Two years ago, I listened to a newscast about a man in Seattle being the first in the United States to be diagnosed with a strange new virus that had first shown up in China. Had I known then that virus would be used to frighten Americans into giving up many First Amendment Freedoms I would have paid more attention.

The First Amendment of the US Constitution makes many promises. Those promises swell deep within American souls. They are at the heart of our legendary optimism and hope. As children, we learned we live in a free country where we can achieve any dream for which we prepare and work. Since 1776, Americans have enjoyed freedom of speech, freedom of religion, the freedom to bear arms and so many other privileges.
Have people abused those rights at times? Absolutely. Has the American way of life included prejudice and cruelty in its history? It has. But we've always been willing to be corrected, to evolve and to improve.
Today we’re in a whirlwind of change, shaken by events we never anticipated. Our beautiful freedoms are under attack. There are people among us who do not support a free-spirited, happy, and optimistic population. They malign everything America stands for and have wrought serious damage to our Constitution.

We’ve always known some politicians and special interest groups believe our freedoms grant us too much control. Sadly, we underestimated the danger, thinking most people cherish our way of life, believing we all love and respect the generations before us, the generations that fought and died to preserve our amazing Constitution. We thought these enemies of freedom were few in number.
For decades, we tolerated elitist professors who have traditionally worked to undermine our Constitution and reprogram our young people to believe Socialism is a better political philosophy. Most people exit college with liberal views until life, work, family, faith, and reality quickly dilute the hypothetical theories they've heard and they go back to the values of their youth.
Politics and Covid-19 conspired to divide Americans as we have never been divided before. It took a lot of lies and accusations to turn us against each other. We have traditionally been a “live and let live” kind of people. A people who sincerely believed our Constitution would protect us from an internal takeover. Yet, in less than two years the unthinkable happened. Every freedom we cherish has been challenged. What steps did it take to destroy our affection for each other?
       1. An all-out media assault on a sitting US President
        2. A media blitz stating middle aged and senior Trump supporters attacked the very Capital building they have revered for generations.
        3.      A pandemic
        4.      Accusations that some people are too selfish to get vaccinated.
        5.       Battles over Masks
        6.      Closed schools
        7.      Exaggerated Covid-19 death counts
        8.      Relentless graphics of spiked virus images floating on our television screens while     reporters intone terrifying Pandemic rumors and warnings.
        9.      Hushed newscasters hinting the unvaccinated are trying to maim or kill their families and friends.
        10.     Accusations mass shootings are tied to Patriotic hunters, supporters of the Second Amendment and the NRA..
        11.     George Floyd’s death which inflamed the racial divide
        12.     Media stories tying Republicans to homophobic behavior
        13.     Abortion and Women’s rights.
These explosive issues are intended to divide and separate all of us. But the media seems to be the flame throwers. Most Conservatives are church going people who still take flowers to family and military graves on Memorial Day. They love baseball and hotdogs and the American Flag. Many lack broad-based cultural experiences but most are quite willing to listen and learn. They hated what happened to George Floyd and have come to question profiling and unfair police tactics. But they still support the police because we’re quickly seeing how out of control and scary a defunded police force can be.
They are everyone’s grandparents, aunts and uncles. While vilified as homophobic, conservatives long for compassion and understanding. They do not understand the effort to divide America. They don’t believe friendships are based on politics, religion, or sexual orientation. They worry about violence and cruelty, believing the division and anger is affecting people’s mental health, optimism and joy.
It’s an uncomfortable notion this greatest of all countries could fall. America was built on the premise of freedom of religion and independent thought. We love free enterprise and a great rags to riches story.
We know there are countries where every move is regulated by strict and dictatorial leaders. We’ve always believed our Constitution would protect us from any takeover. Back in October of 1960, Nikita Krushchev vowed Russia would defeat us without firing a shot. Many laughed at such a preposterous idea. But that is exactly what is happening.
We’ve looked at some of the factors that caused Americans to allow Constitutional freedoms to be tossed. First and foremost, has got to be fear. The threat of a deadly virus killing off elderly family members and threatening the children, countless variants and frightening new health threats caused good citizens to panic. Every newscast for the past two years has focused on danger, death and a concern careless citizens will spread viral chaos to everyone.

Governments shut down businesses. We were trapped in our homes. Thousands of Mom-and-Pop restaurants, gyms, barber shops and so many more were closed and will never return. Children couldn’t go to school. Online classes worked for techy parents who could understand the ever-changing data. But some children had no computers, no help at home and they fell woefully through the cracks. Masks, mandates, marginalized everything. And states couldn’t agree. From one state to the next there were huge differences in rules.

Then came the vaccine. Another great divide. Now the media reported the unvaccinated were deliberately threatening to block herd immunity.

Now we don’t trust anyone. Couples don’t agree. Families are fractured. Children happily report their non-compliant parents to schoolteachers or any outsider who will listen.

We know a house divided will never stand. So, as we wait for future articles dealing with other methods used to undermine America and its once happy, successful citizens, let’s just work on liking each other again.

Fear can only destroy us and our great nation if we submit and let that happen.