Some worthy comments from an Australian:

[mr715]

32. I should've said apt and astute.

It was, as your say, upsetting to read I couldn't quite articulate why. Dissonant. After reading your characterization, I think it is because it forces me into the always uncomfortable position as identity "victim". I don't want to be a victim. I don't want that to be part of who I am, but it is something gross that the President and Congress have enforced on me.

I understand the sentiment of the writer, but it is a consequence of American power internationally. It is a historical product of empire and changes to culture and language and ethics.

Humanity is a beautiful thing. We are capable of such glorious acts of benevolence. We, those that are fighting back, and those that are having our beloved rights infringed do not carry the blame for the failure of the (GOP) majority to govern. It isn't our show.

It is a subtle aspect of our system that our minority has no mandate to govern. You and I might even have disagreed on this feature in terms of political tactics. But it might be a subtle point lost on Commonwealth countries operating according to Westminster rules.

We have no King to take the middle way and "be" the American. In our system, the whore of Babylon Donald Trump serves in that capacity. While simultaneously enacting a governing agenda with real consequences.

We are likely the only nation truly able to end the world. Perhaps Russia, but I suspect that aren't the nuclear powerhouse they claim.

We DO have an obligation to be stewards of peace and liberalism (classical and modern, simultaneously).

When Sec. Clinton lost, I realized we were not the nation I was raised to believe we were, so it stings when people remind me. Especially from countries whose own racism is through the roof.

I appreciate you, sheshe, as I appreciate all the thoughtful Democrats on this forum.

We have endured a lot and we will endure more. But we will win in the end because the good guys always win and I unwilling to accept that existence isn't a classical comedy.

And yet, there is no balm for the harm done to the innocent and I hope we, as a government, can repair the damage that one generation has wrought.

I'm not willing to give up yet. But I don't want to be scolded for an acute pain I feel in my heart over the loss of my country. It is a canker sore I poke every day because Trump just won't go away.


You are appreciated. You are valued. Thank you for giving words to the amorphous unease this OP gave me.