This is not the America I Loved

Posted on July 3, 2025 CE, in Politics

November 5, 2024 was an eye opener for me. The fact that almost half of voters chose to vote for a literal fascist, and that his racism, sexism, and hateful rhetoric wasn’t deal breakers for them really made me question the way I saw the world and my place in it. Maybe we’ve always been this way, and it was just what we aspired to be that made us hide the worst parts of us, but where we are today is not the America I was taught about in school.

This is not the land of the free. It’s now the land of masked agents in unmarked vehicles making people disappear without due process. It’s the land of citizens being targeted because their nationality is Hispanic. It’s the land of Christian nationalists and white supremacists controlling the country. It’s the land of mobilising troops to our own cities to try to suppress protests. It’s the land where the head of state uses his social media to demonize his political opponents in order to try to get his base to take “justice” into their own hands. It’s the land where the legislative and judicial branches refuse to do their duty of putting checks and balances on the executive because they fear that he’ll send a mob after them next.

This is not the America that I pledged allegiance to almost daily in school growing up. Those pledges were dependant on “liberty and justice for all.” And our government isn’t even pretending that that’s the case anymore.

This is not the America I loved, and with the 4th of July approaching I’ve been doing a lot of thinking. And I’ve come to some painful decisions. As this is not the America I loved, I no longer feel any loyalty towards her. I hereby renounce my allegiance to her. My allegiance is to the principles that she once stood for, and since she no longer stands for them I will no longer stand for her. I will not raise my own hand against her, but I also will not attempt to stay the hand that does attempt to do so.

From this day on, I’m an American in name only.