When Politics Get Personal

Most people see me as a sunny, positive person. Optimistic to an obnoxious fault, at times. Mea culpa, but that description doesn’t fit in these troubled times.

I have never written about politics in this forum. I venture into that quagmire today only because the politics of our times have utterly invaded my personal sense of well-being. I have a deep pervading sense of sadness, dread, and desperation that I can’t seem to neutralize.  I feel like I am watching the destruction of civilized society.

How is it that so many people can do so little to change that course, meaning that two people – Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell – are getting away with disobeying the very tenets upon which our nation was founded?

Okay: full disclosure. I have never been a fan of either politician. Donald Trump is the ultimate narcissist, misogynist. A man with no regard for truth. A vulgar, nasty, self-centered person with limited vison and limited vocabulary, to boot. And then there’s McConnell: evilly, flagrantly disregarding Senate process to suit his own ends. Despicable. Both men – in my judgment, at least – are corrupt and selfish. Together they are bringing our country to the brink of total chaos.

I have tried to do my part. I call my senators and representatives so often that their phone numbers are taped to my desktop. I write them so often that I created a digital form to make it easy and speedy to do so. I learned to send postcards, not letters, because letters are delayed from delivery until they go through sniffing for anthrax. (!) On one call to Senator Thom Tillis, I was assured that he was planning to vote one way, only to see 12 hours later that he had caved and changed his vote due to pressure from McConnell.

My usual sense of optimism has evaporated as I struggle to think what more I can do. This is bigger than partisan politics, larger than Republicans vs. Democrats. This is about truth, honesty, and integrity. It’s about basic decency, and the need to restore an ethos of civility to our national discourse, championing communal good over personal gain in order to rebuild a society that values the general welfare of all citizens over the interests of the privileged few.

I don’t see any reasonable, viable means for resolving the present impasse. The only recourse I can imagine is for “We the People” to arise, to stand up and demand that people like Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell play by the rules set out in the Constitution of the United States of America. We aren’t perfect, but we can do better than this! We must stand up, be counted, and make it happen. ALL of us! Now!