A eulogy for the United States on its birthday

A eulogy for the United States on its birthday
Let’s celebrate a democracy that once was – but not what it now is

By BRIAN KAREM
Columnist
PUBLISHED JULY 4, 2024 9:00AM (EDT)


(Salon) Dearly beloved, we are gathered here today to pay our respects to the dearly departed United States. It was dearly loved, and it has now definitely departed.

We continue to celebrate its birth on the 4th of July with an awe-inspiring fireworks display on the National Mall after imbibing copious amounts of liquor at millions of backyard barbecues waving the red, white and blue and removing a finger or two exploding fireworks at home. Some of us will fire guns in the air. Some of us will die miles from where someone fired a gun into the air. Few of us will recognize or mourn the country’s death: dated July 1, 2024.

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If we are to ever move forward, we must at least acknowledge this simple fact: The United States of our forefathers is gone. Justice John Roberts wrote the majority opinion of the Supreme Court that acted as the final bullet to the country’s head. That’s right. John Roberts is the equivalent of John Wilkes Booth. Going forward the President of the United States has immunity from prosecution for any “official” act taken while in office – effectively placing the president above the law. The ultimate arbiter of what an “official act” is will be the Supreme Court. This places the court squarely in the middle of partisan political squabbles in which the founders didn’t want them involved. Thus, The Court is guilty of establishing an autocracy we stood against during our revolution.

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Our infrastructure began to fail. We didn’t embrace universal healthcare. We refused to pass responsible gun legislation. Our elected officials became more vituperative and less intelligent. We graduated from a robust economy that built a thriving middle class, to a bloated “trickle down” economy that fed the filthy rich and robbed everyone else. The age of robber barons had returned. We entered a technological dark age that further fed the national illness. ..............(more)

https://www.salon.com/2024/07/04/a-eulogy-for-the-united-states-on-its-birthday/