The title of this post is a bit trite, as we often hear this when big things happen in life. However, it fits to my mind as it truly could be...should be...a moment in time that perhaps we step back from the brink and look to the forest instead of the trees (yes, another overused phrase.) I have not posted to this blog in quite some time because, I suppose, it is easier to leave pithy comments to other social platforms and frankly, I'm not all that interested in discussing politics on the internets as keyboard warriors are all too common and I have better things to do in life. Like work. Live. Find whatever joy in life can be found and not mire in the minutia of the day by day "worries" of the 24 hour news cycle.
With all of that said, the events of yesterday cause me to step forward and offer my own words to what I consider a toxic environment that led to such an event. Before I continue I should probably give you a timeline of my own political leanings (those of you who know me likely know this already.) I am what is known as a Conservative. Not necessarily a Republican, though I do tend to vote as such when I offer my political voice. I prefer to call myself a Classical Liberal in that I value the ideas and ideals of the founders of this great nation who reached back into time and tried to once more pull from the examples of ancient Greece and Rome (when it was a Republic.)
Our country is an experiment some 248 years in the making. Young, no doubt. Republics, historically, do not last. Often brought down by faction and yes indeed...attempted dictatorships by the wealthy and powerful. However, what we have attempted for these long years is detailed in both the United States Constitution and the Declaration of Independence.
"We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness."
Note the words, "among these" in the prose carefully drafted by Thomas Jefferson. A chameleon in many ways such that most people can find something to like about him but always difficult to pin down. I believe he did that on purpose. Love him or leave him, but he was never more clear than the moment when he wrote those words. And our Bill of Rights ends with the Tenth Amendment...
"The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Or to the people!
That is you. That is me. That is all of us desiring a federal government that works. Not against us, but for us. Our experience and this experiment has ever to endeavor to uphold those ideals. And yet...here we are.
I am working through my thoughts so bear with me. Serious thoughts that are not Democrat or Republican, but American. Yesterday a person running for the President of the United States was a victim of an assassination attempt. A former President at that. Like him or hate him, no thing like that should occur in this country. It is not unprecedented which does not excuse it but proves that we have been there before. That does not make it right. In fact, it makes it very wrong every single time that it has happened (in this or any other country.)
It is immaterial my own thoughts on the man but I will offer them nonetheless. Donald Trump is a narcissist that values loyalty above all else. I did not vote for him in 2016 (the only time in my life that I did not vote) because I did not believe him sufficiently conservative due to his previous public opinions. However, after four years of governance as President I did vote for him in 2020 believing him to be far superior to the alternative - a man that has run for President at least three times and has been in government for pretty much all of my 51 years of life. None other than the Secretary of Defense Robert Gates (serving under both Presidents Bush and Obama) suggested that Joe Biden has been wrong on every single foreign policy decision for the last 30 years.
Too often, we tend to vote not for who we want but rather against the alternative. How many of you voted FOR Hillary Clinton despite the fact that no one likes her? That is why she lost. There was no great groundswell for her even if she might be the first female President. How many of you voted for Biden despite the fact that it was clear four years ago that he was well past his sell by date? I imagine it was to your mind the better of two bad choices. So it is for me now. I do not love Donald Trump. I'm not sure that I even like him even though I do appreciate the fact that he has a humor and as proved by his actions yesterday, he is a fighter. Resilient. And given an inch of the bullet, may well have become a martyr.
Donald Trump brings out the worst in people and I believe that says more about them than it does about him. The heated rhetoric and hyperbolic pronouncements of what may happen should he become President once more...again...ONCE MORE...are over the top and led to what occurred yesterday. This election seems simple to me. No...not the most important in our lifetime. Just an election. A choice. What do you want for the future? If your bete noir is abortion, very well. For or against. If you like or dislike illegal immigration, have issue or not with our Federal debt and deficit, have a desire for high or lower taxes and indeed if you believe or not that bureaucrats should run our country rather than Congress and the Executive branch as laid out in the Constitution. These are all things that can and SHOULD be discussed.
Not that "our democracy dies!!" if so and so gets elected. THAT is hyperbolic and leads us to this moment. I should not have to tell you that we do not live under a democracy but rather a constitutional republic. That is on purpose. I will add this as well by Dr. Richard Beeman of the University of Pennsylvania:
"If there is a lesson in all of this it is that our Constitution is neither a self-actuating nor a self-correcting document. It requires the constant attention and devotion of all citizens. There is a story, often told, that upon exiting the Constitutional Convention Benjamin Franklin was approached by a group of citizens asking what sort of government the delegates had created. His answer was: "A republic, if you can keep it." The brevity of that response should not cause us to under-value its essential meaning: democratic republics are not merely founded upon the consent of the people, they are also absolutely dependent upon the active and informed involvement of the people for their continued good health."
As he suggests, it is an often told story and perhaps apocryphal. Yet it is the truth. It is OUR government and we get the leaders that we deserve such that we choose them. There are over 330 million people in this country and I imagine you, like myself, are astounded that these two - Biden and Trump - are the best we have to offer. Yet they are. That is your choice. That is our choice. And we should be able ("should" is a loaded word that can get you in trouble, so pay mind) to argue these points on their merits.
The point is that far too often we make arguments based on feelings and not facts. I've a good many friends that I have lost because I do not see Donald Trump as an existential threat to our Republic. I have lost others because I am willing to give the Democrat party their chance to discuss in good faith. It is all too heated and based on anger or fear when all I wish to do is talk about it. Conversation. Imagine it? Isn't that better than an assassin's bullet? Yet again...here we are.
I have no desire to tell you how to vote or express why I think one person is preferable to the other even though I have my own ideas. That is MY choice. You must make yours and hopefully choose to do so with respect and a desire to see this country better off despite who is elected. We get the elected officials that we choose and we should not (again..."should") allow emotion to cloud a reasonable discussion. That emotion...hatred...fear...what have you...is what leads to what happened yesterday.
That is not the country I wish to live in nor the manner in which to account for our current situation. People sometimes say, "Do better." Can we?
Listen to each other. Care. Hear instead of trying to tell. Your argument may well be important but you must try to understand what someone else may be trying to tell you. Stop demonizing and believe in good faith. Please. Our life, liberty and pursuit of happiness rather depend upon it.
That is all.
Very intriguing concept - discussions related to our current politics. I have yet to have "the other side" put forth a rational discussion. When pressed for receipts regarding their opposing view, they invariably shut down and start name calling. Hence, no discussion.
Trump wasn't my primary pick for 2016, but once he became the Republican candidate I
figured that, perhaps, others see more in him than my vision of his own bloviated persona. So he got my vote in 2016.
Again, as the recent primary came around, he wasn't my pick. This time I was looking for someone else because, while I was acutely aware that the press had elected to pervert everything that came out if his mouth, I felt that his mountain to bring the nation together was too high. I agreed with 45's policies and where he put the nation during his presidency, but he continued to make gaffs (think - making fun if Nikki Haleys dress) and I was worried that merely made the mountain that much more insurmountable. There were others in the field who wouldn't have had to climb a mountain as high as his and had his same philosophy for governance - I like " less is best." But, again, the Republican peoples chose (will choose) Trump. And he will get my vote again. I've preached that people shouldn't make the presidential election a popularity contest. Vote for Trump because of his policies and in spite of his character flaws. After all, who am I to throw stones about character, as a deeply flawed person, myself?
Posted by: Debbie Gallogly | Sunday, July 14, 2024 at 10:47 PM