Hey America

In case you haven’t noticed, 2,492 of your fellow citizens died yesterday from the Corona virus. That’s quite a few people and those numbers or something similar to those numbers are happening every day.

I ask if you’ve noticed for a couple of reasons. The first reason is that I have personal concern for your country and it’s people. I have friends and family that inhabit the land of the free, and I’m interested in their well being.

The second reason I ask if you’re paying attention is that you’re my neighbor. Sometimes neighbors are good and sometimes neighbors are not so good. But because of that neighborly proximity, it’s inevitable that their behavior is going to have an effect that crosses property lines or borders. This is especially true if there are ten times as many people living in your neighbors home as there are residing in yours.

The third reason I ask, is that some of the behavior we’re witnessing gives me the impression that maybe two thirds of you are paying attention, and the other third seems to be confusing their perception of their rights with doing what’s right.

Also, I just watched your president at another of his briefings and I’ve got to say, the performance was as bewildering and confusing as the rally in Michigan.

I’ll come back to your president in a moment, but I’ll start with my rally confusion. What was the point or message in bringing your guns with you? I looked but I couldn’t find even a sniff of a suggestion that your right to bear arms was in danger, but somehow this protest turned into a gun rally? Was carrying your A.R. supposed to be a threat, and if so, then who or what were you threatening? Was there an implication that if the governor wasn’t locked up then you were going to assassinate her? I also wondered if once Gretchen had been dispatched, if your caravan was going to move on and shoot all the governors that have imposed social distancing measures? Or is the plan just to shoot the Democrat governors?

My next confusing moment was the appearance of a confederate flag. What the hell was that all about? Was the flag bearer suggesting that slavery was a good idea or was sedition on their mind? If the latter is the case, then Michigan seems like an odd choice as the place to kick start the new confederacy. I would have guessed a Southern state like whichever Virginia it is that has it’s gun rights under siege. If I understand correctly, the assault on those firearm rights includes a background check, penalties for allowing children unfettered access and the inability to buy more than one handgun a month.

So, making it harder for children, the mentally ill and criminals to acquire guns is a bad thing and only being able to buy twelve handguns a year is a siege?

Sounds pretty draconian.

Anyway, back to Michigan. I think if I was going to commit to writing a slogan on my truck window then I’d take the time to text it to a buddy and let spell check do its magic.

The guy in the full hazmat suit and mask with the sign proclaiming the virus a hoax was confusing for me as well. Was he trying to be ironic or inadvertently succeeding in being idiotic?

I was perplexed.

Also the lady with the anti-abortion shirt seemed to be a bit off topic. She made me wonder if she’d considered that she was protesting an infringement on her rights while simultaneously wearing a garment that advocated for limiting the rights of other Americans.

Again, bewildering.

By the way, and just for the sake of context. Estimates for the number of protesters place them at about two thousand or about .02 percent of the population of Michigan. Or to put it another way., a little over two thirds of the number of people the virus whacked that very day in America,

After I thought about it a bit. I decided that with the MAGA hats and Trump signs and confused angry messaging, that what was really going on here was a mini Trump rally.

And that assumption made some sense to me because Mr. Trump also can’t see the world in any other fashion other than how it can serve his interests.

Which brings me nicely back to the American president.

I have to admit that I find him depressing. Everything he does seems to be about self gratification, and to be honest he comes off to me as a schoolyard bully who isn’t smart enough to grasp that he’s not very smart. It’s embarrassing and disheartening to believe he truly is representative of our neighbor.

But, that aside I was still gobsmacked when he tweeted that three states needed to liberate themselves. The deliberate omission of any mention of Ohio protests where a Republican governor rules, suggests the fucking president of the United States just called for armed insurrection against his legally elected political rivals.

That in itself is astonishing.

But his liberate message and his remarks that some states have gone too far in their restrictions also directly contradicts his administrations own social distancing guidelines.

And that’s mystifying.

I have to conclude from his words and actions that Mr. Trump believes his re-election is more important than a unified American response to a pandemic. Even with 2500 dead a day Mr. Trump still can’t find a unifying message or stop hurling little kid insults when he isn’t lavished with praise for his every action.

So, this is the new presidential campaign? Malign, lie at every turn, and endanger or sacrifice thousands of Americans for your own personal gratification and then claim it’s about the economy?

So, how is a neighbor supposed to react?

If America opens up like a beach in Jacksonville or a church in Kentucky, then what effect is that going to have on the rest of North America? Do we keep our borders closed in the hope that a second wave of infection doesn’t migrate to Canada and Mexico? Will the American president threaten to cut off all trade if we don’t follow suit? Will the rest of the world defer to America and open their countries to American travelers? Will Canada feel pressured to reopen our economy to compete with the Americans?

I have many questions.

I suppose the only thing to do is wait. Don wants the economy opened and back on track before November. So, assuming it’s going to take a while to restart, I assume the start up messaging is only going to get stronger. If that’s the case then Mexico and Canada should know in a matter of weeks what the reality is going to be when the economy is deemed more important than corona casualties.

I hope Mr’ Trump and Fox news are right . I hope that the virus is over rated or will disappear. I hope that treatment drugs and a vaccine get developed soon and everyone has access. I hope the science is wrong, but I can’t shake the feeling that the virus gives not one shit about Mr.Trumps re-election or the rights of some protesters in Michigan.

We’ll know soon enough I guess.