After being repeatedly asked by British Sky News reporter Mark Stone why massacres such as the one at Uvalde, Texas, “only happen in your country,” noting this “awful” aspect of “American exceptionalism,” Texas Senator Ted Cruz indignantly answered with his own question and answer, “Why is it that people come from all over the world to America? Because it’s the freest, most prosperous, safest country on Earth. Stop being a propagandist.”
The senator from Texas is mostly right.
Indeed, people from all over the world have traditionally flocked to the United States – and continue to aspire to do such — seeking freedom, prosperity and the many aspects of safety this great country offers.
I will not “nitpick” the definition of the broad term “safety,” nor dwell on the many facets of “safety” as there are as many indicators used to assess a nation’s “safety” as there are surveys and results – some not so flattering to our country.
But, certainly in terms of gun violence, the United States is by no stretch of the imagination “the safest country on earth.”
However, it is not the senator’s fallacy about gun violence that caught my attention, that stirs me to reflect.
It is the implication that to point out something that is flawed, something that could be improved in our nation, makes one a “propagandist,” makes one a person who spreads ideas or allegations to damage one’s own country.
It smacks too much of a phrase that has been disavowed by most Americans for many years now: “America, love it or leave it.”
It reminds one of a slur that sadly is raising its ugly head again: “Go back to where you came from.”
I immigrated to the United States 65 years ago – a wide-eyed 17-year-old with big dreams — precisely because America offered me freedom, prosperity and various measures of safety.
Out of those 65 years, I served my adopted country in the military for 20 years.
The next 45 years, I continued to cherish and make the most of the American dream and to build a better life for myself and my family, thanks to the freedom, prosperity and relative safety offered by the greatest country in the world.
Today, an outspoken octogenarian, I continue to be thankful for all America has given me. I continue to recognize the numerous things that make America great, but I also continue to try to make my adopted country even greater.
In particular, I believe that Americans can – must – do much more to make our country safer when it comes to the incessant, senseless slaughter of our innocents — all too often committed by young assailants on even younger victims — without being accused of being “propagandists.”
I spoke up against the folly that was the Iraq war.
I sounded off against the political excesses of two administrations.
I blasted the January 6 insurrection and condemned the subsequent whitewashing and hypocrisy.
More recently, I vehemently supported the right of a woman to have an abortion under certain conditions.
Today, I again urge our courts and lawmakers to work harder to make our children, our people, our nation safer from death and injury by firearms.
If that makes me and those who share such ideals “propagandists,” so be it.
I just would like to remind the senator from Texas – and other like-minded Americans – of how the late Representative from Georgia, John Lewis, encouraged Americans to get into “good trouble,” to be good propagandists.
“When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something,” the legendary civil rights defender said.
Let us be good propagandists.
