POLITICAL DISMAY

Well for god's sake.  I have already mentioned I'm depressed.  How am I going to get any better when every week Donald Trump racks up more delegates and his supporters punch out more protestors at his rallies -- while he urges the violence on?

I so love our country.  I do.  I am a proud Liberal Democrat Patriot.  I know there's a lot we can do better and a lot of mistakes have been made and some outright evil has been perpetrated on others by our government for selfish motives throughout history.   But in spite of it all, I have ALWAYS believed that we are for the most part a loving people of compassion and good-will and that our leaders, while they may disagree on various points, would band together to ensure that a dictator, tyrant, or fascist-leaning individual would never be able to take over.  Oops.

I have never been more dismayed and disillusioned about our political system and our country's future.  I have seen it coming:  The degradation of any civility in public discourse, where politicians behave no better than the worst talk show hosts and reality show contestants; where partisanship devolves into brute force refusal to compromise on anything for any reason, citizens be damned; where the person holding the office of President is ridiculed, maligned, and disrespected beyond the pale by those who cannot countenance that this man "somehow" became the leader of the free world.

Smarter people than I have written volumes about all of this and I'm just a personal essay blogger who writes for a teeny audience of mostly friends and family so I won't even try to explain why all of this has happened at this point in our nation's history.  I have some facts, some theories, some opinions.  So do you.  Suffice to say, this election season has taken on a scary surreal quality that has me scratching my head, waking worried in the middle of the night, and fearful for the future of my granddaughters.

They say the Republican Party is crumbling before our very eyes and I'm glad.  Not because I'm anti-Republican, but because I'm anti whatever and whoever these people are who call themselves Republicans but are something else entirely.  We have a strong and vociferous far right wing of that Party who really are an entity unto themselves  -- Tea Partiers, I guess, but that moniker almost seems quaint in these days of the identity-defying Donald Trump who has been a Democrat at times, who is wealthy and ostentatious, who has no moral compass, who is a textbook narcissist -- yet is supported by those of low to moderate means, of low education, of professed religious faith, and who (as a study shows as the consistent common denominator) adhere to an authoritarian perspective.  Anyway, this right wing cabal has disrupted and disturbed to the point of taking over what used to be a political party with at least a relatively understandable world view -- one where I could maybe see their point.  Now there is no point.  Not one I can understand.

I am afraid of the current wave of anti-intellectualism;  anti-"elitism"; anti-press/media(ism); and every other anti-ism (except fundamentalism) that is now the gospel of the day.  Really?  Do we want people running things who are less intelligent, less sophisticated, less informed and less able to think creatively and critically than the majority of us?   Do we want a media that is so biased that we just hear over and over and over again the very things (often fraught with distortions and lies) we already agree with?  What happened to unbiased reporting?  What's happened to reporting at all?  Now it's all just opinion and conjecture.

I am starting to lose faith.  But maybe that's just what they want.  Maybe that's the point of it all.  To wear down and demoralize, to make violence commonplace, to denigrate and deny and defame until the effort to continue to defend ourselves against such an evil onslaught becomes just too damn hard.

Wait.  No. No. No. No.  I will not give in, give up, or give away my country!

I almost feel like there is a Civil War brewing....not one with cannons (hopefully!!!) but a war of ideas and ideals, of values, and of the very essence of our identity and our humanity.  Who we choose in November as our new president, as well as who we choose to represent us in Congress (even more important when it comes to day-to-day decision-making), will tell us who we are and who we want to become for the next four years and beyond.  

I look into the innocent faces of my beautiful granddaughters and I know I can't quit.  I have to work for candidates who stand for progress, for humanity, for kindness and compassion; who exhibit intelligence,  fairness,  experience, and  wisdom.  Is there a perfect candidate in the race this year?  Is there ever?  Nah.  But some are way more perfect than others.   Let's choose one who doesn't want to punch us in the face.

At least that's the view from here....©