I am ashamed

I, too, love my country deeply, and I also, for the first time in my life, am ashamed of what we are becoming as a country.

I am ashamed of a president who is a habitual liar at 10,000 lies and counting; who is a known sexual predator; who calls women “pigs” and “dogs;” who openly mocks the disabled; who dehumanizes entire classes of people; who rips families apart and puts babies in cages; who uses his office to revenge himself on his “enemies;” who promotes baseless and dangerous conspiracy theories; who punches down on the defenseless and those unable to fight back which is always the mark of a coward and bully; who promotes hate and division, and who has defiled the office he occupies.

I am ashamed of a president who stood on a stage in a foreign capital and sold out our country, while the brutal leader of an enemy nation stood next to him, smirking in glee as the world watched in amazement. I call this treason.

I am ashamed of a president who has embraced dictators, alienated our longtime friends and allies and embarrassed our country around the world.

I am ashamed of a Congress largely peopled with spineless sycophants and toadies, who were ostensibly elected to serve the people they represent but instead serve only their corporate masters; who have no problem accepting help from a known hostile power to win an election, despite long years of wrapping themselves in the American flag and hurling accusations of “un-American” and “soft on defense” at the opposing party.

I am ashamed of a government that denies science and the effects of climate change.

I have faith that it will not and cannot continue; the American people are better than this; I hope they will come to see reason and once again remember that “E Pluribus Unum” is not a hollow promise.

Georgiana Silvestro