Tuesday, June 23, 2020

Looking For Understanding

Periodically I find myself in a moment of compassion attempting to empathize with the so-called "silent majority" that the "president" insists will swoop in and carry him to another term in office. What is it that makes these Americans feel that they have to gain from another year of this nonsense?
Oops. Sorry. Forgot to turn on the empathy switch.
Maybe you're out of work and you're looking for a reason. You have certainly paid your dues. There must be something or someone else to blame. It might be that the job you used to do has been given away to another person. In another country. For far less than the wage you were making. Now you're making nothing and someone else is doing what you did for less. That's just wrong. And it couldn't be your fault. This is when someone steps in and tells you that foreigners who are not Americans are taking jobs away from Americans. This someone assures you that this will stop if you elect him or her to the highest office in the land. You want your job back, don't you?
Whew. There's one down. Notice that I didn't even bring up all the American corporations that made the choice to send jobs elsewhere in search of the almighty dollar. Corporations that benefit from enormous tax breaks given out by the same fella who says he's doing it all for American workers. Never mind the possibility that the jobs that were lost came about as an industry that was dying because it needs to evolve into the twenty-first century. If someone told me that if I just stood by and voted for them and I didn't have to do anything and everything would go back to the way they used to be, I might be tempted.
Not really.
Just like I would probably want to check out the numbers tossed out with reckless abandon about illegal immigration and crime, both of which have been going down over the past decade or so. Not up. So maybe it's the guns?
If you're one of those constitutional scholars who insists the Second Amendment assures you of the right to strap a grenade launcher to the side of your truck and to pack heat when you head down to Chipotle, you are probably terrified of those radical Democrats coming to your house to take your guns away. I have never had the sort of relationship with a firearm that I would consider intimate, so maybe I'm the wrong person to ask, but I do wonder about the need for automatic weapons when ordering a fast food burrito.
Which makes me think that there may be some fear involved in this whole Trump thing. Someone who reassures us all that we can all be great again if we just stop doing all those difficult things like hope and change. Resignation and fear are so much easier to maintain. And the tickets are free. The self-described billionaire doesn't want your money. He doesn't need your money. He'll do the job for free. Which kind of brings us back to that whole worry about losing your job. A lot of Americans share this concern. Maybe that's what's driving "the president" right now. Given his recent track record, who would hire him if he loses this gig?
Sorry. Not a lot of empathy here.

No comments: