When Empathy Isn’t Enough: What It Might Take to Save This Country

Love may lead us, but consequences must follow. If we are serious about healing America, we must get serious about accountability too.

How do you teach empathy?

How do you rewire a brain shaped by generational hate into one rooted in compassion, kindness, and the kind of healing that brings true peace?

How do you reach people who mistake their biases for religious conviction, not realizing they have been led astray by wolves in sheep’s clothing?

How do you explain that an us mentality builds a stronger, safer society than a me and mine one?

How do you make people care, really care, about hungry children, about elders aging with dignity, about the full humanity of immigrants, whether documented or not? About veterans haunted by PTSD? About the systems of white supremacy woven into this country, still actively detaining, abusing, and killing Black men, Black women, and people of color?

I want to fix it. I fight in every way I can think of.

But how do we get to the root? How do we make it better, not just for now, but for the future?

I’m not sure.

I was raised in a far-right conservative world. What began to shift me was police brutality against Black people. My little soul knew it was wrong. And if the people justifying it were Republicans, then something in their thinking had to be wrong too.

It was empathy that changed me.

But what if someone doesn’t have that? What if they have never been taught how to care?

Do we make it transactional? Do we say, “Do this and you will benefit”?

And yet I see rural voters cheering on this “big beautiful bill,” thinking they will get untaxed tips and overtime. They do not realize they are also losing their hospitals, nursing homes, food programs, and futures.

So I ask: What will finally break the haze of this MAGA death cult? What will turn hearts from hate to love, from cruelty to kindness?

Will love be enough?

Or will it take something more? A bold, unapologetic leftist leader who finally enforces consequences. Someone who makes the cost of hate too high to keep spreading it.

Will it be compassion? Or the weight of guilt and public shame that finally shifts this country’s story?

Maybe both.

I want to believe that love will bring the change.

But then I wonder… is love always soft?

Or can love be sharp, like a surgeon’s blade cutting out cancer so the rest of the body can survive?

Is that what is needed now? Not violence, but consequence. Not cruelty, but accountability.

Fines. Jail time. Real consequences for those who spread dangerous rhetoric. For those who incite hate and division under the guise of “free speech.”

And yes, I know some of you are already reaching for the “free speech” defense. But when your speech shackles others in fear, in poverty, in violence, that is not freedom. That is harm. That is abuse. And it must be treated as such.

Because let’s be clear: this kind of “free speech,” the kind that dehumanizes, incites hate, and upholds systems of oppression, is not protected expression. It is mental, emotional, and physical violence. It is abuse, plain and simple. And no society rooted in justice should tolerate it.

And let’s be honest. We have been here before. If we had delivered true consequences after the Civil War for those who remained aligned with white supremacy, we would not be in this mess today. Instead, this nation let traitors rebrand as patriots. We allowed them to erect statues of murderous, raping racists as heroes in our town and city squares, and to wave a flag that opposed our own and symbolized the death and abuse of millions of Black people.

We must not repeat that failure. We cannot allow red hats to become sacred relics, or the orange-faced man to be carved into Mount Rushmore. Evil must be torn down, thrown out, despised, and called what it is: wickedness.

This time, with this MAGA hate movement, we must not fumble justice again. There must be accountability ,real and lasting, or the poison will only spread deeper.

I love this country. Not for what it is, but for what it could be.

But I also see this country clearly. And without deep, intentional change, it will remain in darkness.

I still hope that change can come through open hearts. But if hearts stay hard, then may a future leader do whatever is necessary to free us all from this present sickness.

Again, I do not mean violence. But I do mean vigilant, relentless consequences.

If someone’s vision for this country is rooted in hate, then that vision must go dark. It must be stopped.

How? I don’t know.

But when?

As soon as possible.

I love you. I believe in you.

Hold onto hope, and hope will hold onto you.

Better days are coming.

With love,

Jessica

PS: If this spoke to you, please like, share, and subscribe. I would love to hear your respectful thoughts in the comments. Let’s talk about what healing and justice could really look like.