Election day

 

 

I hate political themed blogs—I am always amazed at the increased numbers of bloviating writers since the last presidential election.  Even though I am technically a low-volume consumer of these blogs or writings (I am not on Reddit or Substack or other providers), the content still makes its way into my inbox or more annoyingly, onto my Facebook feed.  You used to have to own the press and be able to buy ink by the barrel to share your opinion—now you can do it with a few clicks and a Starbucks internet connection.

Of course I totally exclude myself from these bloviating folks—I simply offer a few thoughtful political observations on this day of reckoning for the country.

First off, I am incredibly optimistic about our country.  We have faced crisis before and amazingly the country has survived.  Wars, monetary foolishness, and even fools have dented but not completely smashed the ideal that is the United States.  So that is good.  But good heavens, I am dumbfounded on how we do this.  We seem to take the most painful, most tortuous path.  Someone, perhaps Churchill, posited that “Americans will do the right thing once they have tried everything else.”

How true, I hope.  The country has tried other things including a lingering, painful nine-year experiment with things Trumpian.  It has divided the country and families, brought shame and embarrassment to the United States, and very certainly lessoned our prestige and the image of a shining city on a hill.  Meanness has become the currency of discourse, and we have devolved into a zero-sum society that allows one group to do better only if the other groups suffer and do worse.

Obviously you should be able to read between the lines on which side of this political divide I stand.  I suppose this decision could be and for many is based on policy differences between the candidates and parties.  There are plenty of these, and while they sway my thinking a bit, they are not the reason why I stand where I stand.

The United States is this confederacy of states but it is also an idea and ideal.  It is a place where people go for refuge, to learn, to prosper, and where they can disagree with the government and others.  Safely.  It is a dream, something that is totally aspirational and it totally isn’t just states with a border.  We should strive for these ideals, all the while knowing that we aren’t quite there yet.  We have much work to do before we are that perfect or even that very, very good Union that we dreamed of and began almost 250 years ago.

How we as a nation have accomplished what we have over this span of time was not just through policies. Those change, sometimes when the wind blows and for sure when there are elections.  The elasticity of the country in terms of policy shifts is pretty remarkable but in my mind, what has supported this (and sometimes, even the successes) of this fragile experiment is that the United States has done the right thing, eventually.  Eventually, character wins over rhetoric.  Eventually, belief in the ideals of this country wins, and lastly, hope and the belief in hope will win out.  I can’t believe that the United States is a dystopian, wasted landscape of despair as some have portrayed.

We will do the right thing, eventually.  This election gives the country a chance to be a little better, to hope, and to polish up that shining city on a hill. Let’s hope we make the correct choices to begin to do the right thing.

I have to go.  My internet connection is timing out…