I am an exhausted autism mom who is so tired of hearing the word “wall” that I’m ready to scream. How did Americans allow a wall to become inextricably tied to loss of jobs and income (not to mention aviation safety and national security)? How did we arrive at a time and place where 800,000 federal workers and their families have been deprived of paychecks—in order to build a barrier against immigrants fleeing terror and poverty?
Trump threatens to invoke his “emergency powers” if Democrats don’t cave into his endless tantrum and provide $5.7 billion for his (you know). The cost of a one-month shutdown to workers, government contractors and related businesses has already been more than that astronomical sum he demanded (and originally vowed Mexico would provide, LOL).
At the moment, neither Republicans nor Democrats are unwilling to budge. The U.S. government is in danger of shutting down again if no agreement or compromise is reached. America no longer feels like the country of my youth. What happened to the American Dream? How about the land of the free and home of the brave?
Truth and meaning are distorted and reinvented daily by our president via tweet.
I am ashamed of the America my millennial adult children are inheriting. Our parents, grandparents and great grandparents were all immigrants. None of us who were born here ever worried about being deported.
Children who were born and raised in the U.S. need a path to citizenship, even if their parents arrived here illegally. America is all these young people have ever known (and nothing to be all that proud of these days). Currently families are separated at our southern border; children are traumatized; and detainees are being forced to work in private prison jobs for less than minimum wage so billionaires can further enrich themselves.
While our so-called President (elected with the help of Putin, gerrymandering and illegal computer hacking) is busy demanding money to erect barriers and deport illegal immigrants, global warming is consuming our planet. Arctic glaciers are melting, California wild fires are raging; hurricanes, tornadoes and super storms are flooding the Midwest. Still Trump and his loyal band of conservatives, racists, anti-Semites and misogynists continue to deny climate change.
Soon walls, barriers, fences and obstructions will be meaningless. Where will America’s continuing immoral, barbaric isolationism and increasing economic inequality lead us? I shudder to think. I could go on listing all of our government’s off-the wall policies, actions and inactions, but you can read about how we are “making America great again” (???) in the newspapers.
I prefer to conclude with an updated Mother Goose rhyme:
Trumpty Dumpty sat on a wall,
Said Mexico would pay for it all
Then shut down the Fed to force US to pay.
But Democrats said: “No f***ing way!
You must listen now, because we have a say.”
Trumpty Dumpty sat on a wall.
Trumpty’s approval took a great fall
Even McConnell, his very best friend
Couldn’t put Trumpty together again.
Amen.
Marguerite Elisofon is a New York City writer and the author of My Picture Perfect Family, a memoir about how her family navigated life with a child on the autistic spectrum before the internet and support groups existed. She also blogs about parenting young adults and disability related issues in The Never Empty Nest. Her writing has been featured in a variety of publications, including Time and NY Metro Parents magazine, and her family’s story has been featured by the NY Post, Fox News, The Daily Mail, and on Jenny McCarthy’s Dirty Sexy Funny radio show. A Vassar graduate, Marguerite was born and raised in New York City, where she still lives with her husband, Howard, in their mostly-empty nest. She is available to speak about a wide variety of issues relating to twins, parenting, and autism. 