I understand there is a deep, enduring chasm between this nation’s founding principles of liberty and equality for all versus our collective history of genocide, racism and oppression.
I have heard a lifetime of lies told by our government to conceal a myriad of sordid transgressions committed in the name of “freedom” and “national security”.
Because I had always believed a clear majority of US shared a common striving for justice that would ultimately defeat tyranny, I suspended disbelief, adopting self-deception to believe the lie that our rulers cared for justice – if only when they could.
Now, we confront the reality that a “treasured ally” has committed murder, the venality of which every moral being should recoil in horror.
Jamal Khashoggi was assassinated by agents of the Saudi government on orders from Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
Donald Trump, our presumed head of government, casually dismissed this atrocity in the name of corporate profiteering, ripping away any pretense that this nation stands for human rights and justice here or abroad. In this rejection of decency, he is joined by a corrupt and complicit political party, and a wide swath of a cynical, crude, stupid, vulgar and violent populace.
There is no longer any illusion.
As the lamp of justice dims, we stand exposed for what we are; purveyors of global warfare, division, and strife, that subjugates and oppresses millions, sacrificed to the pursuit of greater corporate wealth and the consolidation of power within a ruling class that despises US all.
Between the reality and the promise falls the shadow. Within the darkness of that shadow there are no noble verities. There is only a lie agreed upon.
For my country, I am profoundly heartbroken.
