3 election thoughts
(Written by kencraw)
I’m a bit of a disinterested party to this election. I’m a “member” (it’s not an official party yet) of the American Solidarity Party and haven’t voted for the presidential candidate of either major party since 2000. I refuse to vote for politicians who are ideologically far from what I stand for. I just won’t do the “lesser of 2 evils” thing. I don’t vote for “evil”. Neither Clinton nor Trump were worthy of my vote and both would have been forcing me to endorse too many things I’m ideologically opposed to. And so I wrote in a candidate who I can get behind.
Nevertheless, I’m at peace today and do not fear the future. Hopefully these words will be helpful to where ever you stand:
- Hyperbole is not helpful (notice how I scare quote evil above). If you feel yourself making broad sweeping and aggressive statements, I would caution against it. Trump is not Hitler. The world is not coming to an end. For those on the other side, this was no “beat-down of the establishment”. 8 years ago it was the conservatives who thought the world was coming to an end. Guess what, we’re still here and mostly in the same place we’ve always been. 16 years ago it was the Democrats. Guess what, we made it to Obama without too much change to our daily lives.
- Do your best to avoid demonizing the other side. The people on the other side are human just like you. They’ve got real concerns and make judgment calls based on less than perfect information. They make compromises that they don’t feel that comfortable with. They talk themselves into being 100% behind something they really aren’t that excited about because they want to win and you don’t win by having lukewarm support for something. A pattern I see time and again: A person does something stupid and/or wrong, and others are very forgiving. They rationalize. They sympathize. They ask for mercy. Yet anther person does something similarly stupid and/or wrong and the same crowd is ready to nail them to the wall. Why the difference? Because one is seen as “us” and the other is seen as “them”. Try to get away from having a “them” in your mind, so you have no one to demonize. Listen and be sympathetic to everyone. Try to understand, not write people off as evil or bigoted.
- Remember what what you do locally on a daily basis is far more important than the national policies. While of course national politics has an affect on our lives, the reality is, whether you have a good day today has more to do with whether you’ve got good friends, good co-workers and good family than anything else. And how that happens is by all of us collectively committing to being good friends, good co-workers and good family members. And part of how we do that, is by not demonizing those among our friends, co-workers and family who don’t share our political views and by avoiding speaking in hyperbole with them. Sympathize with those who are troubled today. Forgive those who gloat.
There are those who are just but are treated as though they had done evil, and those who are wicked but are treated as though they had done justly. This, too, I say is vanity. Therefore I praised joy, because there is nothing better for mortals under the sun than to eat and to drink and to be joyful; this will accompany them in their toil through the limited days of life God gives them under the sun. (Ecclesiastes 8:14-15)
November 10th, 2016 at 7:15 am
Good points Ken.
I think the difficult aspect that people like me are dealing with is Trump said some truly horrible things about people to get elected. He’s not Hitler like you said, but he demonized large swaths of society to gain power. Take you point #2 above–Trump has never done any of those things. I have a lot of friends and family who are honestly (and rightfully) scared about what this election means for their lives, based on the actual words Trump said himself.
November 10th, 2016 at 7:36 am
I completely agree that Trump did not follow #2. But for that matter, neither did Clinton. Both sides demonized their opposition. It’s wrong, it’s a part of why I vote third party (there’s a big list), but it’s also not a good barometer of what the politician will do once elected. It’s more just the nature of our political climate. People shouldn’t over react to it.
As for those who are scared, I really think #1 applies more than they think. LGBT people have nothing to fear (the man posed with gay pride flag after all), yet for some reason I keep hearing them included in the list of fearful people. Muslims already in the country are fine and although I would understand the fear of a Muslim outside the country who wanted to come here, everything Trump has proposed (and it’s worth noting he hasn’t said anything on that topic in a long time, I don’t think it’s a high priority for him) is blatantly unconstitutional. The group who probably has the largest right to be fearful would be Mexican immigrants who are here illegally. But to them I would say two things: 1. Everyone in the know acknowledges there will be no mass deportations, it’s just not logistically possible. 2. You’re already in a tenuous position. I can see why you’re feeling your hope has been taken away, but I don’t think you’re under any delusion that your current situation isn’t a fearful one. Nothing has gotten worse. It’s just the status quo (and BTW, I’m sorry that’s the case).
I don’t want to go on forever across all the possible groups that are fearful, but the point is, I’m hearing these ridiculous lists of things people think are going to happen and they’re 80% to 90% bogus. There’s far less to fear than too many people are advertising.
November 10th, 2016 at 9:14 am
One further comment along the lines of rhetoric vs. policy, probably the best place to start is Trump’s 1st 100 days plan:
http://www.npr.org/2016/11/09/501451368/here-is-what-donald-trump-wants-to-do-in-his-first-100-days
Reading through it, here’s my judgment on people who have a legitimate reason for fear based on the specifics in the proposals (and not assumed hidden agendas):
-Illegal immigrants, particularly those who have been convicted of a crime in the US (see commentary above)
-People who are receiving large medical insurance subsidies from Obamacare.
-Potential immigrants from “terror-prone regions”
While I’ll admit that this is not inconsequential, it’s also FAAAR less than I hear people complaining about. (Not a word about LGBTQ, etc.)
November 12th, 2016 at 7:26 am
This is way too simplistic. Also, a lifetime of Cal fandom had taught me that things can (and usually do) get worse.
November 12th, 2016 at 8:29 am
Sure, it is simplistic. I wasn’t interested in turning the site into a political blog, just to give people who are struggling some perspective and hope. Plus, when everyone seems to have forgotten the simple, sometimes that is what needs to be said.