I've been trying to get my mind on writing. Well, that is to say, writing about something other than the political atmosphere. Even the short stories I attempt to write in my spare time end up being about a compulsive liar who bullies his way into getting everything that he wants.
That is to say, all of my writing has been ruined with this smear of crud so thick that it is impossible to see through, and so hardened from the sheer amount compressed on the window that it can't be chipped away at, either.
So, I suppose, I'm just going to write about it.
I'm not upset at Donald Trump being elected. I had assumed he had a relatively fair shot at it, even if I tried to avoid the thought. I've not been a Democrat nor Republican ever in my life, but it is easy to see how voting in a Republican takes steps back away from the things that enhance human life - that is to say, science, distribution of wealth, and civil liberties.
I often times neglect just how religious over half of this country is. I suppose that being an atheist and having to separate myself from the masses in regards to religion has that effect on me. I understand how harshly I get judged for just that singular belief when everyone around me believes so readily in something that has absolutely no evidence.
And I suppose that is the thing about it all. The people who voted in this bully as President of the United States of America are very readily available to believe things with no grounds of fact or evidence. A person who says he a wholesome Christian man can get away with also saying that he grabs women by the pussy, could shoot a man in the street and get away with it, and also convince the masses that conflicts of interest won't be an issue because his sons will be running his businesses.
It is also easy to forget that the President of the United States of America is, in fact, just another fallible human being who is subject to the same mistakes and complications of everyone else's life - all while making choices that impact the entire future of a country.
The problem, of course, with Trump is not that he is human, but he has surrounded himself with people who are paid to agree with his ego. No matter how wrong he is on a subject, someone is standing there to tell him that he is right.
I fully understand people's concerns about the future for the average American. I fully understand that the amount of support that Donald Trump was awarded was because of his rhetoric about the average American making a living doing manufacturing jobs and the jobs that evaporated up as the country scrambles to make jobs for those people in other fields, and generally failing.
Those same people have told me that they are going to be watching Trump closely to make sure he does what he says he is going to do, but when the only evidence of his doing what he is saying he is doing is his word on the topic, well, again, it boils down to that word I've yet to mention in this post - faith. Faith, by definition, is the believing of something without evidence.
Now we've got an entire presidential campaign that was run on faith. The difference between this and every other presidential candidate of the past decades is that we don't know the history of the candidate in politics. We knew how Hillary Clinton was going to run the country because she has history in politics. Even Obama, with a relatively short stint in professional politics, displayed signs of how he would be President. Now we have someone who has run businesses with the entire basis of his actions being guided by self interest - how to make more money for his businesses. Faith is, of course, required to believe he will act in the interest of the masses as opposed to himself as he sits behind that big desk in the oval office.
Every President of my lifetime has done some horrible things - from Clinton's agreement to let jobs go over seas (or his getting a blow job by an intern but I fail to see how doing that with a consenting woman is any worse than forcibly grabbing a pussy), Bush's campaign to collect every piece of data on the Americans he guided, and Obama's drone strikes in the Middle East.
I find myself struggling to support any President as a whole, but all have done really great things as well for huge groups of people - Clinton's economy was the strongest I've seen it in my life time for the average person. Bush helped with the AIDS relief in Africa. Obama by legalizing gay marriage, finally giving those people a right that they have deserved their entire lives, but never been granted previously.
It is easy to say, "I'm a Democrat" or "I'm a Republican," but that is just the first step in being blind to the bad side of the party you follow and ignore the good of the opposing side.
When Obama was nominated as Democrat for the election in 2008 I said some things that I still stick to - the best hope was for him to do exactly as he said he was going to do in four years, then they needed to elect a neutral party for the following four years. That didn't happen and now we are faced to deal with the consequences of that not happening. Again, no one wins.
There is also a piece of evidence in all this that is staring everyone in the face, but overlooked quite readily. When was the last time the Democratic or Republican party has served longer than eight years? That in itself should be telling you that this system of election isn't working for the people. If the Republicans were better than the Democrats, they'd win far more frequently. If the Democrats were better than the Republicans then they'd win far more frequently. Neither party is doing a good job, they are just doing a good thing here and there to keep their supporters firmly in place.
