Letter: Signs of a national psychotic break

The signs of a national psychotic break are all present and yet our representatives in Washington choose to ignore them. They have ignored the social withdrawal of our nation as it has alienated its allies. They have ignored the deterioration of our nation’s health and hygiene as they voted to restrict funding for public health and approved the staffing of the Department of Health and Human Services with anti-vaxers. The nation is not functioning well at work. Critical agencies have been defunded, experienced personnel fired or forced to resign, and agencies are headed by incompetent leaders. They ignore unexpected acts of aggression have been occurring at a disturbing rate. We have bombed Venezuelan boats at will, asserting claims that are never verified and we have attacked Iran with no clear plan or purpose. The targeting of immigrants, with and without correct paperwork but no criminal record, visitors to this country, international students, and even our own citizens smacks of paranoia. They ignore this delusional fear that the “other” are out to get us. They ignore the detachment from reality as they accept statements by officials that clearly do not match what we are witnessing. They ignore the flights into magical thinking as our war mongering Secretary of Defense has allowed some commanders to promote their cult-like fantasies of a glorious Armageddon to the enlisted. None of this phases Nebraska’s representatives. They dutifully listened to our Commander in Chief at the State of the Union, with his seemingly declining physical and mental health, lurching from topic to topic, projecting his angry paranoia, and they clapped. They look away as the nation they claim to cherish disintegrates and pretend none of this is happening.