Is It Really a Free Country When Some People Have More Rights Than Others?

My father used to say that America was the best country in the world.

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A few years ago I was at the gym where I do some of my most intense inner workouts too. I remember my father saying often “It’s a free country.” This first-generation American born of Russian Jewish immigrant parents who came here to escape persecution loved America and accepted people from all cultures and religions even as he experienced anti-Semitism growing up. He didn’t become bitter and reactive. He didn’t use it as an excuse for hatred. Where I sit with this is that while we are free to think and feel whatever we want socially and politically, I take issue when people use it as an excuse to support an administration that dealt in destruction. How do I reconcile my love for humanity with wanting to change the minds of humans who justify their political allegiances without thinking of the long-term consequences?

My father used to say that America was the best country in the world. In the naivete of my childhood, I believed him. Clearly, there are countries that are run (not governed) by brutal dictatorial regimes. I don’t think most Americans consider how close we came to that state here with those in positions of power who want to…