American values have taken a dystopian turn for the worst for many across the political spectrum. Except those who openly and unapologetically support them all, whether they benefit from any of it or not. And it's clear that only a very small percentage of them (the wealthy) benefit.
We're not only unsettled, we're scared for families everywhere. Scared because of the increased violent rhetoric and literal physical violence from both sides of the political and ideological spectrum happening throughout our country.
To be clear, we're a privileged white family that has never been profiled, targeted, or forcibly removed from the very streets we assumed were always (mostly) safe. However, that's not exactly true anymore since this country has again become more dangerous for women and the LGBTQIA+ community in the past 10+ years. And that impacts our family directly, my wife and our daughters. (Thank you goodness that the Supreme Court rejected a long-shot effort to overturn same-sex marriage ruling.)
Just check out the recent article titled America Is an Increasingly Dangerous Place for Women and Girls by Carrie N. Baker, J.D., Ph.D., who is the Sylvia Dlugasch Bauman professor of American Studies and the chair of the Program for the Study of Women and Gender at Smith College.
Here are some excerpts:
Approximately 41 percent of women in the U.S. have experienced sexual violence, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Everytown Research and Policy reports, “Guns amplify the inherent power and control dynamics characteristic of abusive intimate relationships, whether as lethal weapons to injure and kill or as a tool to inflict emotional abuse without ever firing a bullet.”
One in five women will be raped in their lifetime. One in four girls is sexually abused before age 18, with more than one third abused by family members.
Male-dominated legislatures in 18 states have passed abortion bans that endanger women’s lives. In states banning abortion, intimate partner violence has risen across the board, with the sharpest increases among women ages 25 to 34.
I'm sure there are those who feel we're overreacting. Maybe we can undo some of the anti-democratic damage already done. Maybe this is just another ideological swing within a history of swinging in this grand old democratic republic of ours. Maybe we can prevent the final fall into third-world civil war oblivion. But a double-downed patriarchy combined with no moral compass combined with too much crazy and too many guns equals more violence to come.
Unfortunately, this is where we're at today in America. It's become more unstable and dangerous for too many individuals and families. For females especially. For LGBTQIA+. For Black and Brown people. For the working class. For the middle class. For everyone.
My wife reminds me to not fall into "otherisms", though. To not generalize about people we don't agree with. To not make it about us versus them; we good, they bad. But when I think about the dystopian turn we've taken, where again grift, greed, extortion, discrimination, deceit, retribution, humiliation, cruelty, misogyny, harassment, and assault are the values of the powerful few and their followers -- my skin crawls to think this is America today.
However, we do still believe in the American values of individuality, personal responsibility, community, opportunity, freedom, and liberty, and that they are inextricably linked to love, empathy, compassion, truth, humility, inclusion, and integrity. These are also foundational for safety and wellbeing. Our daughters need an American values revival and that's what we intend to give them.
