By Greg Bacon

That I lived in a nation that had informed, educated people that loved and fiercely protected their Constitution and Bill of Rights that enshrined forever those unalienable rights so vital and necessary to a free republic.

That this country had a healthy and robust educational system, with free schooling all the way thru college. And that these schools at all levels taught Civics with an emphasis on the Constitution which led to many a lively debate in the classrooms about the rights the people had and how much power should be accorded to the federal government.
These vigorous debates didn't stop after graduation from college, but carried on in many a restaurant, bar, club and home.

That this country had a national health insurance plan that was based on single-payer. The people paid some taxes to help support the plan, but those costs were minimal and were not thought to be a burden because the medical care was excellent and no citizen was turned away when seeking help.

That the country had long ago seen the futility of buying energy overseas and polluting the atmosphere and had instituted a massive solar and wind power generating program that made banks loan money ( at low interest) to homeowners for installing photovoltaic cells and wind turbines on their homes to generate electricity and that the utility companies and co-ops were required by law to pay them handsomely for the excess electric they sold back.
This way they saved trillions in costs by not building overpriced and polluting coal burning and nuclear energy power plants.

That this country had a futuristic mass transit system that was the envy of most nations. One that was clean, on time, easy to access and use which the people did, in droves. Traffic jams and gridlock were unheard of and massive highway construction projects were a thing of the past.

That the people controlled their own money supply, so words like inflation, stagflation, deflation and devaluation were obsolete. Their monetary unit was envied and sought after world-wide, due to its ability of holding on to its value.

That all of this was possible due to the people insisting on not having large standing armies during peace time. They had a lean, mean fighting machine that was given everything it needed, but not wanted.
By not spending over half their budget on military excesses and puffed up generals, the money saved was spent on the country's education, medical care and infrastructure.

They also had a Congress that was responsible to the people and not corporate interests. They had public financing of campaigns that was mandatory and no money from private parties was allowed to pollute campaigns.
They had passed very punitive laws that mandated a minimum 10 years in federal prison and a one million dollar fine for anyone trying to bribe, corrupt or donate private money to elected and non-elected officials or those running for office and a mandatory 10 years in solitary confinement in a federal prison for any official caught accepting those bribes or campaign donations.

They had a MSM which reported real news that actually affected their lives and was not controlled by corporate interests or individuals with dual loyalties and ulterior motives. Gossip about celebrities and sports were relegated to the end of the news and seldom mentioned at all, because the people didn't care to fill their heads with nonsense.
They demanded from the MSM news about events that did or could shape and affect their lives, economy and government, not the latest Hollywood scandal.

But then....

Then I awoke and found I was living in the nightmare called Amerika.