BY WILLIAM C. HENRY No doubt this nation does need to be made “great,” (as if we were ever really and truly “great,” but I will grant you that our WWII participation and follow-up Marshall Plan 
achievements were exemplary exceptions) but for reasons you are about to be made fully aware of, I am extremely reluctant to add the word “again” to any such plea, plan or plaudit. One thing we surely DO NOT need — nor should we EVER become dependent upon — is a bigoted, racist, Russia-hugging, Nazi/fascist-embracing, thieving, bankruptcy reliant, altogether phony, traitorous, money laundering, pathologically lying, petulantly immature, deadbeat, con artist degenerate like Donald J. Trump to lead us toward such a virtuous and honorable goal. What’s that you say? It has only been a year so far. Give him a chance. Well … bullshit! How ’bout I begin by pointing out a few pertinent “facts” that he is obviously: a) totally ignorant of, b) would much prefer to ignore, c) tries his idiotic best to obfuscate, d) totally lies about, belittles, sluffs off or laughs away, e) stuffs under the Oval Office rug, or f) blames everyone and everything but himself for; all of which constantly spews forth from a mouth that so often doubles as an asshole or urethra.
It’s probably best to kick this American “greatness” stuff off back around 1492 — which, by the way, European revisionist historians like to plug as the beginning of “real” American time — there were some 10,000,000 native Americans inhabiting the land mass we now call the United States of America. By 1900 there were believed to be about 300,000 left. What happened to the “difference?” WE KILLED THEM, period! That is correct, folks. We starved them to death, we literally “walked” them to death, we “infected” them to death, and we just plain shot and stabbed them to death! OVER 9 MILLION native Americans! By contrast, the Nazis murdered some 6 million Jews and others. If you’d like to learn more, I invite you to read, Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee by Dee Brown; Custer Died For Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto by Vine Deloria Jr.; or perhaps the finest book ever written on the subject, The Earth Shall Weep by James Wilson.
And let us never forget the literally hundreds of thousands of innocent lives this country has sacrificed in the name of “America’s best ‘corporate’ and ‘financial’ interests.” This holier-than-thou country of ours has supported, encouraged, and even installed, tyrannical butchering dictatorships in no less than 35 countries from 1945 to the present day. For God’s sake, this kind of detestable behavior is literally imbedded in America’s political DNA! Trump says he wants to make America great “again.” Are you kidding?! Hell, we’ve been acting in our own selfish “greatest” corporate and financial interests regardless of the human toll and consequences for the past 75 years! If you have any doubts as to the veracity of this paragraph, I suggest you do a little independent research of your own. The truth may not set you free from this moral degenerate in the White House and his American “greatness” rebuilding delusions, but it should damn well alter your moral compass a bit if you possess even a shred of human decency.
Oh yeah, did I mention our shameful if not altogether disgusting (and in many cases downright deadly) policies regarding some 750,000 folks who were originally brought to this country through no fault or choice of their own and have lived exemplary American lives (as in having regularly paid taxes, having diligently educated themselves, having honorably contributed to their communities, having maintained superlative employment histories, and never having garnered so much as a traffic ticket) ever since?! That’s right, folks, we currently have a piece of that proverbial “shit” as president (I simply can’t bring myself to capitalizing the term for him) who would prefer to destroy the lives of decent, upstanding, fathers, mothers, daughters and sons rather than concentrate ALL of our I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency) resources on rounding up and deporting those who damn well deserve to be kicked the hell out of this country! But, that would require some truly honest and discerning effort, some real courage, some real honor, some real “greatness” on our part!
Finally (well, not really, because when this piece is completed I will have only begun to scratch the surface of the repellent transgressions haunting the past and present histories of this “great” nation of ours), in January of 2017 a moronic degenerate was officially installed as president of this “great” nation. Turns out he had amassed 3 MILLION FEWER popular votes than his opponent. Not 3 HUNDRED fewer, not 3 THOUSAND fewer, not even 3 HUNDRED THOUSAND fewer! Are you ready for this? The actual figure is 3 MILLION FEWER!!! How could something like that happen in this so-called “greatest democracy on the face of the earth,” you ask???!!! The answer is a disgusting American “election” travesty called the Electoral College. Check it out. It’s a classic example of American political “shit,” folks, and universes away from what you would expect from the so-called “greatest” democracy the world has ever known!!!
In that same vein, let me ask you a question: do you think that in a “great democracy,” one that prides itself in having engendered and championed the idea of “one man/one vote”, that an essentially all white voting block of some 575,000 (the state of Wyoming) should be able to exercise the exact same degree of political power within our government as say a completely racially and ethnically mixed voting block of some 40 MILLION (the state of California)? Well, that’s exactly how things work in America’s most august and venerable governing body, the United States Senate! Yessiree, it’s essentially that same “magnanimous” concept (remember the Electoral College bullshit?) that made a lying, thieving, traitorous, degenerate, narcissistic, blithering idiot the president of the “great” United States of America!
So, when you take all of that into account, plus the fact that it took until December 18, 1865 to rid this “great” nation of slavery; and until August 18th, 1920 for women in this “great” nation to obtain the right to vote; and that America ranks no better than 16th worldwide in education, and 37th among 190 countries worldwide in healthcare; and that our poverty situation is way, way beyond contemptible and unconscionable, you begin to understand that this so-called “great” nation of ours has hardly progressed beyond the “g” in the word. But, lest you are thinking about completely giving up on this rather mediocre country, you should know that there are two things that it is INDEED unsurpassed at: a) building contraptions to blow people up, and b) actually blowing people up with them. According to the latest figures, we spend about 570 BILLION DOLLAR$ on “defense” (and even that obscene figure is vastly underestimated because this country has so many phony, secret budgets that the Defense Department and Department of Homeland Security are awash in so much money that even they don’t know what the annual grand total is or how to keep track of it). The next in line, China, spends about 191 Billion; and the United Kingdom, number 3, spends about 67 Billion. Little ole Russia is 4th with about 54 Billion. That’s right, folks, America spends (as published but not in truth or actuality) nearly as much money on that all-encompassing term “security” as the next three in line COMBINED! And, of course, NOBODY wants to talk much anymore about the ATROCIOUS HUMAN CARNAGE and TRILLIONS$ UPON TRILLION$ OF DOLLAR$ we’ve blown, and CONTINUE to blow, in Iraq and Afghanistan!!!
Stop for a moment and imagine how many fewer homeless and mentally ill individuals, children, and families there might be if we could have dedicated more resources to their health, feeding, clothing and shelter; how many fewer jobless there might be if we could have dedicated more resources to education and retraining; how much more adequate, safer and functional the infrastructure of this country might be if we could have devoted more resources to its construction, rebuilding and repair; how much further along our research into “incurable” diseases might have progressed if we’d had the additional financial resources to devote to their conquering. So, I leave you with the following query: Is it not evident that presidential assholes who preside over glass-enclosed shitholes should be extremely wary of throwing racist and bigoted stones?!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Fed up early stage septuagenarian who has actually been most of there and done most of that. Born and raised in the picturesque Pocono Mountains. Quite well educated. Very lucky to have been born into a well-schooled and somewhat prosperous family. Long divorced. One beautiful, brilliant daughter. Two far above average grandsons. Semi-retired (how does anyone manage to do it completely these days?) and fully-tired of bullshit. Uncle of the Editor-In-Chief.