If I had to estimate the percentage of Americans who are well, or even moderately informed about what is actually happening in Washington, I would guess that it may be as high as ten-percent. Millions of Americans watch the real fake-news network, and right wing propaganda machine, FOX Noise, daily. These men and women are the least informed of all Americans. Like Trump, FOX personalities never ‘met a lie they didn’t love.’ Since its inception in 1996, not a single fact has been reported by their pretend journalists.

With the advent of the Internet, an even larger number of Americans became misinformed.

It seems like a long time ago when television news was offered for one-half an hour, on three networks, for five nights every week. During that short duration, Cronkite, Murrow, Chancellor, Huntley and Brinkley, along with others, reported the facts about the most important events of the day, almost entirely without opinions or commentary.

CNN began broadcasting 24 hour-a-day “news.” The truth is that from 1980 when CNN began broadcasting until now, there is far more ‘entertainment’ than news. Reporters constantly offer theirs or their advertisers personal opinions; anything is allowed to fill such an enormous amount of time. The ‘information highway’ had begun, and it was a road to nowhere.

The Internet is a wonderful and a dangerous venue used by hundreds of million Americans every day. I, and millions of other writers offer our opinions daily for the world to read. Sadly, most of these blogs are entirely fallacious. Not a single fact is offered to the American people and the world. Add in twitter, Trump’s favorite way of lying to the American people, and the Internet is even more misleading. Social media was responsible for deciding the results of our election in 2016, and could do the same in the future.

So when you read extreme right wing bloggers, listen to right wing conspiracy theorists, or make the mistake of watching FOX Noise, you must research and find the truth. The truth is out there, but you must look for it; it won’t come to you.

Some writers call racism a growing problem in America. Others believe that it is less of a reality today. Both are mistaken. Millions of white Americans remain racists and bigots. It only appears that racism is growing because with Trump as their leader, millions of these pretend-Americans have come out of the shadows and revealed their true selves.

Here is a recent example of how millions of Americans react to the color of a man or woman’s skin, or even how they dress.

Nnenna Aguocha is a doctor who resides in Buckhead, Atlanta. This is a very upscale community. After pulling an all-night shift at the hospital, Dr. Aguocha was driving home. As she entered the entrance to her gated community, the SUV in front of her stopped, turned on his hazard lights, and blocked the entrance.

“He got out of the car and threatened to call the police on me because I was trespassing,” she said in the video recording taken at the scene. “This is racial profiling at its finest.”

My friends, this is the worst of America. This is why our nation never has been, and never will be a great nation. In all of the developed world we are the only nation which remains extremely racist, homophobic, and misogynistic. We are the only developed nation whose government refuses to fully care for all of their nation’s people, while serving the one-percent, and funding a growing army which wastes billions. We are the only member who refuses to recognize the equality of women. We are the only country where education is not a top priority.

Sadly, racism has become an ‘acceptable problem’ in America. Under the control of Republicans, this serious and unforgivable situation will only grow.

Old, white, men have ruined the United States of America since 1789, when the Constitution was signed, that is 229 years; that’s too long. Time for change.

Our government must represent our nation’s population. Our population is composed of 50.9 percent women, although only 19 percent of congress is female. We are becoming more diverse every year, but photos of the Republican Party show that their members are at least 95 percent white. The average age in America is 37.8 years of age; the average age in Washington is just over 60 years of age.

If you’ve read this before, chuckle again; but I am more serious than facetious. My dream is to live long enough to see a 40-year-old black woman elected as our president. She would also have a wife as a member of the LGBTQ community; and her religion of choice is the religion of Islam. Now that’s America as I see it!

Op-ed by James Turnage

SOURCE

My novels are available on Amazon; CLICK HERE