There Is Something Terribly Wrong With This Country, Isn't There?

 

     So now we find ourselves at a precipice but not merely that of another damned election.

     Once again, we find ourselves in thrall of one professional politician or another. Once again, we are tempted by the seductive but cynical allure of purity tests. But all too often, elections are used for personal gratification, revenge and validating one's identity.

     It is true that in a political system that is a duopoly more or less successfully masquerading as a democratic republic, we are forced in every quadrennial election through one of two doors and, more often than not, we shrink from the destinations and resent the choices already made for us.

     I can understand why you would feel that resentment and succumb to the false allure of non-engagement in some feeble and ultimately self-defeating exercise in rebellion and independence. But to those patriots trying to defend this democracy, and you true patriots know who you are, the fate of our country far outweighs any individual's identity. While all politics is local, as a man once said, there comes a time when we must elevate our gaze from the merely parochial to the much bigger picture.

     And there is something very wrong with this country, isn't there?

     And one of those parties has seen fit to nominate for the third consecutive time a vastly imperfect man, one with no parallel and no precedent in human history and not in any admirable sense. He is one of bottomless superficiality, one who had publicly lied to us 10,000 times in four years, ignored the most ruinous pandemic in a century and clung to our most coveted secrets for unknowable and unspeakable reasons. He let slip an army of rabid supporters to attack his, our, own government, in a last gasp to cling to power to which he was no longer entitled. And yet, he still walks among us, a convicted criminal, a free man.

     He has turned on its ear any and every admirable trait a statesman should possess. Bigotry is now patriotism, belligerence is now strength and falsehoods and propaganda are worthy rivals to the the truth. And you have been seduced by him and betrayed by him time and again.

     Nothing about him is honest, not even the color of his skin. Even his hair is dishonest.

     So today, we as a people have a choice to make, likely the most important and consequential one in your or anyone's lifetime. And you have four ruinous years of precedent to guide you.

     Yet, you have been trained to not believe your own eyes and ears, that what you have seen and heard is not true so that dark is light, down is up and everything must be suspected if it deviates from that failed leader's lies.

     But you have not been robbed of your reason, your powers of discrimination. No one can do that but you.

     Time and again, he has denigrated half the country and he especially despises women of power. He has insulted Latinos, he has insulted Gold Star families, he has insulted African Americans, he has insulted Jews. In short, he has demeaned and dehumanized every demographic except the factions who seek to tear down our democracy: fascists, white nationalists, bigots and misogynists.

     Today, we can figuratively turn this page and put behind us the hatred that twists and contorts this nation. Because more is at stake than your mere identity. This is about the identity of a nation. And together, we will show these purveyors of hate a November 5th that will never, ever be forgot.