Do We Applaud Executions Now?

A couple of years ago I published my first post lamenting how rude our country had become.  This was during the infamous Town Hall meetings, where red-faced, screaming people disrupted the meetings and shouted down everyone who disagreed with them.  Unbeknownst to me, this was only the beginning of the decline and fall of our good sense.

The Tea Party arose, thanks in large part to the Town Hall meetings.  This is not a political blog, but sometimes things are intertwined, as is the case with our losing our humanity and politics.  The political arena has given a pulpit and excuse for people to express their "anger", and those angry people are the ones given a voice on the local and national news. 

The Town Hall meetings led to very large Tea Party rallies, where citizens were empowered to tote large signs with shockingly racist pictures and commentary on the President of the United States.  Some also encouraged violence and a takeover of our country.  I believe that most of the Americans who watched this just shook their heads, at least I hope so.

Over the months, things have gotten worse.  Watching the recent Republican debate, it was sad to hear the ovation when a candidate from Texas was asked about the fact that Texas executes more humans than any other state in the union.  That's how low we have finally sunk - applauding the death of others.  At a later debate another question received cheers - this one was whether a candidate would allow a young person to die if he was required to buy insurance but didn't.

One thing cheered me this past week - the video showing a group of people lifting a burning car to rescue a young guy who was thrown off his motorcycle after a wreck.  These people put themselves at risk to save a stranger's life.  Yes, there is still some compassion, courage and bravery left in America.  It's not in the political blogs, it's not at the debates, it's not at the Tea Party rallies.  It's within ordinary citizens who, like most of us, are sick and saddened by seeing the daily parade of hate on the internet and television.  Whether courage and compassion can defeat hate and anger in the battle for our country is yet to be seen.  I know which side I'm on....