Thread by @PutrinoLab

Feels like a good time for a little reminder: Countries aren't supposed to be run like businesses. Countries are supposed to spend money to support and serve their people. This means spending to support those living below the poverty line, the disabled and historically 1/

excluded groups. This means investing in research that doesn't immediately have a profitable output so that future innovations can be incubated and accelerated through companies that form within the country that supported the work. This means engaging in international aid so 2/

that when terrorism and anti-freedom sentiments try to take hold in other countries, it is shut down because the country being organized against is viewed as an ally. Government spending is supposed to serve the people. There's nothing wrong with questioning it, but so far, it 3/

is very well worth mentioning that the current administrations last few weeks of rapid government decisions have disproportionately hurt red states, favored the wealthy business owners and eroded the majority of citizens' fundamental safety nets and protections. I'm not here 4/

trying to argue the right or wrong of these decisions, but I'm tired of the spin. Wealthy people show be comfortable with the idea that governments will make decisions that don't help them - they should be comfortable with the idea that the country that enabled them to become 5/

wealthy makes policies that allows others to build wealth and be prosperous at their fractional expense, rather than aggressively fighting to destroy the middle class and increase the wealth gap because they feel entitled to control government due to campaign contributions 6/

they were able to make. That's a good way to think about investing in a company, not in a country. We can all agree that spending patterns could be changed and different levers can be pulled to change things, but there are some fundamental truths we cannot ignore: the current 7/

US administration vowed to "make america great again":
A country that can't provide aid to the unhomed and poor is not a great country
A country that cannot provide free healthcare to old folks, disabled folks, kids and veterans is not a great country
A country that cannot be 8/

viewed as a thought-leader and force of compassion and peace internationally is not a great country
A country that is so insecure about its identity that it bans words and concepts from general discourse and discussion is not a great country.
These are not judgements from me 9/

about any one administration or any country, these are reminders of some of the core values of the US. It's up to every person to ask if we're living up to these core values every day. If we're contributing our labors to a country that intends, through its words, actions and 10/

policies, to live up to these core values. I think this is a time for soul-searching and I hope that people can take this thread in the spirit of that. Who do we want to be? How do we want to be perceived? If you want respect, be worthy of respect. end/