There has been so much talk about Trump this week.

But that isn’t the issue for America – and deep inside we know it.

Trump defended the indefensible – he produced a space where those that believe some humans are better than others are ‘fine’ people and are aligned with the values required to  ‘be a real American’.

But that was one man’s opinion.

The challenge isn’t that he holds this position – but that he was elected to be president holding that position.  And that he still has the backing of much of his party even though many of them are willing to declare that ‘Nazis are bad’.

And now it is time for America to choose who it really is.

Did we mean it when we said liberty and justice for all?  Did we mean it when we said all humans are created equal?

Or did we mean that only white men are created equal – the rest aren’t quite entitled to all those rights.  We aren’t quite as equal….

When we commit to Human Rights as equal rights, then there will be losers.

Because right now America does not act from the foundation of Equal means Equal for all humans.

White Christians have an advantage – and men have an advantage over women.

So as we move from where we are to where we say we want to be, white men will lose at some level.  For they have more rights than others right now.

When you have rights, they can seem invisible because they are just the way things are.  Those who benefit from the rights have no idea what it is like to not have them – and they can only make up stories about what it might be like, because they haven’t experienced it.  And they can’t because they are inherently part of the group that has rights.

In shifting to a place where all humans are equal, white men will lose.

Before President Obama, only white men became president.  But for 8 years, that job was held by a black man.  And then the next choice could have put a women in as president.  That meant that for 12 years no white man would be president.  That ‘job’ that was previously available to only white men now became available to anyone.  So it could be possible that a white man would never become president again.  And that is a loss for white men who didn’t have to compete with 51% of the citizens who were female and another % of the population that are male minorities.  The field of competition just got a lot larger and that means a white man has to be a lot better to out compete all of the others….

And if this is extended to all opportunities, white men could lose out on all of the really good opportunities – the ones humans want.  Is that fair?

There is no way for us as a country to move from white men being created equal and others not so much to where all humans being created equal without white men losing out a bit.

And that means this will only happen if white men decide that this change is right and will not only support it but fight for it.

But what are you watching?  Have  you seen any white male leaders standing up and proposing any action that would change the status quo?  Has any leader even acknowledged that we do not currently live in a country where all humans have the same rights?

In our heart of hearts, we all knew that “Make America Great Again” for many meant “Make America White Again”.  I listened to many who denied it and voted against their declared beliefs.  And the party that supported that slogan and what it really meant it now controls all branches of government.

And the elected officials that set and enforce laws will change how they govern if, and only if, all of us – including white males – stand up and declare that this is not who we are and it is not who we will be and that we will only support [vote for] those that take a stand and commit to being in action to put equality back as a foundation of our country.

The Resistance is about this issue – Human rights with liberty and justice for all.  I believe that this principle is what makes us great.  It is that promise that gave us standing in the world.

It is time for all of us to step up.

Because if we are quiet on this one – we are saying that it is ok for people to believe that some humans are more equal than others and that America never really meant all people are equal.

What will YOU choose?

Because that is where we are as a country….  we can lose it all in what happens next.

Or maybe we will forever lose the dream that we were founded on because we just never really meant it – not if that required us to personally give up anything.

As a country, we never quite finished removing all those exceptions from equality for all.  We couldn’t even pass the Equal Rights Amendment.

Now it is past time to either commit to equality for all or admit we didn’t mean it and make that list of which humans are equal and which are no quite as equal.

If you sit this one out, like so many did last November, then you are on the side of being ok that not all humans are equal.   And you need to own it.