Things have gotten pretty messed up here in America lately. I really don’t know where to begin or how to really put my thoughts down, but here goes just two of them that come to mind.

First of all, whose idea was it it have candidates announce their running for President so early in the game? I am completely saturated with the news coverage of Presidential Want to Be’s and the bombardment of debates, campaigning and news coverage. Enough already!

And we still have 11 months before the election. Something needs to be done to set time limits and starting dates for political hopefuls. Because I do not believe most of us can go through this again with our sanity intact. And I don’t care if you are one of those who say you don’t watch the news because it is everywhere. It is pushed through media It is in casual conversations and for the most part, trying to be banned in family gatherings for the sake of keeping gatherings fun.

Secondly, Donald Trump! Really America? What are you thinking? This man is offensive on so many levels, yet no matter how much hateful rhetoric he spews or no matter what group he targets, his poll numbers continue to rise. I even have some friends who say, they feel he might make a good president, because he runs his businesses well. This disappoints me in ways to numerous to mention. One of the reasons I would care to address is: “What is going on in the minds of the people who support him”? To be honest, I get him, to a certain extent. He is a narcissistic, self-absorbed, rude, lunatic who has no plans to work across the aisle. It will be his way or no way and he has in as much admitted that. So he is not hiding how he will govern. Yet still his supporters back him? This says so much about the sad state of people in this country. I believe the haters finally have a voice that speaks for them. He is saying the things that have been in their hearts for a very long while. And that, above everything else scares me the most. Now there are some good people out there who like him. I have to say they are good, yet, they see him as their voice?

The hearts of people, in this country, are not in a very good place. We are becoming a country of “us vs. them” in so many ways. We are developing a dangerous precedent of judging mass groups of people on the actions of a few and coming up with crazy beliefs on how to treat them.

• We don’t like Muslims because they are terrorist waiting to kill us first.
• We don’t like Blacks because Black males are dangerous, waiting to rob you because Blacks don’t want to work.
• We don’t like anyone south of the border, Mexicans, Latin Americans, South Americans, etc because they want to come here and get on welfare and health care and let the government take care of them.
• We don’t like Gays because they are choosing a sinful lifestyle and will corrupt our children.
• We don’t like Liberals because they cannot be Christians and are taking us to hell with their policies.
• We don’t like Conservatives because they are Extremists.
• We don’t like to consider Women’s health issues because if left to them, all women would have abortions.
• We don’t like the rich because they get all of the breaks.
• We don’t like the poor because basically it is their fault. They could get jobs and pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
• We don’t like the homeless because frankly we get tired of them asking for money and being visible when we are trying to walk by them on our way to our jobs or out on a fun night.
• We don’t like our President because he is a Kenyan born Muslim….

Are you getting the idea? The list could go on and on. But I challenge you to pick one person from each category that you know personally and think about the question, “When I see these statements above, do they describe that person”? I would step out and say most likely “No”. I have heard people make blanket statements about Blacks but then go on further to say, “Oh but Pam, you are different. I wasn’t implying that about you. It’s just that, that is the way most Blacks seem”.  So at that point I have to count to 10 to calm down or let it rip on how totally offensive I find that comment to be. Seldom do I find middle ground in responding.

Getting back to my point, mass judging in this country is dangerous. Start thinking for yourself people. Start treating people the way you want to be treated. Can we not find the mutual respect that was prevalent before?

I have heard the expression of acting like “Crabs in a barrel”. That is exactly what we are resorting to in America. We are crawling over each other literally and going nowhere. We are all staying at the bottom of the barrel and not lifting and pulling our fellow man up.

The next time you want to make a blanket statement about a group, put a face to it and stop yourself. I know for a fact the face I will put to any negative whole group descriptors will be Donald Trump. I definitely believe he brings out the worst of America and I know for a fact, we can be better than that and do better than him.