Visions

The elections are less than a month away, and it is time to ask ourselves a very basic question: Is this the United States you envision for your country? Do you feel proud to say, “I’m an American,” or is there a persistent voice in the back of your mind whispering, “But… but…”?

We stood up in school each morning, and the promise was pounded into our heads: “liberty and justice for all” in the Pledge of Allegiance.

But then we found out “liberty and justice for all” wasn't true. We saw it on the evening news: Black people sitting at lunch counters, demanding their rights. And the people said, “Enough,” and passed nondiscrimination laws. That was their vision of America.

Now we have a government claiming those nondiscrimination laws are unconstitutional. A government telling us it is okay to suppress the Black vote as long as you don’t explicitly say that’s the reason. That it is okay to step between you and your doctor as long as they claim, “It’s to save the children!” That it is okay to round up people who don’t look like they belong and deny them their constitutional rights as long as it's disguised as targeting illegal immigration.

It is time to say, “Enough.”

Stormtrooper-clad paramilitary forces yanking people off the streets simply because they look like foreigners. Stormtrooper-clad paramilitary forces bashing the heads of peaceful protesters, while high government officials lie about it right as we watch it with our own eyes.

We have seen images like these before.

We saw them in photographs from the Jim Crow South here in America during the 1950s and ’60s.

We saw them in photographs from Germany in the 1930s. Different countries. Different circumstances. Different histories. But the images carry a universal warning: What happens when a government begins treating some people as less deserving of rights than others?

It is time to say, “Enough” this November.

Which party cares about working people and making sure they have food on the table, while the other tries to trade away parts of Yosemite National Park to build a road to million-dollar private condos? Is this your vision of our country? It is time to stop enabling policies that line the pockets of oligarchs.

Is this the America you envision?

It is time to say, “Enough,” and vote Blue.