We Need a Rainbow

Rainbow over the Atlantic
Carlin Park, Jupiter, FL
October 5, 2023

 The rhetoric spewing from a subset of Republicans is scary. 

Some of the ideas they profess can be found in the history of despotic authoritarian leaders.

The disinformation is deafening being generated is attempting to drown out fact.

The fate of our Republic hangs in the balance.

I have to begin starting with the leading candidate for the Republican nomination who paraphrased Hitler when he suggested that immigrants are "poisoning the blood of our country." As if that is not a frightening statement on its own, that it echos one of the most cruel and evil leaders in the history of the world is even more appalling. 

But the other disinformation continues without consideration for fact, for instance:

We are suffering runaway inflation. Nope, inflation is under control. The annual inflation rate has been below 4 percent and headed for below 3 percent for the past four months. (Inflation Rate Calculator)

Democrats are responsible for runaway government spending. Not true! But a major culprit for the US’s soaring debt is George W Bush’s and Donald Trump’s huge tax cuts that mostly benefited the wealthy and big corporations – and that will have added $8tn and $1.7tn, respectively, to the debt by the end of the 2023 fiscal year.

House Republicans are even proposing to cut funding for the IRS, which would make it harder for the tax agency to go after rich tax cheats and thereby reduce the debt. (The Guardian)

We need a rainbow. Rainbows call us to pause, for a moment, and consider something other than ourselves. Something larger than the mess we've made in our lives. Rainbows are a symbol of hope and a promise. 

The other day, I saw many rainbows. They were beautiful and at the same time mesmerizing. Maybe if we took a timeout to consider a rainbow we might figure out a way to stop seeing those with opposing views as enemies or adversaries and realize that we are all stuck together in this place and that competing opinions are the substance of a strong and healthy society.

-- Bob Doan, Tequesta, FL