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All we need to do now, is to all become wealthy, white Christian Republican Congressmen and we'll be set. Or, maybe those of us who are not need to make our voices heard.
I’ve been looking around lately and wondering if we’re here; if this is the supposed greatness he was talking about, the kind his supporters were forecasting, the kind their bumpers and t-shirts refer to. It hasn’t seemed particularly great to me lately, but hey, I’ve been wrong before, so I started asking around:
I asked a grandmother in Texas, terrified that her social security and Medicare may soon be evaporating. She wasn’t convinced.
I asked a National Park ranger, unceremoniously terminated from his dream job stewarding our natural resources. He appeared skeptical.
I asked a Transgender middle school girl who has to wait until she gets home from school to use the bathroom. She had her doubts.
I asked the wounded Veteran whose benefits aren’t likely going to be enough to sustain him in the last years of his life. He wasn’t optimistic.
I asked the young couple whose dream of conceiving a child will be destroyed without IVF. They declined to reply.
I asked an exhausted single father whose 8-year old son will soon be losing his reduced-price lunch. He wasn’t so sure.
I asked the starving African family whose USAID support has disappeared. They didn’t have the strength to respond.
I asked the Missouri high school students crouched in a utility closet during another active shooter drill. They weren’t seeing it.
I asked a Pennsylvania small business-owner who is being decimated by this reckless tariff war. He was too preoccupied to answer.
I asked the exhausted parents of an adult daughter with severe depression who will soon be losing the healthcare that keeps her illness at bay. They had their doubts.
I asked the late-stage cancer patient whose medical trial was abandoned without warning. He couldn’t say.
I asked a Muslim family in a Detroit suburb, as they scrubbed the spray-painted profanity from their front door. They were less than certain.
I asked the public high school Science teacher who has been told that she is overpaid, indoctrinating children, and that climate change is fake news. She was less than enthusiastic.
I asked the black teenager, as he watched the KKK parade past family’s Virginia row home. He had no reply.
I asked a teacher at a Jewish day school as she and her students huddled outside while waiting on the bomb squad to sweep their classroom. She was noncommittal.
I asked the gay couple, wondering if they’ll get to have the wedding their families have been dreaming of for years. They couldn’t answer.
I asked the Alabama family whose taxes and health insurance costs will climb next year, eliminating the already razor-thin breathing room they had. They didn’t think so.
I asked the Rust Belt factory worker who is now realizing that his job isn’t ever coming back and that coal isn’t either. He looked unsure.
I asked the fourth grade students in an inner-city Philadelphia theatre program, whose coming semesters are in doubt. They weren’t able to answer.
I asked the undocumented woman being separated from her husband and 5 children who are all citizens. She looked skeptical.
I asked the elderly couple in a public housing neighborhood in New York City, whose ceiling is still leaking and will keep leaking. They didn’t believe so.
I asked the victim of a campus sexual assault, who feels less able to come forward than ever. She had no answer.
Then I asked a wealthy, white Christian Republican Congressman, whose salary, family, healthcare, job security, emotional well-being, and daily life are unaffected. He’s sure it is.
Maybe he’s right and we’re all wrong. Maybe the rest of us need to get with the program. Maybe we all need to stop complaining. Maybe we all need to shut-up and embrace America’s present, glorious greatness.
All we need to do now, is to all become wealthy, white Christian Republican Congressmen and we’ll be set.
Or, maybe those of us who are not need to make our voices heard.
Maybe that’s when the greatness will actually come.
John Pavlovitz
John Pavlovitz is a writer, pastor, and activist from Wake Forest, North Carolina. A 25-year veteran in the trenches of local church ministry, John is committed to equality, diversity, and justice—both inside and outside faith communities. When not actively working for a more compassionate planet, John enjoys spending time with his family, exercising, cooking, and having time in nature. He is the author of A Bigger Table, Hope and Other Superpowers, Low, and Stuff That Needs to Be Said.
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