What It's About

I read something in what I'll call another forum and I found it somewhat disconcerting. Not the words themselves but the unintended meaning behind them. It was about our current Presidential election and how we just need to accept the results of the election and not hate the other guy's vote. I agree with the hate part, people of goodwill can disagree and remain respectful and friends. When the political system functions correctly that's what happens. But it's not about simply accepting something as though it doesn't matter.

By the very meaning of the word every election is about change. Every election matters. There is no such thing as an election that you can just sit out because everything will be just fine.

Donald Trump did not inject poison into our political process he has legitimized it from the first day he announced his candidacy. He is a mirror for the worst elements of our human nature. He has brought incivility and the political fringe into the mainstream of a major political party. It has been said over and over again by more influential voices than my own, that he has repeatedly said things which would have destroyed another candidate, yet rather than being driven from the stage he has grown stronger or so it seems.

A lot of prominent Republicans and conservatives have come out against him. Of particular note is the large number of Republican national security experts who say Donald Trump is not fit to serve as President.

Would America survive a Trump Presidency? Yes, but it will politically forever be changed. Narcissism and personal insult will become the substitute for public service and substantive debate. Twitter will replace policy papers and a deluge of incompetent and ill prepared public personalities will seek office.

As a citizen of the United States I do not accept the acquiescence of "accepting"  what is happening in this election without stating my informed opinion and shouting from the wilderness, beware of what you wish for.

We are all familiar with those famous cries and warnings from history. Martin Niemoller's "First they came...and then they came for me and there was no one left to speak up." The parliamentarian and Conservative icon Edmund Burke warned, "The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing."

I am not naive or narcissistic enough to believe that my opinion or this blog have had or ever will have an impact on anything. But one voice joined with many can sometimes turn events.

The euphemism that we are all in the same boat is a lovely poetic thought but I am old enough and scarred enough to know it's not true. There are Warships, luxury yachts, cabin cruisers and then the boats that most of us are in, the leaky dingies clinging for survival. We can't even agree that breathable air and clean drinking water should be priority one, so you'll excuse me if I don't break into a rousing chorus of we shall overcome.

Oh well, who wants pie?