, you might get a multi-faceted answer, like ‘well, my Mom’s side is from Poland, but my Dad’s family is from Vermont.’ Sorry, dude, but your Dad’s people aren’t from Vermont unless you’re part native.

Most Americans are descended from immigrants — those who came to this land from elsewhere. That makes most of us children of immigrants, but somehow those on the right have forgotten that. Perhaps there are more nuts in their family trees than branches.

For whatever it’s worth, we’re all immigrants, in reality. Unless you live on a reservation in South Dakota, your family tree goes back to Europe or Africa. Both of my parents families came from Europe, and I am proud of my heritage: I am most proud of how my grandfather, a first generation German-American, went to fight the Germans in World War I.

But for some kooky reason, the screwballs on the right hate immigrants. They use immigrants to scare their followers; they abuse immigrants who come here seeking a new life — just as their ancestors did.

This is one of the more insidious crimes of the right: hatred spread through fear. The right loves to keep their sheep scared of immigrants: they tell them how they are rapists, and drug dealers, and promise to build walls to keep them out. My personal belief is that these right-wing haters hate those who come here with dark skin. You never hear a Republican talk shit about keeping white Europeans out: they are white like Jesus, right? Oh the foolishness: they are so ignorant and full of hate, they don’t even know that Jesus was not white!

Mad scientists!

I’ve had my fill of the crackpots on the right attacking science and scientists. One of the pillars of this nation is science, and without it America would not be the nation it is today .

I have my own beef with science: not with science, per se, but with how we teach science theory in our schools as science fact. I have written about my issues with science, but what I’m not willing to do is attack those who spend their lives developing technologies and medicine that have catapulted this nation into world leadership.

I may not want my child being taught that Evolution is fact (I also don’t want him being taught Creationism is fact either), but that doesn’t mean I want Dr. Fauci strung up for suggesting we wear masks!

These absolutely detestable people, including medical morons like Rand Paul, continue to distort the value of fact-based science. They attack those who worked to stop a pandemic; fight against those who work to halt climate change; and pigeonhole those who conduct studies on the ill-effects of eliminating abortions. Science is not full-proof, but it has provided us with great advantages, including a longer and healthier life. At least for those of us who follow science. For those who oppose science, pick out your lot.

Pathetic racists.

No other issue has played a larger role in this nation than racism. As a nation, the founding documents declared all men were created equal, yet prohibited Black men from the basics of liberty: freedom.

How could the United States consider itself a free nation when so many of its citizens were not free? The issue tore us apart and brought us to war, yet those who are racist — and that is most of those in the Republican Party — have yet to accept the defeat. Moreover, they have yet to let go of the hatred they have for Blacks and people of color. And they call themselves Christians?

Whoever claims to love God yet hates a brother or sister is a liar. 1 John 4:20

Knowing how racism permeated southern society in the 1800s, it is easy to understand how so many southerners grew up with racial animosity toward Blacks. But as the 20th and 21st centuries have unfurled, those old and ugly core values should have been replaced with the recognition that all men are truly equal, and that there is no difference between men of different color.

The racial hatred that seethes under the surface of the conservative skin is like a kettle ready to boil over — it just sits there, waiting for the moment you look away, and then it strikes another blow for its ugly master. What began as slavery became Jim Crow; what began as Jim Crow became legal segregation; what began as legal segregation became Critical Race Theory: in other words, the right will continually modify their approach as needed to suppress and oppress all people of color in this nation.

The Incessant Lying.

The right can not be trusted to tell the truth about anything. When the former guy was in office, he lied at least 30,000 times — and those were just the ones we knew about!

But it’s more than that, so much more. It’s the distortions, the ‘alternate facts,’ the unwillingness to testify before Congress even when subpoenaed, the disingenuous falsehoods of every public thing they say — when they say something so different in private that boils my blood. When Mitch McConnell refuses to even permit a hearing for Merrick Garland — because he says the people should have a say — then pushes Amy Coney Barrett through just eight days before the 2020 election, that is doubletalk.

The GOP has made a mockery out of governing, and they use name-calling, lies, and hatred to deceive and distort reality, all devised to make those who follow them live in fear of the left, and angry enough to fight us to the death over this nation.

