Dave Stalling

On Tuesday, January 20, 2009, sixteen long years ago, I attended the historic first inauguration of President Barack Obama. It was a magnificent day.

I was temporarily living in Washington D.C. at the time, working on the repeal of the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (DADT) statute, so that all Americans could serve openly and honestly in the U.S. military if they so choose. Soon after, Obama would lead the way in repealing the unconstitutional, discriminatory DADT statute, initiate and enact other policies and laws that enhanced fairness and equality and expanded freedom and liberty for all in the United States. For ALL!

Obama’s first inaugural theme was “A New Birth of Freedom,” a phrase from the Gettysburg Address, to commemorate the 200-year anniversary of the birth of President Abraham Lincoln. In his speech, Obama referred to ideals expressed by Lincoln about renewal, continuity, and national unity. He stressed the need for shared sacrifice and a new sense of responsibility to answer America's challenges at home and abroad. He talked about plans to expand core principles of the U.S. Constitution such as fairness, equality, freedom and liberty for all. For ALL!

He’s a smart guy. He’s a good leader.

That day, I felt a sense of hope I hadn’t felt in a long time. I hope I can feel that way again someday.

I once loved my nation so much that I volunteered to serve in a Marine Corps Force Recon unit. I was willing to give my life for this country, despite its many flaws, for the noble Constitutional principles of fairness, equality, freedom and liberty for all. For ALL!

Watching this nation, and many of my fellow Americans, so rapidly move towards nationalism and authoritarianism is brutally heartbreaking, confusing, frightening and distressing. I’ve tried to understand. I get that a lot of rural white Americans are angry, frustrated and confused for various reasons. But they blame the wrong people. They only believe what they want to believe. They ignore, deny and repel truth, facts, science and rationale, reasonable thought. They either lack or refuse to engage critical thinking skills. They confuse patriotism with nationalism. They only believe in “freedom” for those who think, act and look like they do. Confirmation bias, cognitive dissonance and the Dunning-Kruger Effect have reached epidemic proportions. It’s ripping our nation and Constitution apart.

On Monday, January 20, 2025, hundreds of thousands of my fellow citizens waved American flags, calling it a “great day for America,” delusionally seeing themselves as “patriots,” marching in lockstep to their anointed Führer, ironically, ignorantly unaware that they were celebrating the erosion of most everything they claim to cherish.

Trump is just a symptom of much deeper problems that aren’t going away soon.

It was a sad, sorrowful, despairing day for this nation. I’ll try to hang on to a diminishing sense of hope that we can someday turn this around.