What to write about when everything I am reading and thinking is so negative? I don't like writing about the dark side because it keeps me there as I think what words to write. I've done two blogs about toxicity and am not doing a third. Given the political season, it'd be easy to do.
I was thinking about the election and how disillusioned I am with both candidates, how little I trust either. Of course, when I say that, I make someone angry. They say a writer should never discuss religion or politics. It offends somebody, in this case about half the country.
What I have decided for this election, and will remain the case until further notice-- I am voting on issues not character. I voted on character in the primary and voted for Bernie Sanders, though I certainly didn't agree with him on everything or even a lot of things. I saw him as ethical and a straight shooter. He is no longer an option.
The problem is voting on issues gets complicated for me, as to be honest there are issues where I disagree with each of them. Worse, the things these candidates say in public don't necessarily reflect their real views (check Wikileaks for more on that).
Then, when it comes to issues, I have to weigh their importance. Some matter more to my personal life, to the future of my children and grandchildren. Weighing those will determine my vote, but I have to be honest, this November, I'll be holding my nose when I cast the ballot.
At seventy-three, I've voted for a lot of Presidents, many who disappointed me, some who proved to be hiding a lot of their character, which only came out later. I think this is my worst election ever for feeling unhappy that I feel neither are who should be running this country and impacting the world. Worse the more that has been revealed of the secrets behind these two, the more the news shows up as nothing to trust either. Without good journalism-- or worse with a set of news media types who distort headlines, lie, leave things out, we aren't in much better shape than a Third World country. We have to have somewhere to get the truth-- but where would that be?
The problem is, like it or not, this isn't the kind of thing where we can responsibly say-- we won't play. We will be playing whether we vote or not. I think everyone should do their duty-- doesn't mean it'll be fun.
So we vote and hope for the best...
8 comments:
I think you nailed it. I believe we lost our way when we abdicate our responsibilities as citizens of a republic when we don't give our input on how we want to be represented in the only meaningful way we can. We need to pay attention to the politicians we put into the pipeline at the local level and hold them accountable every step of the way up.
I agree, Harold. What I didn't realize until this election is how the 'news' media has been corrupted by the view that they tell us what they think we need to know. So we 'needed' to know about Trump's crude mouth. We did not need to know what was in the Wikileaks unless it involved Trump bad at something else. When Wikileaks told how they gave the Clinton campaign questions before debates or that they were colluding with the White House on her emails, that wasn't anything important enough to tell Americans as it might confuse us. I don't know if I will ever believe the news media again on anything. Some are so thoroughly in the bag that it's obvious to anybody except Clinton supporters, who are glad when the 'news' ignores what might look bad about her. What those who think that way don't realize is next time it might be 'their' guy/gal. A corrupted media, that decides what we 'should' know or do is how we ended up with 'Remember the Maine' with no interest in giving the people the truth of what happened because the media wanted a war. It's called Yellow Journalism and we have it in spades right now.
Journalism is something we can never take for granted and it doesn't matter whose ox is being gored, it's a bad thing. Trust Americans with the whole truth and let them weigh what matters the most.
I imagine that the Egyptian heiroglyphics were carved into stone to assure the Egyptian citizenry of the good intentions of the Pharoah. Writing and disseminating information has always been used to influence public opinion. Benjamin Franklin published two newspapers and used his editorials to turn the colonists against the British Crown. The American Revolution may not have gotten off the ground without the writing of Thomas Paine. A good research project would be to search those documents to see if perhaps they stretched the truth or just outright lied to bring people around to their way of thinking. I just read in The Week magazine that several conservative newspapers have gone against decades of tradition and endorsed Clinton, or Gary Johnson. For the Cincinnatti Enquirer it is the first time in 100 years that they have endorsed a Democrat. For the Dallas Morning News it's been 75 years. The USA Today has never endorsed a presidential candidate but has given an anti-endorsement warning their readers of the danger of voting for Trump. I realize that the neswpaper industry is owned by mega corporations but I would like to think that surely amongst those editors are a few critical thinkers that have weighed the issues and characters of the candidates and their parties and are not afraid to express their opinions. The actual problem is the voter. All of us only allow information into our brains that reinforce our prejudices. No one is interested in the the truth. Just tell me what I want to hear. I am right and those people are wrong. My team is the winner the others are losers. My race is the superior one. My religion is the only way to heaven. The news corporations know this about us and make lots of money manipulating us.
