The Unpleasant Election

It seems to happen every time.

People complain and whine about their choices.  Is this the best we get to choose from?  Why do I have to pick the lesser of two evils?  How come neither of these represent what I feel?

Many times it's from people who don't participate in the primary process.  Often these are people who pay little attention to politic most of the year.  A disdain for the political is considered by many to be the "socially correct" stance.  In some social settings admitting that you like politics can be as off-putting and frowned upon as if you admitted you admired serial killers.

Most of the time I reject such talk.  If they would pay at least a little attention during the rest of the year, and vote in the primaries, and in general act like they were at least half aware that they are supposed to be a part of an informed, participating citizenry, I might have more respect for their concerns.

There are ugly, brutal flaws in the system.  The choice is most often narrowed down to two, and two people can hardly represent the diversity of interests that people have.  Money from rich interests floods the system and controls the candidates. Negative ads deluge the airwaves and social media.  The candidates mislead and obfuscate, and some outright lie.

It's not easy, but I am mostly unsympathetic to those who fuss and put their nose in the air.

Until this election.

This election takes the cake.  And, frankly, if so many of you hadn't have cried wolf so much in the past, the whining would have more impact.

The reason I have more sympathy this year is because true conservatives really have no standard bearer this year.  You have a thin-skinned authoritarian wannabe whose politics are all over the map, certainly not anyone who represents core conservative principles. Although corporate Republicans have won the nomination previous to this, they were still closer to what many conservatives wanted than they presently have to put up with,  And nobody, of any political stripe, can be happy with this man's boorish and insulting behavior.

So conservatives look at this election and see their choice being between the repulsive Trump, who often betrays what they hold dear, and the eternally hated and reviled Hillary Clinton, someone who their media of choice has spent decades convincing them that she is Satan on Earth.

So no wonder they're lost and bitter, posting meme after meme about how running even a ham sandwich would be better than the choice they have.  

Well, my conservative friends, I only have one thing to say -

Welcome to the club.

We progressives have had to take a back seat in our party almost from the beginning.  I have watched time and time again the candidate I prefer go down in flames in the primary, as the more corporate Democrat won over and over again.  The only time my preferred primary candidate won is with President Obama.  Yes, he's also kind of a corporate Democrat, but he also represented many of the policy goals I hold dear.  Otherwise, I could list candidate after candidate who fell short of the nomination.

Bernie Sanders was a very exciting candidate for me.  Unfortunately, he became a dream deferred, not a dream realized.

But I did not pick up my marbles and go home.  I'm used to elections where I have to pick my fifth choice, or my tenth, or in the case of this election, my ninety-ninth.  It's not always pleasant, but I'm used to it, and I don't waste a lot of time complaining about.

As much as democracy has lost in recent years, we still hold tremendous power in this country.  We can change things if we want to.  We can join movements that support change.  We can reverse Citizens United and get big money out of politics.  We can demand the end to gerrymandered congressional districts.  We can participate more in the primary process.  And we can seek out change that stops restricting and instead encourages voter participation.

We can become more of what our founding fathers were asking us to do, and that is become an informed citizenry.  Stop pretending politics doesn't exist except for a few weeks before our quadrennial Presidential election.  Stop saying you hate negative ads, and then quote from them when explaining to your friends your political decisions. Stop voting because one candidate looks better on television than the other.

Yes, this election is unpleasant.  But we can't check out of the process.  We have to double down in our engagement of it.  And maybe the next election (that would be 2018 - if you wait until 2020 you've already made your first mistake) will be better.

I have to believe that.  I have to, because I believe in America and for the democratic republic for which it stands, its dream of a more fair and just society.

Won't you join me?