What has indeed happened to us?

What Happened To My Country? by Steve Osborn
:::
We read George Orwell’s 1984, which could happen in Nazi Germany or the Soviet Union, but we could never have thought police and endless war here in the United States.
:::

I believe it is partly paranoia, and it has poisoned not only our government, but our communities as well. I am not that old, but I remember sincerely believing in the basic goodness of all humans. I remember not locking doors, or closing windows, when we were not at home.

But the fault also lies in our failure to take care of our own. To pretend that the poor, the underprivileged, simply don’t exist. And because we have done this, we find we can no longer trust one another. On every level, we do this every day. We do this when we give tax breaks to the rich, and cut social services to the poor to pay for them.

So which came first? The paranoia, or the mistreatment? Does it really matter? You can’t solve one without also solving the other.