Here we are, one day before the midterm choice of 2018. I, like many of my fellow citizens, are feeling much less sanguine about this election compared to the last. We’ve got plenty of reason to feel this way – and not primarily because of the kick in the balls we all collectively absorbed in 2016. For one thing, the news is mixed. Not only are there reports that turn out is high, which is historically good for Democrats, but there are reports that the outcome will be close.
I find it difficult to reconcile these two things. If young voters do indeed turn out in the numbers so far reported, than the corresponding turn out of the deeply conservative base will have to be nearly 90% in order to mitigate the youth vote. Will nearly all conservative voters vote and vote the party line? I don’t know. I used to think I did.
Then Trump got elected. Two years ago, I held a firm conviction there wouldn’t be enough Americans foolish enough to vote for one of the worst examples of humanity on the planet. There was enough, perhaps just enough because of foreign help, but there was enough for me to admit I was wrong.
I’ve since struggled to adjust my thinking regarding those people who voted for Trump. This is less of a struggle for those who will vote Republican this time around. Everyone who lived past infancy either has been, is right now, or will be a deluded fool about something. I’m willing to hold a charitable thought for those who initially voted for Trump under certain conditions. Those conditions comprise a very short list. But to continue to cleave to this man, now, even after he’s demonstrated on so many levels why I name him a failure in almost every way that matters, is simply unconscionable.
I’ve always been of the mind that one should avoid dealing in absolutes. Really? Of course not. They are a quick way to be wrong, which is why I do my best to avoid them. Always and never are rare, especially when we’re talking about matters of humanity. There are times though, when absolutes are appropriate, necessary, and unavoidable. Like now for instance. The thing that horrifies the most about absolutes is their strength. Absolutes are examples of pure strength. If an absolute is true, argument is pointless. No matter how much you may want, wish, or seek for an escape, absolutes are an iron vice that allow no exception.
The devil of course, dwells in detail and context. For example, I have family that voted for Trump and I’m fairly certain will vote the Republican ticket this time around. I also cannot help but agree to the proposition that anyone who falls into this category is making the same mistake twice, compounded by an order of magnitude the second time around. My premise is this: If you vote for Trump and those people who support and enable him, you fail a test of basic human decency. The first time you did it can be understood, even forgiven, depending on a variety of factors. The second time… I don’t know. I just don’t know how to come to any conclusion other than you are not a supporter of basic human decency. Even if I love you, you are not free from this conclusion, as much as I wish otherwise. This is an absolute derived from logic. Sure, my premise may be too strict, there may be other conditions that mitigate or change the outcome, but as a general rule of thumb, the conclusion is inescapable. Even here I want to avoid absolutes.
I do know this. I remain in the camp that wishes to afford you the rights and dignity you would deny or rescind from others. Your insistence that this country become a place where human rights and dignity are lessened places you in the peril you wish to visit on others. The nature of human evil is contagious, I feel it’s chilly fingers seeking a place to purchase whenever I view the actions of people seeking violence and promoting anger and fear.
I watched a video of a man today being interviewed on his way inside a Trump rally. The interviewer asked him about his tattoo – an entire back piece, at the top, between his shoulder blades, was the archangel Michael, in the act of casting into hell what the man described as the enemies of the constitution (coincidentally, his enemies), the portraits of George Soros, Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama. This man withstood hours of pain and paid hard cash to indelibly mark himself with a message of hate. If you don’t see why this is a message of hate I think you may just fall into the same category as the gentleman with the tattoo, which is to say, either utterly ignorant, a deluded fool, actively participating in the promotion of evil, or some combination of all of the above. It’s statements like this which get me in trouble with my wife. Because of the strength of absolutes. I feel an atavistic repulsion towards people like this, in the worst parts of my reptile brain, I yearn to do combat because I know flight is not an option. This is what I mean when I talk about the contagious nature of human evil.
Fortunately, I’ve constructed for myself a list of truths which are an effective bulwark against the reptile brain. I consulted all of human history and philosophy that I’ve learned in a long life of curious and avaricious reading. Here it is:
Faith, while comforting, is no substitute for knowing.
It is impossible to know everything but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try (oftentimes this means unlearning what you previously learned).
Beware power and authority, those who possess it are least likely to be trusted with it, especially those with absolute power.
Treat others better than you treat yourself (let’s face it, we’re often not that nice to ourselves) whenever you can.
People are disappointing, love them anyway.
If things go pear shaped tomorrow I will be repeating this list in my mind right after I finish the Bene Gesserit litany against fear. May your methods be equally effective. Good luck to us all.