Opinions – I certainly express mine here, everyone’s got them and they’re nothing new. Back in the day, it was prudent to express them with some level of respect for whomever might be in earshot and might think differently, because more likely than not, you were in their presence or you felt responsible for your words and their impact. What we have now with facebook and other forms of social media is a free for all of opinion, attitude, respect or disrespect within the relative safety of being behind the screen and even anonymous if we so choose. Much easier to bully and degrade from that vantage point. The things I see posted on some of those feeds are just horrible communication between people who would never dream of talking that way to each other in person. Also much easier to spread false information and have folks buy it hook, line and sinker.
While I have been riveted to the news surrounding this last election of the 45th President of the United States because of the very nature of it, I’m finding it’s no longer accomplishing anything good. I’ve done what little I can to support what I feel is just and decent. Following the circus now just feels futile. Not my circus, not my monkeys. That’s what I want to say, anyway…. and yet it’s not completely true. What discourages me most is that it feels like we are all being dragged down the rabbit hole in this ever worsening political climate as we feed off the various sources of spin, the biased news sources (all of them at this point, and if you’ve found an unbiased news source, please share it here in the comments) the back biting, the name calling, the lies and deceit, the arrogance…among ourselves. And it is being promoted by all the moving parts of our government, not just one party, either.
It’s no secret I am appalled by Tr*mp for a myriad of reasons, although I don’t disagree with him on certain key points, like the need to fix our health care system, our infrastructure, immigration policy and practice, tax overhaul, fair trade. Those are big ticket items and he is right, they’re broken. For that reason I understand to an extent why people stood behind him, those issues and our lack of ability to fix them were real. What’s a crying shame is this man, after pulling off a truly remarkable election win, had a huge opportunity. If it were his intention, he could have used it to bring a divided nation back together, he could have attempted to heal the gaping rifts, uniting the parties on some basic level, at the very least, so that they can work together and apart for the GOOD of the country. He could have used language in his rallies, his speeches, his demeanor, that encouraged unity despite differences, because any intelligent being knows there will always always be differences. He repeatedly does the opposite. He cried Drain The Swamp…. and many rallied to the call – they’re still rallying while the swamp bubbles over with more lies and deceit and rifts that grow ever wider on all fronts. It’s amazing and disheartening and even horrifying to see… he can’t get out of his own way with his arrogant Twitter feed and bold lies and egotistical speeches and slamming of anyone and everyone who doesn’t see things exactly as he does. The FIRED and LEAVING POSITION list goes on and on and on partly because those with integrity that find themselves under his thumb can’t stand the wrongness of it all and they finally break from it, whether by choice or the President’s ax for non-compliance. The simple fact that hate groups feel emboldened in recent months is very telling. They are being given permission by the powers that be. Sad deal for all of us.
So many things I have typed and untyped here… but it really comes down to this – I hope, I pray and I wish on every star in the universe that something good comes of all of this…. That we find our way through this discord and the weaknesses of these people in power and realize that we’re all in this together and unity is the only way we are going to come out of it alive. Most of us with a thread of decency running through our souls want the same things – freedom, peace, prosperity, good health, good will toward all. I’m gonna hold on to that, and try like hell to let go of the rest.
Thank you for lending an eye and your time to my opinion expressed here today. Onward…
