Winning. At Jail.

As citizens of the United States of America, we have a problem. We preach American Exceptionalism and we have a problem. We’re number one in gun violence (yay?). Our religion has been hijacked to preach mainly hatred, drawn along stances that are not even in the Bible. Many states are actively pushing this new-fangled old concept of Christian Nationalism. Racism in this nation makes us #10 out of 190+ countries with regard to racial inequality.

This is a problem.

The only way to get better is to look to ourselves. With our votes, we determine the future of our nation. Will we let it fall to fascism? This is far too real a possibility, and far too few of us have been able to penetrate the veil of exceptionalism enough to focus on what it really means to be an American — the good and the not so good.

We can’t fix problems we refuse to admit exist.

So get out and vote for people who are willing to be honest about the influence of slavery on our nation. Yes, it’s there — even from before our country was founded. Did you know that this quote was stricken from the Declaration of Independence before our nation even was founded? Why? I’ll let you read it first.

He has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.

—Thomas Jefferson (stricken from the original Declaration of Independence)

But this episode isn’t about that line. The line is offered only as an example that self-delusion has very real consequences. We have deliberately stopped teaching the influence of slavery, and many states are disallowing teaching of anything that addresses inequality under the guise of stopping CRT.

Listen to this podcast, and learn the truth about America’s position in the world — if you have the courage to do so.