Eike Waltz, poet
Sheila Halligan-Waltz, painter
1. This is why I wrote "Wait a 2nd"
Sheila and I turned into concerned citizens but reject the association with "activism". By speaking up, speaking out with our art we faced an American specialty: "I don't care"... facing silencing... facing ignorance.
Yes, we Americans are taught our entire lives, that we are the freest Nation on earth and the rest of the world only envies us... Bullshit!
According to the World Governance Indicator (2017) 40 nations enjoy a higher level of democratic freedom. And contrary to having the most trustworthy news in the world... we were ranked #46. It is your duty to check this out.
And then, we have that paranoid need to bear arms by sustaining an out-of-control gun culture or more accurately, an out-of-date, seriously perverted "2nd Amendment". Why can't we make the 2nd Amendment human again? Please note, only three nations at this time have the right to bear arms as a provision in their constitution. Of those three, only the USA does not include restrictive conditions, and thus providing for that daily deadly 2nd Amendment inhuman tally, that free-for-all, that makes every citizen a target.
I hear: "We Americans need to protect us from our government."
If we had a democratically elected 21st century functioning government and claim to be a free and educated nation, we will not have to fear for our rights. It is ignorance and fear that castrates your rights and makes you less free.
Imagine, our elected government would turn into a hated dictatorship.
Remember, there was a MAGA equivalent in Germany. As a result, Germany had lost its moral compass and left its people forever in a deep shame of collective guilt.
"How was it possible? Will it happen again? These are questions, still haunting me."
And today I have to ask: doesn't this sound all too FAMILIAR?
Like in the past, there will be the day for repentance. The 61 million will say one day: "I had to vote for Trump. I was just an innocent bystander". Don't forget, this perverted innocence makes you guilty just the same. If you like it or not.
And then, if you, white man, look long enough at a black, well-engineered AR-15, you too may be convinced that the AR-15 is designed to protect the evangelical white-man's belief that the American ruling class can only be white. The cynics would say: "Let's stand our ground".
Yes, many of us are angry and disillusioned with government. Globalism opened a new door for the wealthy and shut doors for the every-one else. But I am even more disappointed with my fellow citizens who repeatedly seem to vote against their own existential interest and are ever so impressed by reality show personalities, power, and money.
This is what Americans say about themselves (words after Mark Manson):
The greatest flaw of American culture seems to be its blind self-absorption. In the past it hurt only other countries. But now our blind ambition for progress is starting to hurt ourselves. We became obsessed with fear and now fear everything. How can we call America a democracy when we are unable to differentiate between a modern social democracy and democratic socialism and bluntly call it all communism. Yet, referring to "saving our democracy" when we practice an oligarchy!
There are many things I love about America, and this is why America became my adopted home. I certainly do not hate money or for that matter, America. But, my turbulent European upbringing taught me to be critical and to be on the watch. I could tell you many beautiful stories about America. Sometimes its naiveté or freshness that brings tears to my eyes, which inspires me to write poems of endearment, which in turn lets me rest in all its lush lands and seascapes and, above all... lets me be... who I am.
