Friends,
This isn’t a post about hizzoner or the lies which, even for the DC political scene are creating a new definition of the word “normal.”
But I’m not going to write about that. Really. It’s a challenge but…
We’ve been had.
Rather, I want to write something about how “Patriots” on both sides of the aisle need to stop congratulating each other and considering themselves to great Americans for clever barbs and attacks on those on the other side of the aisle. To say that this sort of elementary school behavior on the national scale is getting old doesn’t even begin to describe it.
Remember that it wasn’t just those who voted for hizzoner that got us into this mess. There was a significant percentage of Americans that didn’t vote at all (shame!). There were all sorts of “protest” votes. And then there were the non-mainstream-but-not-protest votes. This doesn’t even begin to take into account the disinformation, misinformation and bad information that was being circulated by well meaning Americans via email and social media. And it certainly doesn’t take into account the malicious hacking and propaganda campaigns both of which are still occurring and still acting very divisively.
Face it folks, if you’ve used a term like “Repuglican” or “Libtard,” you’re part of the problem. You’ve been sucked in by a system that provides fuel for your anger just like a pusher provides fuel for your addiction. You’re hooked on anger. And while you’re angry and “thinking” with your emotions, while you’re being sucked in by the propaganda and the real-fake-news that’s being promulgated by people who don’t like you and would like nothing better than to end your way of life if not your life itself, you are not acting in anybody’d best interest let alone mine. Or your own.
Until we, the people (That’s deliberate lack of caps… We don’t deserve them right now) insist that our elected officials get their act together and do business on our behalf, nothing is going to happen. Until we demand that our elected officials act in the best interests of everyone, they will act for those who help en$ure reelection. And by everyone, I mean everyone in the country: male, female, genderqueer, citizens, non-citizens, gay, straight, atheist, Catholic, Protestant Christian, Jewish, Muslim, Hare Krishna, etc, etc… You get the idea. But just in case, what I *don’t* mean is that political business should continue along this particular path to a newer “normal.”
There needs to be a new normal alright, but one in which differing ideologies and party planks are addressed and in which the good of the whole (nation and world) are the first priority. In this new normal, all of the parties to an issue negotiate in good faith, with the understanding that nobody is going to get everything. In this new normal, the elected officials are held accountable by an informed elctorate and not by fat-cat PAC donations or the lack thereof.
OK, I get it. It’s a pipe dream and I’m sure the ideal is not obtainable but at the very least, we the people need to reclaim We, The People… Let’s stop claiming the title of “Patriot” and let’s all start acting as patriots.
—echo4golf clear.