How much do I love America and my fellow human person?  Enough to speak out!

I will not be shamed into silence. This election is not like any other election. I can be a positive force and make a positive difference in the lives of my students and through my ministries, and still speak the truth about injustice. I can be a loving and positive person and still point out the WRONGS in our election process and congressional actions.

WHY? Because I am also a patriotic American citizen and it is not only my right, it is my DUTY to stand up and shout loudly when things are WRONG! As a faithful citizen, I am righteously angry.  

Social Darwinism is WRONG! Giving tax breaks to the rich and shameless and corporations, while taking services from the needy in society is WRONG!

Forcing a particular religion’s moral imperatives on a free, and diverse society is WRONG!

Bullying, shaming and degrading women, handicapped, minorities…any human person is WRONG!  Ignoring socioeconomic inequality is WRONG!

Taking money that people have paid into their social security and retirement their entire lives and calling it fiscally responsible for the nation, is WRONG! It is WRONG to take our money to fund your wars of choice and to line the pockets of your corporate beneficiaries.

Cutting social programs that promote education, personal reproductive responsibilities and preventive health care, just because your religious beliefs promote that everyone who engages in a sexual act should become pregnant and have babies, is WRONG!

Being pro birth only and NOT pro childcare, pro education, pro health care and pro social assistance for single parents and low income families is NOT PRO LIFE and it is WRONG! If you promote abortion over responsible citizenship, negating the life of the human being within the womb, then you are WRONG too.

Promoting a weaponized society and a nuclear threat to the rest of the world, while starving your own citizens and removing all safety nets, so you are able to afford to bully the rest of the world, is not Pro Peace or Pro Life. It too is WRONG!

Promoting fossil fuels and removing environmental standards and sanctions so that oil companies may exploit and profit at the expense of the planets ecosystems and all life on the planet is also WRONG.

As a devout Catholic Christian, The “Common Good,” is an imperative for all Catholics and faithful citizens. Bearing false witness is a sin, even it you think you are doing it for a just cause. If you are part of the problem and not part of the solution, as a faithful citizen, you are WRONG.

So, STOP trying to guilt me into silence.  My being a christian and treating others with love, mercy and with respect for their dignity and life is not negated because I choose to speak the truth about injustice in society.    I am both a christian and a citizen. I will not be quiet. I will not accept what is not just and what is definitely WRONG. I will scream loudly and pray silently, but I will not “Get over it!” and I will not “Be quiet,” so that you feel better about all of the WRONG. I am not being negative.

Everyone is demonstrating moral and ethical fatigue.  We have become habituated to the cognitive dissonance of lie after lie after lie.  We are “normalizing” the self indulgence of a narcissist, because to fight back takes too much from our positive energy stores.  It is exhausting.  Everyone speaks of how tired they are of others being mean to each other or insulting each other.   Many of those same people, who chastise me for speaking the “TRUTH,” are the same ones who decided that it was ok to vote for a person, who showed no remorse when speaking of sexually assaulting and degrading women, and who showed no mercy as he mocked a handicapped person.  That same person shamelessly lies over and over and over again, but I am somehow evil because I speak up against the vulgarity and shameful disrespect demonstrated on a daily basis toward our fellow human beings?

I am truly sorry if my speaking the TRUTH creates a cognitive dissonance and uncomfortable negative feelings. The feelings you are experiencing are not generated from my hating anyone.  It is simply your conscience realizing that the TRUTH is not something you wish to think about.  Let’s all just forget about the ugly and just be positive and pray that God will make it all right.  I agree that God will make it right.  I trust in Him, but He still gave us a brain and skills and a moral compass.  WE still have to speak out against injustice.  We must love enough to not be silent in the face of tyranny and as others around us are forced to suffer.  

I LOVE enough to speak up. Not as a liberal extremist, but as a human being who loves life, loves my fellow man, seeks peaceful coexistence, loves our beautiful planet and all living creatures. I LOVE enough to shout NO when something is WRONG.

C. Dianne Phillips, Sciencegranny