I am torn this morning between rage and resignation. The state of our republic has been so weakened by often-conflicting forces that I wonder if we will survive with any semblance of being a free and independent people.
I am tempted to assign all the blame for this state of affairs to people and forces with whom I disagree. I freely admit that I assign far more blame to them than to those with whom I agree. But I am not so blinded by my rage that I do not see the faults and failures on all colors of the political spectrum. It’s easier to be enraged if everything is either good or evil, positive or negative, and never a mixture of both.
I am tempted to resignation when I think of how little I actually know first hand about the events that are swirling around us. I think I know a fair amount, but I also know am totally dependent upon the reports, which are often subtly entwined with interpretation, of others for what I think I know about most of those events. I hesitate to take a stand because I am not sure I know for sure what I am talking about. I am sure someone who does claim to “know for sure” will call me uninformed, or worse, and I don’t like that.
I do know this: the future prospects of our nation and of the world have only gotten worse since the current president and his administration took office. We may have had a booming economy until the virus—the one he still pretends is not out there, but I believe it was booming today by courting ecological disaster tomorrow—a coming disaster he also pretends is not out there. Other than that short-term good, what has improved? Where has he shown real, conscientious, thoughtful, persistent leadership in anything other than the pursuit of his own re-election?
This morning we learned that the White House’s current resident is moving portraits of former presidents around. Sounds like “rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic” to me. “Fiddling while Rome burns” also comes to mind.
I don’t want to add to the negativity that’s swamping our ship of state. I do want to be clear, however: we need new leadership that is positive, compassionate, intelligent, informed, committed to serving our richly diverse common good, that smiles more that it scowls…my list of what we need now goes on and on.
All of which is why I will vote for Joe Biden for president.
No, Joe Biden isn’t perfect (old news: no one is). But I believe he will give us a shot at getting back on the path toward being the nation and people I truly believe most of us long to be.
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