Mysterious Outcomes

I don't know what's going to happen.

I don't know what the outcome of the election's going to be. 

It could be that the Blue Wave takes control of one or both legislative bodies.  Or it could be that the Blue Wave is more of a Blue Splash.  Change is difficult in our system, what with gerrymandered districts, and with small states having an outsized influence in both the Senate and the Electoral College. 

I do know this.

If we don't start coming together, the whole thing is going to become unraveled.  Whatever the election outcome, we have to start working with each other, even if that means some compromise.  We have to stop viewing other opinions as evil, or different organizations as enemies of the people.  We don't have to agree with everyone, but we do have to stop demonizing them.  We can be strong in our views as to what's most important, but that does not mean we have to stop listening to the other side.

And by we, I do mean we.  All of us.

Our politicians need to be more concerned about the well-being of the country, and less so about their party or to their political base and biggest donors. Poll after poll reflects the desire to see health care improved in this country, desiring to see more covered at a better cost.  It's tempting for Republicans to rail at Obamacare (the Affordable Care Act), but they would be better served by improving the law and fixing its flaws.  Most polling shows that healthcare is the number one issue, and that's across party lines.  That is just one example where politicians are more engrossed with their war on each other than they are in serving the interests of the American people.

Our media needs to do better.  They need to focus more on issues vital to us and less on horse race politics and personal aspects of little relevance.  An example is focusing more on the President having toilet paper on his shoe as he went up the steps to his airplane and less on the fact that the President's administration is leading a lawsuit that will result in the elimination of the protected coverage of pre-existing conditions.  This does not mean that lies should not be called out.  This does not mean that corruption should not be uncovered.  The president's work performance behavior is relevant.  But the focus needs to be on issues, not the trivial.  Let TMZ and Inside Edition cover that stuff. 

Our President has been super critical of his opponents, in a hyper-partisan and bullying way.  He has often brought up violent means, both implied and explicit.  This has to stop.  If we're going to work together, he's going to have to set aside his own ego and work with both sides for the benefit of all.  Is this likely to happen?  No, it is not.  But I'm a Christian.  I believe in miracles.  I believe in confession, redemption, and restitution.

Most importantly, we the people have to do better.  We allow ourselves to be ginned up by others and post memes that are meant to inflame.  Often,  they are not even truthful, but if they hit our political point of view, we don't care, or we don't take the time to research the truth.  I am guilty of this too.  I try to check myself.  If I fail to catch something initially, I do try to correct or delete it.

It's not always easy.  Most of us live in gerrymandered districts designed to increase extremism.  But whenever we can, we have to start choosing politicians who express a desire to and have a record of, working with both sides.  We can pick better not just in the general but also in the primaries.  The Republicans had 17 candidates to choose from in 2016.  They chose the most belligerent and ill-suited of all the contenders.

It's not just our ability to get positive legislation through.  It's the increasingly violent and vile reactions that are consuming us.  We need to call all of it wrong.  We must be united in our condemnation of the man who shot up a recreational Congressional Republican baseball game.  We can't stand to have pipe bombs sent to those that head Trump's list of people he reviles.  We ought to all agree that interrupting the private time of our political leaders, including when they are trying to have a dinner out with their family, is wrong (when they are on public time doing their job - that is a whole different issue).

Whatever the results of this election, I pray that we turn a corner in civility.  We face a lot of serious problems in this country, and unless we work together soon, there may not be much left to protect and defend.

Let's work together.  Let's listen to each other.  Let's git-er-done!