-Dustin S. Stover
That is to say, all of my writing has been ruined with this smear of crud so thick that it is impossible to see through, and so hardened from the sheer amount compressed on the window that it can't be chipped away at, either.
So, I suppose, I'm just going to write about it.
I'm not upset at Donald Trump being elected. I had assumed he had a relatively fair shot at it, even if I tried to avoid the thought. I've not been a Democrat nor Republican ever in my life, but it is easy to see how voting in a Republican takes steps back away from the things that enhance human life - that is to say, science, distribution of wealth, and civil liberties.
I often times neglect just how religious over half of this country is. I suppose that being an atheist and having to separate myself from the masses in regards to religion has that effect on me. I understand how harshly I get judged for just that singular belief when everyone around me believes so readily in something that has absolutely no evidence.
And I suppose that is the thing about it all. The people who voted in this bully as President of the United States of America are very readily available to believe things with no grounds of fact or evidence. A person who says he a wholesome Christian man can get away with also saying that he grabs women by the pussy, could shoot a man in the street and get away with it, and also convince the masses that conflicts of interest won't be an issue because his sons will be running his businesses.
It is also easy to forget that the President of the United States of America is, in fact, just another fallible human being who is subject to the same mistakes and complications of everyone else's life - all while making choices that impact the entire future of a country.
The problem, of course, with Trump is not that he is human, but he has surrounded himself with people who are paid to agree with his ego. No matter how wrong he is on a subject, someone is standing there to tell him that he is right.
I fully understand people's concerns about the future for the average American. I fully understand that the amount of support that Donald Trump was awarded was because of his rhetoric about the average American making a living doing manufacturing jobs and the jobs that evaporated up as the country scrambles to make jobs for those people in other fields, and generally failing.
Those same people have told me that they are going to be watching Trump closely to make sure he does what he says he is going to do, but when the only evidence of his doing what he is saying he is doing is his word on the topic, well, again, it boils down to that word I've yet to mention in this post - faith. Faith, by definition, is the believing of something without evidence.
Now we've got an entire presidential campaign that was run on faith. The difference between this and every other presidential candidate of the past decades is that we don't know the history of the candidate in politics. We knew how Hillary Clinton was going to run the country because she has history in politics. Even Obama, with a relatively short stint in professional politics, displayed signs of how he would be President. Now we have someone who has run businesses with the entire basis of his actions being guided by self interest - how to make more money for his businesses. Faith is, of course, required to believe he will act in the interest of the masses as opposed to himself as he sits behind that big desk in the oval office.
Every President of my lifetime has done some horrible things - from Clinton's agreement to let jobs go over seas (or his getting a blow job by an intern but I fail to see how doing that with a consenting woman is any worse than forcibly grabbing a pussy), Bush's campaign to collect every piece of data on the Americans he guided, and Obama's drone strikes in the Middle East.
I find myself struggling to support any President as a whole, but all have done really great things as well for huge groups of people - Clinton's economy was the strongest I've seen it in my life time for the average person. Bush helped with the AIDS relief in Africa. Obama by legalizing gay marriage, finally giving those people a right that they have deserved their entire lives, but never been granted previously.
It is easy to say, "I'm a Democrat" or "I'm a Republican," but that is just the first step in being blind to the bad side of the party you follow and ignore the good of the opposing side.
When Obama was nominated as Democrat for the election in 2008 I said some things that I still stick to - the best hope was for him to do exactly as he said he was going to do in four years, then they needed to elect a neutral party for the following four years. That didn't happen and now we are faced to deal with the consequences of that not happening. Again, no one wins.
There is also a piece of evidence in all this that is staring everyone in the face, but overlooked quite readily. When was the last time the Democratic or Republican party has served longer than eight years? That in itself should be telling you that this system of election isn't working for the people. If the Republicans were better than the Democrats, they'd win far more frequently. If the Democrats were better than the Republicans then they'd win far more frequently. Neither party is doing a good job, they are just doing a good thing here and there to keep their supporters firmly in place.
-Dustin S. Stover
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