Take A Break
I find it to be not very inspiring to closely watch the upcoming election campaign. It brings back memories of the transition in radio to the age of the shock jock. Every day, it seemed, the outrage envelope had to be pushed a little further. Sometimes a line was crossed. (Remember Don Imus and the Rutgers Womens’ Basketball imbroglio?) That was a comparatively quainter time back when there were lines. Today’s news feed reminds me of watching a (really bad) video game. The cultural coarsening continues.
The negative frisson of today’s headlines makes one’s head spin.
I decided to take a few days off from clicking through the morning headlines. The result had a calming effect.
Taylor Swift asked people to vote. That’s all. And one swath of the population went into head explosion mode. What is wrong with us? Why can’t some people say, “I probably would not vote for the same person Taylor is (likely) going to vote for…but she’s right that we should vote.” Life is hard enough without looking for opportunities to be outraged. Do some of us really want to live life as if we are on the Jerry Springer Show? That strikes me as dumb.
I’m probably being influenced by having read almost all of Walter Isaacson’s biography of Henry Kissinger. It’s an exhaustively researched book. Eight hundred pages and I’m nearly finished with it. Sure, there were people with major flaws and foibles (we all have them) and, at the same time, there were plenty of unheralded people in that story who were working tirelessly to nudge things forward and avoid calamity. (Admittedly, there were still plenty of calamities but that’s the reality of human existence over time.) Life does have a tragic dimension that will always be the case. Nevertheless, governments, when they are performing as they are supposed to, should strive to steer around them whenever possible.
I would encourage you to vote if you are eligible. Honestly, some elections don’t matter as much we think. An example: though most credit Ronald Reagan with the efficiencies that came with deregulation, the record shows that the Carter administration initiated deregulation of many industries and the resulting benefits started then. This election is different. Nikki Haley would not attempt to upend an election result. Nor would a Mitt Romney, and, neither would the incumbent.