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I’m embarrassed to be an American
When people ask where I’m from, I say Puerto Rico. which is the same thing as saying the United States although many people don’t know that.
Donald Trump didn’t know that. But then, he’s another embarrassment.
I was born in the United States (Louisiana), but raised in Puerto Rico. I’ve lived the last 26 years in Mexico and Canada. I don’t consider myself an expat. I think of myself as an allpat, a citizen of the world. When viewed from outside the country the United States seems increasingly weird.
Putting aside Trump and the inability of the Republican party to do anything constructive, the increase of mass shootings in the US is appalling and reflective of a deeply troubled society. The killing of 19 children at a school in Texas is the latest in a year-long series of mass shootings in America.
According to Gun Violence Archive, a non-profit organization that follows these, there have been 212 mass shootings in the US so far in 2022, and we’re not even half way through the year!
People place flowers, protest, and politicians claim their “hearts and prayers go out to those affected”, but nobody does anything! The USA doesn’t need your “hearts and prayers”, it needs your action to stop the madness.
The Second Amendment to the constitution states “A well regulated militia , being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”
This was ratified in 1791 when the United States was new and still vulnerable with only a small standing army. At the time the most powerful weapon was a single shot muzzle-loaded hunting rifle. The necessity of this was borne out in the war of 1812, again against a more powerful adversary (England). Today, the United states has arguably the most powerful military in the world. Do we really need an…
