We had a choice - a baby step forward or a step back. We chose to take two (maybe three) steps back. And we, as a whole, deserve what it will bring. And as a whole we will suffer, but unfortunately the underprivileged individual will suffer to a much greater extent, and this unequal distribution of suffering (that is inversely proportional to wealth and power) will allow the privileged to continue to mistake substance for essence while the underprivileged will (at best) merely continue to flounder. And even though the underprivileged contributed significantly to this outcome, individually they do not deserve it.
June 8, 2024 [annotated]:
From a voter’s perspective, below are characteristics of today's political landscape loosely organized from left to right:
- Narrow, exclusive, insular, condescending.
- --- ---
- Stodgy, conventional, predictable, opportunistic.
- Libertarian, rhetorical, nationalistic, arbitrary.
- Divisive, authoritarian, imperious, intolerant.
[Associated affiliation:
- Democrats.
- Progressives.
- Moderates.
- Conservatives.
- Republicans.]
[These are actual, active characteristics; not what anyone professes to be. Additionally. Either republicans are more adept (than democrats) at hiding their true character from their constituents or their constituents are much easier to deceive, whereas democrats and their constituents are equally adept at alienating the majority of Americans.]
From the presumption that ‘for the people’ is ‘by the people’ to the misguided belief that we can and should time travel to a misremembered past, over the last 60 years our leaders have consistently delivered injudicious, bureaucratic preservation to a majority of Americans.
[The democrats are destructively presumptuous and the republicans are destructively delusional.]
This majority of Americans have fallen through a hole between condescending and stodgy. Other countries have managed to fill that hole, but in our ignorance, for varying reasons, we have not only NOT taken care of our own but in many cases deny them as a part of us.
[This majority of Americans could be rescued by a progressive agenda. And in a sense, I am saying that a majority of Americans are in actuality progressive, (regardless of vociferous claims to the contrary).]
It is not only the obvious; anyone less wealthy and/or less powerful is (to varying degrees) lost. And it is apparent that the American Dream, paired with any combination of choices we are given in today’s political landscape, no longer works for anyone who is lost.
[The only combination of choices we have today is republican or democrat. Economically, there are some conservatives and some moderates still with some power, but what progressives there are have no significant influence.]
Many of these lost Americans don’t realize and/or won’t admit that they are lost. Many of these lost Americans believe they have more influence, more say-so, than what they do. Many of these lost Americans are still optimistic, still hopeful, still susceptible. Most of these lost Americans pick their path from the choices given, often based on a single (often emotional) characteristic. Many of these lost Americans don’t know that there can and should be additional options between condescending and stodgy; options more complementary with the American Dream. Things like
[A progressive agenda]:
- Understanding, expressive, equitable, reciprocal.
- Helpful, considerate, compassionate, respectful.
[Economic considerations prohibit equitable and reciprocal, and discourage other progressive characteristics.]
[A progressive leader is a caretaker, a custodian, a curator, a watchdog. Today our leaders are none of these things.]
[The democrats have been working off the theory that if you treat someone like an adult, like an intelligent, rational thinker who is capable of doing the math, then they will react in kind. The republicans have been working off the theory that emotion, specifically fear, is a much stronger motivation. Guess what?]
Taxidermy: “the art of preparing and preserving and stuffing and mounting in lifelike form.”
Today our political system is the hunter, our leaders are the taxidermists busy preparing, preserving, stuffing and mounting, and the American Dream is the head mounted on the wall.
[…and we are left with sadness.]
