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Okay. I’m willing to admit that I am tempted to become one of those white people who wants their country back. To be honest, America is just not the country I grew up in.

The America I grew up in was honest enough to admit that voter suppression laws such as poll taxes and literacy tests were for the expressed purpose of keeping some people from voting, mainly black Americans, or who at the time we called “the Negro.” What is more, that America had governors like George Wallace of Alabama who had the courage to admit they wanted to maintain segregation and protect the privileges of the white majority.

The America I grew up in had freedom loving politicians who would have never thought it necessary to hide their prejudices and racism with the claims that they are simply trying to keep the non-existent problem of voter fraud non-existent? Has our society deteriorated to the point where politicians can no longer just come right out and say black people don’t have the intellectual ability to know what’s good for them and that’s why they disproportionately vote Democratic? Back in the day sensible white people knew if you gave blacks equal access to power they would end up having enough votes to get one of their own elected president, and that such a thing happening would threaten everyone’s freedom. Worse, they knew he would appoint somebody just like him to be the top law enforcer in the land, spelling trouble for every effort states would make to keep white wealthy Americans in power. It’s all happened just the way they feared it would.

In the America I grew up in being poor meant you could not expect help from the government to get an education, learn new job skills, or eat three meals a day. Back then it was up to your neighbors and churches to give you clothes and food, if you didn’t have any. It was no disgrace to be poor when I grew up because no one thought, at least no one with power, that economic disparity was a bad thing. Real men functioned in a survival of the fittest world. If you got left behind, you were on your own.

I’m not sure what has happened to make things so complicated these days. The America I grew up in didn’t have any compunction about violating the Constitution in playing favorites when it came to religion, promoting Christianity as the unofficial state religion, what with Bible readings in public schools, children like me reciting the Lord’s Prayer daily, government holidays determined by the Christian calendar, and athletic events on Friday nights and Saturday mornings despite this time being the Jewish Sabbath. Back then we all knew who ran this country, and sure it wasn’t Jews or Muslims or secular atheists.

And neither was it women. The America I grew up in didn’t have all the women voices we have today demanding a seat at the table. Back then women took care of the home and left political and legal matters to the men. They trusted men would look out for their interests and take care of them. That’s the America we all once knew and loved. Now women want to work in every profession there is, and make decisions for themselves as if men don’t know what’s best.

One thing’s for sure. The America I grew up in didn’t have “the gays” wanting equal rights like they do now, including being able to marry each other. I’m sorry, but that is just going too far. They shouldn’t be treated badly, but neither should they have the same rights as normal people. This country once understood that, understood that it’s not discrimination to protect the traditional moral values of our country. If old ways were good enough for our country then, they are good enough for it now.

The America I grew up in didn’t have the problem of immigration either, especially of all those illegals from Mexico coming in by the thousands taking good white jobs. Our European ancestors must be turning over in their graves. Making matters worse is having a president who thinks we ought to let the illegals in as if this is not our country to protect from people who can’t even speak English. He doesn’t seem to understand that this is my land and your land. It is not their land, and we should keep it that way.

Remembering the America I grew up in makes me realize how much things have changed, and how uneasy those changes make some people feel. Truth be told, I’m afraid if things keep going the way they are now this will become a land where everyone has to compete with everyone else on equal footing, where Christianity will lose its place of privilege, and, worst of all, where elections will be decided by non-white and non-rich voters who don’t understand or appreciate what made this country great. Is that really the kind of America we want today?