I too was sickened to find opportunistic bystanders waiving their flags of cause and criticism while Rome was still burning. I hold them in equal esteem as the ones shooting at the rescuers.
A chance to affect our individual status is what made America the land of opportunity. You are right that it was the ones that recognized this chance and worked to do it that succeeded. As has been mentioned in this thread, it was more selective as to whom that was, but thankfully has been greatly widened. Many more complex aspects than race and gender still need to be dealt with.
The only thing I cannot agree with is our government not having the PRIMARY duty of responding to the needs of its’ people. To me, that is a governments ONLY duty, the ONLY reason for its’ existence and the ONLY reason we vest it with authority over us and pay the means for it to provide and protect us where it is not practical or possible for the individual to do alone. A government has NO OTHER reason to exist. Anything else is oppression! It not recognizing this single basic fact is my present concern. When the people that are entrusted to do this, view it as being about the people in office, is when it ceases do the job.
My prospective is not about which politician is elected. You are going to have a politician regardless. Politicians are NOT the people that DO anything! We need to ask them to stop playing politics long enough to get people that ARE capable of doing a job, into the positions of responsibility, rather than as rewards for to political activity.
You are right that it Americans that will help Americans and it is Americans that will do it with or with it’s government. And it will be Americans that will make it’s governments at ALL levels, ones that are “OF the people, BY the people and FOR the people”.

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