Everyone is upset. Democrats, Republicans, Independents, a those that have chosen a Third Party to pledge allegiance to, in the misguided hope that their 3rd Party will emerge as THE 3rd Party. And of course we are all upset, in an era with a reported low unemployment rate, jobs that pay well are scarce, and even for those with jobs their pay is barely keeping up with inflation, which is always below target. We are upset because we are at war all over the world, and once a month we hear about a soldier or two being killed in a country that many Americans never heard of. We are upset because every week another mass shooting takes place, or an unarmed black youth is gunned down by the police. They are upset because on the news all they hear about is how horrible the President is, which makes his base upset and others believe precisely what the news tells them. And people are also upset that their health insurance rates are skyrocketing, the Russians have taken over our elections, and oil is being spilled in our oceans and into our water supplies.
Anger and frustration is expressed by every single American. Sure, not everyone is angered by the same things, but there is a common thread. Perhaps you don’t believe Russia is controlling our elections, but instead you are angry that our election vote counts are unreliable and unaudited. Our anger at the status quo exposes the common line of thinking that we are a nation divided as a fallacy. We are not divided. We may not all be angry about the exact same things, but we are all angry that the status quo is not working for the American people. We are united on this fundamental issue, whether we know it or not. We are united in the knowledge that most of what see and hear on the TV news and opinion shows only tells us half the story, unless its what you want to hear. Nobody reads more than one newspaper – if that, radio is over flowing with sports talk and heavily biased opinion, and who can tell what is true on social media. But on all that mishegas we are united.
This is what happens when resumé trumps truth. We saw that in our last Presidential election. With only two candidates we could choose from with the knowledge that one of them would win, no matter who you or I voted for, each one’s main credential for the job was their resume. Republicans turned a blind eye at the false history of Donald Trump’s boasts of accomplishments, which in hindsight it seems impossible that he personally accomplished anything. Democrats took the list of jobs that Hillary Clinton did within government service and never validated her boasts of accomplishments. Resume trumped truth. (pun so very intended)
But here we are on the verge of losing unfettered access to the web’s cornucopia of information and entertainment, implementing tax reform that will accelerate all the wrong things and as a result it will not bring back a strong and large middle class or create pathways for the poor to improve their lot, We are at the precipice of starting a potential nuclear war with a second-rate nation in a real world reenactment of the Marx Brother’s “Duck Soup”. This all, to be blunt, is caused by the complete takeover by a single party. Democrats abdicated their participation when they chose to follow the Republicans lead in both domestic and foreign policy. All they do to separate themselves from Republicans is a more tolerant social policy. And even that has withered into a shadow of what it needs to be. But even then, it is sufficient to keep Republican voters hating on all Democrats. Take away the labels, and we become united.
When someone tells you how divisive Donald Trump is, or that the nation is divided, remember that we, the people, are united. We want prosperity and we want peace. We may have disagreements about what to fix and how to fix it, but we need to agree that fixes are necessary; the rest is called democracy.
