Politics makes otherwise decent people take leave of their senses. Nowhere is this truer than during the horserace leading up to presidential elections. Discussions of religious matters comes in a distant second, I think.
I was reading something in the blogosphere and the writer mentioned that “Irrationality is the foundation of our national politics, fueled by subjective preferences.” I would agree.
What other explanation is there for the constant haranguing of the other side on Facebook? “My candidate is better than your candidate,” and vice versa. Liberals malign conservatives, and conservatives bash liberals. Back and forth it goes. There is a certain smugness that accompanies one’s choice, also.
I always laugh when I hear about “undecided voters.” As if people actually form their opinions of candidates after carefully researching them.
Foolishly, I posted something on social media last week and had it thrown back in my face. I dared to post what I thought was a well-written analysis of the horserace, one that didn’t follow the typical paint-by-numbers blather of the driveby media. Silly me—I was appealing to reason and rationality, not pandering to ignorance. The person that took issue with it admitted that he didn’t read the entire piece. His mind’s already made up for his candidate, Hillary Clinton. But I’m the stupid one.
A Trump vs. Hillary match-up is possible.
I was reminded by a friend that the Bible teaches us not to cast our pearls before swine.
Of course, anytime you write down your thoughts or offer an opinion, unless you tuck the manuscript in a drawer, there is the risk of offending someone.
We still have eight more months of this to weather, too. Then, the madness will mercifully end.
What a lovely picture you found of the former Clinton-Trump alliance. How young and alive they looked.
The Greer post was enlightening; I had not imagined any possible benefits of a Trump presidency. Unfortunately, Greer is very bright and very thorough and so the reader’s trip to the conclusion takes longer than even reading a long Facebook rant. Greer points out that Clinton will be more of the same…lurching towards collapse all the while saying “everything is fine! Look at the stock market booming.”
As Greer says near the conclusion:
“…facile claims that everything is fine, the economy is booming, and the American people are happier than they’ve been in decades are already appearing in the mass media. No doubt things look that way if you live in a bubble of privilege, and take good care never to step outside it and see how the other 80% live; for that matter, it’s true that if you take the obscene gains raked in by the privileged few and average them out across the entire population, that looks like economic betterment—but those gains are not being shared by the entire population, and the entire population knows this.”
As you have pointed out in previous posts, collapse has been happening over the course of our lifetime. And it’s easy not to see it. When I first moved home to Lisbon Falls, each time I drove by the old Worumbo mill or the Kennebec Fruit Company, I was overcome with sadness at the ugly decline. Over time, I’ve put it out of my mind when I pass. Most people living through decline have learned put their blinders on and not see the relics. Or they live in the bubbles, like where I used to live. Over time, when you’re in the bubble, you forget the 80% living in the forgotten places.
Everything is not fine and that is the arousing opening note of the “Trumpening” soundtrack. Only time will tell what happens next.
(Insert that weird Fox News “top of the hour” clanging cymbal here.)
We remain in the midst of collapse, yet most people have no idea what we’re talking about, as well as remaining blissfully unaware of the “relics” all around us.
Regardless of whether we’re delivered Il Duce (Trump), or the pant-suit clad Hillary, we’ll continue unwinding, another great term for what’s happening.