I agree, Wally, and well said. I think whichever way people vote, they will want the best for the country. I am not so sure about the 'establishment.' I have grandkids; so hope for the best however this election goes. I know one thing, I won't be voting on sexual accusations for a few years back or further-- whether it's the Clintons or Trump. I am voting on issues and just hope the candidates mean what they say. Right now, that seems iffy to me
When the League of Women Voters no longer controlled the debates the arguments lost the importance of substance. It was all about ratings and jazz. I do not think being quiet is the best approach. Hitler came to power because his supporters were very angry and disenfranchised and those who did not support him did not want to argue with the angry ones. What helps me make my decision is that I look at how Hillary has lived her life for generations and the causes she supported. The things she fought for and the books she wrote tell the tale and I find I feel she will lead the country in the right direction. Is she secretive and duplicate? Yes. She has been stalked with scandals for decades all of which do not end in her being a dangerous or evil person, but she is gun shy on transparency. I am still waiting for that last shoe to drop...what does the other candidate owe Russia for him to be so subservient to them?
You can look at this (yes, a political ad) to illustrate what I tried to say above.
https://www.hillaryclinton.com/tools/way-back-when/?light=false/&utm_medium=social&utm_source=fb&utm_campaign=20161012roulette-launch
This is a very partisan year and people overlook what their guy does but not the other guy. Did she on her campaign site discuss any of the issues on this page: http://rainydaythings.blogspot.com/2016/10/its-terrible-year.html.
The email is only the latest. Yes, she's gotten off time and again but one can ask why. Was it she didn't do anything wrong, or she was it due to connections, power and skirting the law just enough to not end up in legal trouble-- which does not make it ethical. She got off on the private server on something very fishy-- Comey said she did wrong but she didn't know. There are people serving time in jail for 'not' knowing, but it was no excuse for them. The scandal there is not that the Assange might've hacked her. It was how she decided what should be destroyed, except as an employee of the government and using her personal server for her job as Secretary of State, all of it the government was entitled to look at. She had no legal right to destroy any of it. She said it was yoga and wedding stuff for over 30,000 destroyed emails. We pretty well know it likely was embarrassing or maybe part of her pay for play.
I am writing more about these two for Saturday. I don't kid myself about Trump and his issues that make him questionable for President. I just hope the ones who are voting for her aren't kidding themselves. I am thinking about writing in Bernie Sanders name-- and yes the Clinton team has besmirched him too. He might well have been our nominee if not for the media being so totally on her side and not covering him anymore than they had to.
At this point, i don't think I'd trust anything that Hillary put out, but we already know she was in politics when he was in business, that he didn't pay taxes for some years (legally), that he had some bankruptcies to allow him to reorganize, etc. If all Americans want is career politicians, that's likely to be all they will get after this year.
I hope you are following the wikileaks revelations, which gives the reader a better idea of what her real views might be. This is fine for far left voters as they will like it-- well, maybe not that she supports fracking or bankers regulating themselves.
It seems the problem is the right tends to only go to right wing sites and the left only to left wing. Very few people read both.
The one thing I hope is that when she gets in, which I think she will, that the left who wanted her so ardently keep an eye on what she does. I will hope it's not more wars but her bad judgment on Arab Spring worries me. But Trump has been his own worse enemy. I doubt though anybody outside has much chance to win with the establishment Republicans and Democrats determined to hold power.
This was an interesting article I just got from someone at Facebook from a Disillusioned Republican. Since this guy wanted Marco Rubio, who favored limiting women's civil rights, some of this is relative.
This conversation is going to be ongoing way past the election for issues like immigration (which is really nationalism or globalism). And the black issues as to whether the police are increasingly racist (as BLM claims) or do we have a black crime problem due to not enough jobs (economics) to keep young men out of gang activity leading to more black on black crimes than blue on black.
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