The opinions stated in this article are solely those of the author. 

A friend of mine is discouraged – and he’s not alone. A significant portion of Utahns (and Americans in general) are disappointed in the direction of our country. My friend claims his blood pressure rises every time he watches the evening news or picks up a newspaper.  

“In my mind,” he says, “America has seen its best days. I’m not sure we will ever recover from the hatred, the anxiety, and the misconceptions spread by a polarized and uninformed citizenry.”

I understand. It doesn’t help that the majority of Americans (55% of all adults and 88% of those ages 18-25) get their news from unchecked online sources. We are indeed in trouble if our perceptions of the world come from Fox News, MSNBC, or TikTok. In just a two-day period last week I found the following disturbing examples:

A Utah Democrat legislator was “outraged” by the NBA broadcasting team making fun of Utah’s lack of nightlife. (Hey, you weren’t elected to be outraged by a sarcastic comment from Charles Barkley. How about saving outrage for the rise in the homeless, the threat to the Great Salt Lake, or rigid restrictions on reproductive rights?)

A Texas Republican echoes a growing GOP call to stop aid to the embattled Ukrainians.  “We should stay out of it,” said the man. “Ukraine is halfway around the world and we have our own problems.” (I’m sure glad this guy wasn’t in office in the 1940s; with his attitude, Hitler would easily have conquered Europe and we could all be saluting a flag with a swastika!)

A Michigan congresswoman receives death threats after a spurious report by Fox News and the National Republican Election Committee claims that she supports defunding the police.  (Turns out she has the support of her state’s law enforcement organizations for her support of police departments and has never suggested defunding the police.)

About 25% of all teen girls have contemplated a plan to commit suicide. (Blame bullying in school and on social media along with the dangerous concept that young women need to look a certain way.)

Conservatives continue to press the idea that “illegals” are carting fentanyl across the border. (The Drug Enforcement Agency says the vast portion of the drug comes through American citizens, not those trying to escape poverty and gang violence in Central America.)

The list could go on and on. We worry more about a transgender youth using a bathroom than we are about increasing reading scores in our public schools. We complain about the price of eggs but do nothing to make it easier for immigrants to cross the border and become tax paying citizens or addressing the issue of large corporations evading taxes.

We don’t need leaders who wear flag pins on their lapels. We need leaders like Sen. Mitt Romney who has the guts to tell the truth, who sees political problems as actual moral imperatives.

Yes, my friend has a right to be despondent, but he shouldn’t cave in and accept despair. An informed America is still a strong America; the enemy is not your neighbor but the widely-held distrust of the news media or plain laziness!

A recently elected president of a South American country said last month that America still matters. “When the U.S. fails to exercise democracy, it is an endorsement to all the crazies in the world.”

Bryan Gray, a longtime Davis County resident, is a former school teacher and has been a columnist for more than 26 years in newspapers along the Wasatch Front.