Left Behind

It's so odd how America's relationship to Europe and the other places that contributed to its founding and colonization has been reversed. We are now the intolerant ones. All those failed political, economic, social and religious precepts that originated elsewhere now exist in purer and more primitive forms in the United States, and it makes you want to get away. 

The stuff that people fled from to come to America is now America's métier, but it's worse here because it represents a betrayal of our traditions and is illegal. England was proud to be an empire and they conceitedly thought they could only improve a country by invading it. We were a product of that, rebelled against it, and defined ourselves in opposition to it. 

So there's an element of denial on top of the illegality which makes it worse and more perverse. We can't admit to ourselves what we're doing, so there's no way to bring it honestly within the system and to try to do it well, to the extent that something indefensible can be done well. On that high note I'm off to work, with the unhelpful realization of how messed up we are.