From ‘killing babies’ to ‘immigrant caravans’ to Dems ‘coming for your guns,’ the GOP lies with every breath. When Senator Rick Scott — the Republican Senator in charge of helping Republicans get elected to Congress — shared the Republican vision for the future — and how it increased taxes on most Americans — he lied on national television to a Fox News host, trying to convince the world that this was a Democratic talking point!

You can’t make this shit up! These people lie as easily as the rest of us breathe. It’s as Jesus said, it is their native tongue!

You belong to your father, the devil, and you want to carry out your father’s desires. He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies. John 8:44

Lying has become the native tongue for Republicans. They lied about Benghazi, and Pizza Gate, and Russian influence in the 2016 election; then they lied to support the lies of the liar in the White House for four years; then they lied when he told his followers the election of 2020 had been stolen, a lie that he and they continue to tell to this day — The Big Lie.

By far the most damaging lies were the ones told about the coronavirus: remember how we were told it would go away like a miracle? How it could be cured with bleach or infrared lights? How it was the ‘new Democratic hoax?’ These lies didn’t just divide us: they killed us!

One million Americans are now dead because the bastard that leads these hateful, racist morons LIED to all of us, leaving the nation exposed to a killer virus.

Why?

I could give you a couple reasons: first, the GOP initially believed COVID-19 was only killing Blacks. Secondly, they didn’t want to crash the economy in an election year.

Yes he said this…at least the first part, in an interview with Bob Woodward. The word ‘panic’ is a term used in the stock market when it crashes, and that is what I believe he was saying…that he didn’t want to create a panic…in the stock market! He didn’t care about protecting the citizens against a killer virus: he just didn’t want the economy to tank in an election year, but that is exactly what happened due to his incredible butt fuckery!

Everything else.

There are so many other issues that I simply cannot reduce this list to just ten things.

Whether it be voting rights, elections, climate change, abortion, or any other topic, the right side of the equation — Republicans — are simply incapable of telling the truth.

Everything Republicans are doing is with the sole intent of returning power and control of this nation back to wealthy white men, just as the nation was after being established.

I started this piece by asking any fan of the right to name even one Republican who claims the election of 2020 was stolen yet refused to take their own office accordingly: not one of them will ever come forward and state that their own election — on the same ballot — was illegal. They know the truth, but are unwilling to admit it, at least publicly: the 2020 election was lawful and legitimate. The Republicans will continue to lie to the American people until such time that enough Americans lose trust in our election process to call for change — like writing more restrictive voting laws.

Everything the right wants to destroy — in the name of their distorted view of God and country — is exactly what the left has had to fight and die for through nearly 250 years of American turmoil.

Is the God they love one who limits rights or gives rights?

Is the nation they love one that limits rights or expands rights?

The same Constitution that claimed all men are created equal also claimed Blacks were only worth 3/5 of a person, and gave women no rights at all. So either we have changed as a nation — expanding God’s grace to give all people those unalienable rights — or we are stuck in 1787, where only wealthy white men have any say, any power, and any rights.

The right wants it that way; the left vows to bring about those rights — guaranteed in the Constitution — to all of us.

I don’t normally do this, but I’m going to tag writers on this platform I believe will appreciate this piece. I do hope it encourages further engagement in the democratic process, and furthers our hope for this nation.

Samara Morgan, Chora Chorion, Ed Blosch, John Werth, Lawrence Luckom, Lucas Longacre, Jennydwyer, Adrian Moine, BuddhaMonk, Ted Booth, Vilma G. Reynoso, Phil Morris, Dave Volek, Griffin Darklighter, Edward Miessner, Dave Lever, Larry Lyons, alanzisser, Adam Alexander, Rand Eller, James Morris, D.Min., Lizzie. Just Lizzie., Salil Maniktahla, Ellen Beth Gill, Robert Daerr, Peaches.

If I missed anyone, I apologize: I have never tagged other writers like this before and I don’t support using this trick on a regular basis. The writers I have tagged have all commented on other pieces in a way that suggests this story might interest them.

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©Timothy J. Sabo