values

I yearn to have (at this point, any of) my values reflected in our national government. As one of the many Americans who have functionally no choice in their representation, I am used to it. I live in one of the most gerrymandered congressional districts in Arizona. My legislative district for my state representatives is even worse.

I have a vested interest in the current political climate - I am hoping to spend my career in public education. This is already difficult in Arizona where we rank 51st, but having both a state and federal government openly against your work is not inspiring.

In my mind, even worse is the moral destitution and open profiteering. These things used to be done behind closed doors, but now they are done out in the open because they know no one will come to stop it. The President of the United States is actively involved in a crypto scam bearing his name. He said "a radical and corrupt establishment has extracted power and wealth from our citizens while the pillars of our society lay broken and seemingly in complete disrepair" in his inauguration speech, but wasn't talking about the billionaires such as himself and those he invited that have sucked the wealth from The People. In fact, 728 billionaires hold more wealth than the bottom 50% of households in America. That's right - 728 people have more wealth than 173,000,000.

The blatant pandering throughout today's inauguration events, while expected, made it clear that there is not a place for people like me in this government (which is wild to say as a straight white man). I write, I call, yet there is no one that will listen. I truly hope that will change one day, and I hope to be a part of that change, but until then.