A Week Ago Today

Overheard in the last week – "The election is over – move on! It’s done! No more politics! Stop the political jargon! Enough til next election!"

It is when you vote that your efforts begin, not end. This would be true no matter who was elected. We can stay involved throughout the next 4 years or wait until a few months before the election to acquaint ourselves with issues. It generally doesn’t work to come in at the end of a 4 year project and be well versed. In your crash course, you will have to overlook most of the material.  You will focus on the outcome when the process may be more telling. The tendency is to look solely for what supports your agenda. You miss the subtlety and the momentum of what is being said and done. You draw conclusions without the last 4 years of background knowledge. It would be overwhelming to catch up; it is a chore, so why not just stay with it? Don’t wait that long to remove the blinders.

I commented how absolutely stunned I am that people ask for proof, then refuse to look at it.  Proof of why I and others feel the way we feel.  Proof of why I say the things I say and why we may have voted differently than they.  There’s rarely discussion because I surmise most didn’t read what was put in front of them.  It’s a small town, one day an issue will affect them, a loved one, their property or neighborhood, and then they will know what all the fuss is about.  They will have proof to call their own. Until then,  if someone is just curious or truly concerned, ask, don’t bait. Don’t cut and run - it robs us both.

An individual questioned if it is so bad where is the federal investigation.  Is that where the bar is now before one sees value in creating change?   Why wait until the water is over your head when you are already in up to your neck? 

Someone offered that we remove the personalities and focus on the problem.  While I agree, often times you cannot separate the two.  And if you have been following along you understand why.

“The further a society drifts from the truth, the more it will hate those that speak it.”  George Orwell