America Does Not Feel Like America Anymore!

By Betty Jean Grant

Betty Jean Grant

As I write this, prisoners incarcerated due to their involvement in the January 6th Insurrection are railing against their jail doors, demanding release to attend one of the three inaugural balls scheduled for the incoming president, Donald Trump. Not only did they feel entitled to be freed from detention centers and prisons, but they also believed that a presidential pardon would serve as a "Get Out of Jail Free" card for the over 1,500 participants who stormed and overran the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021.

Over 1,500 rioters and lawbreakers pushed, shoved, and fought Capitol security services and the Washington, D.C. Police Department, stalking and hunting down congresspersons, including the then-current Vice President, Mike Pence. Vice President Pence was threatened with harm because he refused to comply with President Trump's demand to not certify the results of the 2020 Presidential Election— a race that Joe Biden had clearly won. It was surreal to witness American citizens chanting, "Hang Mike Pence, Hang Mike Pence!" as the out-of-control mob chased him and his family, who were present to observe the certification of Joe Biden's presidential win.

As the newly elected president is busy granting pardons, clemencies, and dismissals to convicted criminals, while removing military portraits from Capitol walls, one of those arrested and convicted— Rachel Powell, a grandmother—has made headlines. Powell, charged with using a pickaxe to try and break a Capitol window, has stated that she refuses the pardon because she acknowledges her guilt and believes her sentence was justified. She even remarked that if she is released in time, she plans to attend one of the inaugural balls that evening.

When I was a young girl in Tennessee, I always believed this country could offer more than my dirt-poor family could provide. I knew that if I studied hard and pursued a decent education, I could make this "Land of the Free and Home of the Brave" work for me. Now, I am not so sure. Everything I worked for to provide a decent life for my husband, children, and grandchildren feels precarious in a nation that increasingly resembles a dictatorship more than a democracy.

I would suggest that some of us—especially those with limited resources—prepare a home survival disaster kit. This kit should contain enough water, food, fuel, and household necessities to last at least a full month. Until recently, I believed the greatest threat to our democratic government or the American way of life would come from one of the three so-called bogeymen: Russia, China, or North Korea. Now, I am not so certain. Listening to, witnessing, and understanding the consequences of unchecked power and ambition, I fear the enemy might come from within.