Monday, March 14, 2016

Is it over yet?

Here we are again. We're on a fun little journey of a Presidential election cycle.... Yes, this means all of your friends... and enemies are blasting their social networks with their political persuasion.  All of them have become constitutional lawyers because they know what the forefather meant word-by-word.  It's the part of social networks that I loathe.

Yes, we are all entitled to our opinions.  You will never hear me say anything but that, but before Facebook and Twitter is was something you didn't feel like you had to share every day on the hour.

This has been particularly crazy election cycle, as both sides are really hammering each other.  You've got a massive cross-section of politics from socialism to anti-governmental rhetoric.  This has also been a super nasty season and cycle.  The narrative is divisive.  The politicians are divisive.  The parties are divisive.  We are divisive.

We are fractured.  We are splintered.  We are caught in the middle.  We are caught in the fringe.  We are caught up in a 24-hour news cycle that is not taking any prisoners.  We've politicians talking about the size of their manhood.  Politicians talking about how they are the continuation of President Obama.  Politicians who are not the establishment candidate, and who are, and who are accused of being.  Politicians talking about big banks and how corrupt they are.  Politicians talking about abolishing the FBI.  Really we have a lot of politicians talking about a lot of things, that I think a lot of us don't care about.  We have politicians "debating" on TV almost every night.  Again, lots of talk, little substance.

This is really more of a reality TV show than a President of the United States cycle.  It's like the Real Housewives, mixed with Survivor, and we're over here on naked and afraid.  I am sure our forefathers are mortified because I am mortified.

What makes this such a unique year is that this is happening on both sides and between both sides.  We feed this.  We are fed by this.

Part of the problem is we see our opinions as the most important, and if you disagree you are my enemy.  That's what I think is the saddest part of this whole thing.  We have decided that we are enemies if we don't agree, and if we do we are friends.  We have to stop that.  We must see others as people, not as things.  We have got to stop the bickering, and bad mouthing, and the grandstanding.  We are either all Americans, or we all are not.  It's okay to disagree, and it's okay to listen to opinions that we think are wrong.  We show our insecurity when we think we have to convert people to our side.  What makes America a great country is that we can disagree, and we can still be in the same country.

Turn off your TV and talk to someone with whom you disagree, and listen.  Seek to understand not to be understood.  Stop feeding the machine.