The dumbing down of America is real. Because we, as citizens, have become so politically correct, nothing that is wrong is ever seen as wrong. Thus opinions and being opinionated when it is against the party line is akin to being a bully, a racist, a hater, or anything else. Sadly when there isn’t any public discourse on subjects, people literally believe whatever is being promoted, and very few stray from the preferred mindset.

For a moment I thought the tide was turning. The threats to take away a local park to shelter migrants had many people agitated. Those same folks are believing they’ve won the battle. But I feel the battle has only been temporarily postponed for the election season. Once that is over and everybody is safe for the next couple of years, the plans are definitely going to come back. Politicians know that Black folks do a lot of screaming, but as a group, Black folks don’t follow up with consistent action.

There’s an upcoming primary as to who will be on the November ballot for the 7th congressional district. There are five candidates. Visiting their websites is instructive as to their priorities. Interestingly, immigration doesn’t seem to be any of their top priorities. Yet it is drastically changing the face of America. We have become a bilingual country over the last 30 years. And even though certain government agencies are trying to profess that immigration is the solution for economic progress in the future, how much money is going to be spent on immigrants and how much money will we get in return? I doubt that the latter will never supersede the former.

Here’s another dumbing-down situation. Last August, Alderman Ray Lopez proposed an ordinance to use deportation to deal with the criminal lawbreakers among those who are here claiming asylum. He said if we have the looming threat of deportation for anyone who engages in gang, drug, prostitution, or anything else egregious, hopefully that will deter any bad behavior. That legislation has yet to pass although the city did vote down the opportunity to put the sanctuary city question on the ballot. Westside Ald. Walter Burnett (27th) and Jason Ervin (28th) voted to prevent the sanctuary city question from being on the ballot while Emma Mitts (37th) was absent.

Recently, the 5-year-old boy who died at the Pilsen shelter has been ruled a “natural” death. The autopsy report said he died because of sepsis, COVID-19, adenovirus, and rhinovirus/enterovirus. Our politicians are not dealing with health-related issues that are entering into America unchecked.

There’s a reason old folks had a saying: “It’s the straw that broke the camel’s back.” 

America has plenty of straws.