Progressive Is Elementary

So, I recently had an epiphany about why I am so pissed off at all the Right's lies and failure to treat everyone as people. The Tea Party made all kinds of noise about a "secret Muslim" President, Confederate flags fly all over my home city, and some folks want me to join a theocracy for a religion I no longer hold. And it dawned on me. I'm pissed at the state of my country because of what I was taught growing up. I said the Pledge every day in elementary school and I realized that "with liberty and justice for all" is an outright lie. Liberty and justice are for those with money. "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness" is allowable only if you can afford it. I also wonder, if life and pursuit of happiness are rights, how can universal healthcare not be the law. Chronic conditions damn sure interfere with one's livelihood and damn sure can make pursuit of happiness impossible. On top of that, poverty and racial injustice help ensure whole swaths of people just don't get a fair chance. So, if you want to know why I'm a progressive, it's because a little kid who said the Pledge grew up to see just how far from reality that little chant is.