My country 'tis of thee...

sweet land of bigotry?  of thee I ...cringe?

Those of you who know me well and have read this blog might have realized how little I discuss work, or at least, the vagueness of my references to it. I do that to maintain the separation of my professional duties and representation and my personal opinion.  Today I'm going to blur the lines just a bit, because, man, I have got to vent.

First of all, WHAT ON EARTH IS GOING ON UP THERE?!!  I leave the country and you (collectively, and probably not the people who read this) go apesh*t conservative and close-minded on me.  Seriously. WTF? When I left, there was Arizona, tea partiers and Sarah Palin (and Fox News, but I won't go there). Now, there's this 14th Amendment BS AND the Park51 madness.  I'm ashamed of you (again, the collective, and here I'm going directly for anyone who has the nerve to protect their own religious freedom and no one elses.). 

 I did not join choose to go on my current career path 8 years ago because as much as I loved my country, I did not want to be associated its government.  Now that I am, I'm finding it a bit harder to represent its people.  That makes me incredibly sad. And it makes my job a bit more challenging, thank you very much. Among many other things,  I am supposed to be helping hundreds of thousands of people who have been denied citizenship and respect for their basic human rights due to the color of their skin (their religion and their culture)...and what argument can I possibly make to influence the government or the people of this country from where I stand as an American?  How do I promote tolerance, liberty, respect for diversity and human rights when the country I represent has fallen so far from its own ideals?  I sound like a hypocrite. I hate hypocrites.  So, I guess I'm asking y'all to do me a favor...can you please, for the love of all that is decent in this world, get your heads out of your arses and start acting like the country that we claim to be?  Thank you. 

Peter Beinart's Daily Beast Blog (a great read, and partly responsible for getting me riled up and on my soap box this morning): 
http://www.thedailybeast.com/blogs-and-stories/2010-08-17/ground-zero-mosque-controversy-america-has-disgraced-itself/