So, it’s another week. And another week full of thoughts. Because that’s what I do here. I keep thinking. I’m not sure it’s always good to keep thinking about certain things. And this election nonsense is going to drive me to the bars which aren’t even open and demand service. Because that’s the kind of crazy person I am right now. It’s life in 2020 right now which basically means, go figure. Nevertheless, I keep thinking thoughts. Which I am wont to do. Which brings us back around to another Thoughtful Thursday. This time it’s Thoughtful Thursday: Elections Have Consequences Unless You’re A Politician.
Regardless of what side of the aisle you find yourself on, I imagine you are going nuts at this thought. Just a few thousand people in Podunk Illinois will affect your life for eternity. Or is that Arizona, Nevada, Georgia, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, etc. We all get that our lives will be affected in some way, for the good or the bad. And while my tendency is to say the bad, I have to admit, if my life really is affected in some nefarious way by an election, what’s going on with my life? Unfortunately, while I want to say this, barbarians are standing at the gates ready to burn everything down if things don’t go their way. Or maybe they will burn everything down regardless. The thought truly scares me.
All these crazy thoughts blend into the Thoughtful Thursday posts I try to do every week unless a midlife crisis intervenes, or other things which drive me to my local grocery store to brown paper bag it at 3 A.M. (Unfortunately, I am not good at doing that as I tend to have a drink once a month or fewer, so I suffer silently instead.) And this just goes along with the rest of my life being in upheaval as well. But my therapist wants me to write down the things which bother me and then attempt to reframe them. Whether this is my attempt at the said thing, one can only guess.
But I digress. So I explain this week, as I do with every week Thoughtful Thursday is not fake news. Even if it has news in it, it’s not fake news. First, because it’s my real thoughts about the news, no matter how insane the news might get. And second, it’s not a joke. It’s not a transformation of an article into a warning about flying rattlesnakes, no matter how amusing that thought might be. These thoughts are quick hits. I state my thoughts and it’s your job to evaluate them the way you will. Some may be humorous, sad, mindboggling, or merely inspirational. I don’t explain them. I leave that to you.
But I don’t want to sit here and explain forever. What I do want to offer this week is the ability to join my thoughtful Thursday crew. If you want to link with a blog of your own, or you wish to do a write up of your ten thoughts (so long as you let me edit the piece a little), I would love to have you on board. With that thrown out there, let’s get to the thoughts. Because that is why you are here, after all. Welcome back to another Thoughtful Thursday: Elections Have Consequences Unless You Are A Politician.
Thoughtful Thursday: Elections Have Consequences Unless You Are A Politician
1) I keep wondering why we put the same people in power over and over again. They seem to take advantage of the system to their own benefit, leaving the rest of us in the lurch. Why do we do that?
2) It’s so comical if it weren’t tragic where both sides of the political aisle would be making the opposite claims about the other if the shoe were on the other foot. Well, maybe except about being literally Hitler.
3) I believe that social media has not only become harmful but in some ways, an existential threat to democracy and any sorts of social norms as it constantly pushes one another into warring factions.
4) When you have lost Ice Cube in the process of your name-calling you will soon be losing so much more than you can possibly imagine.
5) I am more firmly convinced than ever that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. You can quote John Dalberg-Acton on that.
6) If I had to bet before this election the odds on a Civil War were probably 70/30. Afterward, I would call it a coin flip. If you think that’s a good thing, take from it what you will.
7) I still don’t understand that those who eschew one man’s power would then feel it permissible to allow the office he holds to have even more power when it’s their guy in the office. And both sides do it.
8) With all the senators in Rome, I never understood how they could allow someone to attain so much power as Caesar. I have stopped wondering now.
9) Part of me feels like we are Slim Pickens, riding the atomic bomb to destruction. My question to you. Was it a good ride?
10) Right now, I want to be Mr. Toad. Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily, Merrily on my way to nowhere in particular . . .
Wrapping up Thoughtful Thursday: Elections Have Consequences Unless You Are A Politician
I know, most of these have a political flavor today. It’s hard not to have a political feel when that seems to be the flavor of the hour. At the same time, I really hate it. I mostly don’t want to get political because I believe so much of life is not politics. And some of my very best friends have very different opinions than I do about the world. Doesn’t mean I don’t love them. And doesn’t mean they aren’t good people. The problem I feel like is we have been fed the line that the other side is not just wrong but evil. How do we take ourselves back from the ledge?
The worst part is I fear we cannot take ourselves back from the ledge. Not because we as an individual can’t. But because all of the people around us are telling each other we cannot. And they are constantly telling us the other side is evil. I think it’s why we are complaining about a different set of facts. It’s true. We can have a discussion when we are arguing the meaning of facts. But we cannot have one if we don’t have the same facts to start off with. And when we have taken to calling the other side evil they will gravitate to people who don’t see them as evil. And sometimes these disaffected people wind up not just on the other side. They end up on the most radical version of what the other side has to offer.
I get it. Hitler is evil. We can pretty much agree on that. No one but some insane Neo-Nazi would argue otherwise. But I’m guessing most of the people around you aren’t actually Neo-Nazis, So if we aren’t Nazi’s what are we? We are people trying to make the best decisions for us and our families. Are we perfect? No. But for the most part, I would argue we have good hearts. Until we are browbeaten into considering the other side as evil. Once we do that, we then are willing to do anything to win.
And that’s where we find ourselves right now. The two sides are willing to do anything to win if we think the other side is evil. And now we have one side doing lawsuits and the other hiding their activities in backrooms where we can’t see what they are doing and saying trust us. Because now we have fealty to something or other. Maybe it’s because neither side trusts one another. And when we call each other Hitler, can you blame us?
Do I have an answer to this insanity? Not really. But maybe it begins with that thing this dude name Jesus once said. Love your enemy. Bless them that curse you. Do good to them that despitefully use you and persecute you. Does that mean don’t protect one another? Absolutely not. But it does mean to at the very least turn down the temperature. That’s only something each of us can control on their own. So, when our side decides to call the other side Hitler, no matter how much we like them, we should turn them off. And get outside our door. Then maybe check on how our neighbor is doing.
Taking On Elections Have Consequences Unless You Are A Politician
What have you thought about the election? What is one thing you would change? Do you have opinions about social media and technology and how it has affected our polity? What’s one thing you would love to do for you today?
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Until next time, this is me signing off.
David Elliott, The Single Dad’s Guide to Life
