Raymond V. Mariano: We are the cause of America’s pain

“We have met the enemy and he is us.”

The quote, from Walt Kelly's comic strip "Pogo" and a paraphrase of U.S. Navy Master Commandant Oliver Perry's "We have met the enemy and they are ours," seems to fit the problems facing America perfectly.

Today, as I look at our wonderful country, I see things that frighten me. Sure, we’ve always had problems and challenges, but it just seems that the combination of life-altering crises that we face today are crushing our country.

What frightens me most is that we are the cause of these problems and we can do things to solve them. Unfortunately, as a country, we refuse and things just keep getting worse.

Extreme weather

America is being destroyed by extreme weather. Almost every night, at least one of the top stories on the national news is about devastating climate impacts.

Some regions face droughts that are so bad that major rivers and reservoirs are in danger. Those droughts create a tinderbox of food that fuel multiple state wildfires that last for months and destroy about 5 million acres in our country every year - that’s a bit less than the size of Massachusetts.

Then there’s Canada, where the fires are destroying an area as large as five New England states combined and will take months to control, causing much of the northern part of our country to suffer the worst air quality in the world.

While some areas can’t find water, others face torrential rains and the ensuing catastrophic floods that seem to carry entire neighborhoods away. Too many communities have been pounded by an entire summer’s rainfall in a single day.

On July 3, 4, 5 and 6 the temperature on Earth set records for the highest recorded in the last 125,000 years. The heat across America was scorching hot with blistering temperatures in excess of 110 degrees across a number of Southern states. News reports routinely list the “heat index” and advise people how to stay safe from the heat.

We are losing wildlife species, coastal communities are under assault, food is harder and more expensive to produce, and around the world entire areas are now in danger of becoming Atlantis.

Still, millions of science deniers proclaim that the climate crisis isn’t real. Worse, a growing number of meteorologists have faced increased harassment and threats for reporting the connection between the extreme weather and climate change - for simply reporting the truth.

Millions of others carry signs demanding change, then do the exact opposite in their daily lives.

Gun violence

Gun violence is ravaging our country. According to multiple studies, the United States has the highest level of gun violence across developed nations, with a gun homicide rate about two dozen times higher than peer nations. In America, we shoot people just for knocking on the wrong door or turning into the wrong driveway.

And it shouldn’t surprise you that gun violence is the leading cause of death for children and teens in America.

On the July 4 holiday weekend, during a five-day period, there were 26 mass shootings with 24 innocent people murdered and another 140 wounded.

Across America we are breaking all kinds of records. In Texas a mass shooting left 23 dead and another 22 wounded. In that one, a 24 year-old known white supremacist was intent on shooting and killing as many people of Latin descent as possible.

Headlines from coast to coast scream the carnage.

Still, millions insist that we should arm more people and refuse to consider even the most reasonable gun control measures regardless of the consequences. And while the rest of us shout at the top of their lungs about the need for commonsense gun control, we still help elect the same NRA-bought stooges who occupy the Congress.

Hate

America is being consumed by a boiling pot of hate. In 2021, the number of hate crime incidents jumped from 9,065 to 10,840.

“Jews will not replace us” was more than just a disgusting chant. Antisemitic incidents in America more than doubled from 2021 to 2022 to a 40-year high.

The racist slaughter at a Buffalo grocery store was just a single incident. Hate crimes against Blacks increased by more than 45% in 2020.

The victims of hate crimes include a long list of Americans whose skin color, religion or sexual orientation made them a target.

And rather than try to slow the hate, politicians who know better look for the largest can of gasoline they can find to pour on the fire.

In many states, the response to all of this hate is to ban books, refuse to allow schools to teach actual historical events, and pass laws to further alienate select groups of Americans. And for reasons that escape me, we let them.

America is in serious trouble and we refuse to acknowledge the obvious.

I had a friend who, when his car started to make funny noises, just turned his radio up louder so that he wouldn’t hear the noise. But sooner or later, my friend was forced to deal with a car that wouldn’t run.

At this point, we have two choices: We can deny the obvious problems that we face and suffer the dire consequences. Or we can choose, as a country, to insist on reasonable solutions and then be willing to make the personal sacrifices necessary to stop our country from the chaos that surrounds us.

Turning the radio up louder won’t fix what’s broken.

Email Raymond V. Mariano at rmariano.telegram@gmail.com. He served four terms as mayor of Worcester and previously served on the City Council and School Committee. He grew up in Great Brook Valley and holds degrees from Worcester State College and Clark University. He was most recently executive director of the Worcester Housing Authority. His column appears weekly in the Sunday Telegram.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Raymond Mariano column on rising climate, hate, violence in America