State of the Union from an Immigrant's Perspective

Don't let the President's speech detract from the reality our country is facing.

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My fellow Americans, as I reflect on our beloved country, I am filled with utmost pride and reverence for all we’ve accomplished and endured together in spite of the challenging last couple of years. As your fellow citizen and countryman, I stand before you eternally grateful that the American spirit of freedom, and adventure continues to live on, especially in the hearts of those of us who have adopted this country as our new home. 

In the midst of my optimism about our future, I recognize that all is not well in America. Tomorrow however, the President of the United States will address the nation on the State of the Union. In his speech, he will paint the country as being on the right track, because of his leadership. He will claim that his vision for an America that works for everyone is coming to fruition, and that the policies he has championed and overseen, are in fact, an unprecedented investment in America’s future. He will also take swipes at his political opponents and may receive applause and plaudits from the media because of it. All in all, he will ask that you suspend the reality of your current estate and your fear and anxiety about our country, and enter into a fantasy of his making, one that pretends that the emperor has all his clothes on.

But if you are like me, you know better and will see his speech for what it truly is, an obfuscation of reality. The truth is, our country is going through a seismic shift that is destined to become the cornerstone of our future. For decades, our relative peace and prosperity, has afforded us the comfort to be apathetic. Many of us have been conditioned to disengage from the public square, to recede into obscurity, and to take our decades-long heritage of political stability for granted.

We now live in a time when immutable foundations of truth and pillars of civilization are challenged at every turn. We live in an era that demands that we bow to the condescension of pundits and live under the tyranny of so-called experts who hang their arguments on a consensus concocted behind curtains of secrecy and without the consent of the governed.

Social and cultural institutions that once laid the foundation of our greatness, have increasingly become corrupted under the weight of bureaucracy and the stench of ideology, coupled with the baseness and vanity of our societal elites. 

Our children are the targets of a new paradigm, that rejects our traditions, norms and basic biological reality, in favor of moral relativity, ushered under the guise of tolerance, affirmation and equity.

Tensions that were once thought to be on the way out of our society are being resurrected and resuscitated by opportunists who have pegged their livelihoods on stoking the grievances of the past, for which they claim we are powerless to transcend.

Many of our elected representatives, see themselves as our betters and overlords, as they capitalize on our ignorance, and feed on our apathy to the benefit of their own self-interests. 

Our media, profits and thrives by pitting us against one another, in a never-ending cycle of vitriol, engineered to keep us occupied with nonsense and distracted from the truth of our pitiful estate. 

Our law enforcement and intelligence agencies, drunk on their own power, seek ways to circumvent our constitutional order, while claiming to be saving our democracy. They weaponize their mandate to target political enemies and collude with private corporations to defame, silence, and censor us. 

As average citizens, we are losing our voices and influence over how we are governed and in many instances have been rendered powerless against the forces that have usurped control over our future.

This is the true and indisputable state of our union, my fellow Americans, and in due course, this will be the legacy we leave to our heirs, a legacy of defeat, disunity, and mediocrity, exacerbated by the weight of our 34 trillion-dollar national debt. This is the future we are building unless we stop in our tracks today and just say no. 

For 18 years, I waited for the opportunity to become part of this great experiment we call America. I bought into the dream that if I worked hard, played hard and prepared myself mentally, physically and intellectually to embrace the opportunities this country offered, that I could find support and eventually success. I believe I was fortunate in my quest, for which I am eternally grateful.

However, that dream is increasingly elusive to millions of our fellow citizens, especially our young ones, who are today more likely to see our country only through a lens of it flawed history and ongoing shortcomings.

But as a new American, I know I have little to no influence on the body politic, and a limited platform to effect the kind of change our country so desperately needs. Nevertheless, I believe my voice matters, and so do the voices of the millions of you who love this country like I do and yearn for a return to exceptionalism. I stand united with all of you to declare, that America is worth saving, and that salvation will not begin in the halls of congress or in the boardrooms of giant corporations. The change we seek will begin in the homes and communities of everyone of us who see ourselves as soldiers fighting for the cause of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. 

Whether on the right or the left, that mighty change will come when we restore the fabric of civility and the true bonds of patriotism. It will thrive when we transcend the frailties of our past and reject the caricatures created by charlatans to keep us divided. It will blossom when we restore the principles and values of our founding. It will bear fruit when we embrace the American optimism known and celebrated around the world, and symbolized by our flag, for which thousands risk their lives every single day.

I call on all of us to recommit, like our founding fathers, our lives, our fortunes and sacred honor to the return of unity in the United States of America and the rekindling of the torch of liberty atop the shining city on the hill. My fellow citizens, I commit you and yours to the eternal protection of God and leave you my love this say in our sojourn into a hopeful and prosperous future. May God Bless you, my friends, and May God bless the United States of America.