America was founded on disagreements. Bitter arguing, yelling at the top of your lungs and fistfights are nothing new in American politics. It’s safe to say a murder or two has taken place along the way as well.
We don’t all agree. If we did, we’d belong to the same political party, religion or we’d all live in the same style house and drive the same kind of car. This has been tried before in different countries but always fails in the end. People are too different. We’re nuanced, it’s what makes us human.
Accepting the human side of politics is an important step toward bridging the divide that resides in our American republic. Too often, we forget there’s a human being on the other side of the yelling. Understanding why they’re yelling and why they feel slighted is much more constructive than yelling right back.
As we limp toward our next Presidential election, the nation's consciousness is on high alert. We’re all waiting with bated breath for the next shoe to drop. I’ll drop one for you right now.
I won’t be voting for Kamala Harris or any other Democratic candidate. The fact that I’ve admitted this means you’ve either stopped reading altogether or you may be curious as to why that’s the case. You may also decide to keep reading if only to disagree with me on any points I make from this point forward. All are acceptable and welcomed.
Unfortunately for some of you, I will not lay out my exact reasons for not voting Democrat. I’ll just say that I don’t vote on party lines, I never have and probably never will. My vote changes daily between RFJ Jr and Donald Trump. I see valid reasons to vote for both. I see none to vote for a Democrat due to a vast majority of their policies.
You may disagree with me. Fantastic. There will be millions more people just like you that will. We don’t live in a Communist country (yet). One party doesn’t control everything nor should it. Without a check and balance every now and then nothing would ever change.
The founding fathers definitely didn’t agree on everything. This is evident in the fact that factions that would later become political parties existed as early as the ratification of our constitution. You can go further back than that to delineate the loyalists (pro British) from the colonists (pro independence). The reality is, we’ve never had full agreement on anything.
What we have had is compromise and discourse. We’ve always figured out a way to get along just enough in order to continue moving our country forward. The advent of social media has made this more challenging than ever. The fact you can gather information in real time is great but it can also be crippling.
Plenty of deals were made over a significant period of time and a healthy dose of name calling, arguing and political wrangling. I’m not saying it’s bad that we receive the information real time, but it can also be a deterrent to making real progress.
Our access to information these days is staggering. I can remember the network news being the only place you’d trust to receive your news of the day. Now, I’d trust any number of sources before I’d put my faith in what a network is telling me. As divided as we are, we have them to thank for much of it. Taking sides of one political party or another is no way to provide the populace with the information they need to be informed. It saddens me to think of what the American media has become. I’m hopeful it can one day come back to the center and provide a more reasoned view of events as they unfold.
Prior to the American revolution, Thomas Paine wrote “Common Sense.” A book that was widely circulated in the colonies. It served as inspiration for many of the founders, including Thomas Jefferson when writing the Declaration of Independence. Several years later, Alexander Hamilton, James Madison and John Jay published the Federalist Papers. A series of articles and essays to promote ratification of the constitution.
Both of these were placed in front of the people in the best way possible at the time, in print. Print is still a great way to get your message across; however, it’s been replaced in many ways by digital media. If you’ve read this far down, the point is proven. Blogs, social media and the like are an effective way to provide your viewpoint and make your opinions known.
I often see people rail against sharing political views on social media. As annoying as it can be sometimes, I don't agree. To be an American is to care about what happens to your country. If you feel it’s headed in the wrong direction or you want an opportunity to express how you feel, I welcome the sharing of those opinions via social media. You may not change my opinion or stance overall; however, hearing a different viewpoint on something is important.
Like it or not, social media is our new public square. Rather than nailing flyers to a tree or a bulletin board, Facebook, Instagram, Tik Tok and X serve as the place where many in America find their information. This may not be a good thing; however, is it better to put your trust in the media that obviously lies or manipulates the truth on a daily basis?
NOTE: I would stipulate that pretty much all of the social media options I mentioned have also been found to withhold information. The one exception would be X, which appears to be the last bastion for truth.
There's of course one way of communicating that's always best. Having open conversations with your neighbors and friends. I’ve already established I won’t be voting for Kamala Harris but I have plenty of friends that will be. I welcome the conversations I’ll have with them in the coming months prior to the election to understand why. My opinion will most likely remain the same; however, it may have an effect on how I view the country under her leadership in their eyes versus my own.
Talk to your neighbors. Talk to your friends. Use social media to provide your opinion. In the end, care about what happens to your country. Take part in the democratic process and understand why someone may be voting differently than you.
Keep an open mind and be civil, it’s the only path forward if we’re to keep what appears to be a fragile hold on our great republic.
