election 2020 / election 2022 / election 2024 / election 2040 . . .

where do we go from here?

For all the happy Democrats - they got President and maybe the Senate and still control the House, but what will happen in two years or four years? You know what will happen. It’s cyclical, it goes back and forth. We’ve been riding a wave function ever since Kennedy, I suppose, or atleast that’s where my political awareness started. A wave function that seems to be on a downward trend.

We went from Lyndon Johnson to Richard Nixon? Some kind of psychotic, bi-polar pattern there. And then, uh, who was it Jimmy Carter? Practically a saint but he only lasted one term then the Reagan era. I remember that one. From the peanut farmer to the Hollywood hero actor, acting out his aggressions against helpless Central American countries that were trying to find some decency and needed a hero themselves.

Then we switched back to good old boy Clinton from Arkansas, Bill Clinton was his name and he charmed the nation. Which is how you get elected, obviously. Reagan did it, Carter before him, Nixon, Johnson all the way back to John F. Kennedy who reprised the myth of Camelot and King Arthur.

Uh, let’s see who was next. Oh yeah, Bush II, swinging to the right again. The only election I remember that was decided by the Supreme Court. “You don’t need to see no more of them ballots, boys. I think we’ve seen enough already.” was their determination and Florida went with the Republicans and so went the election.

Then of course Obama, the first black president. Unless you listen to the Rev. Al Sharpton who points out that he was only half black. Black enough, anyways, to set the stage for Trump and four years, well five if you count the nominating process, of invigorating insults, slurs and threats by our commander in chief, the President.

So the Democrats got somebody they could sell and the people bought it. They didn’t buy it wholeheartedly, like it was on sale and going out of business and once in a lifetime opportunity, but they made the deal.

None of the 70 million people who voted for Trump are going away though. They’re just waiting to take back the power and do it even better this time. Make sure they never lose again. Back and forth is what I’m talking about. Struggle and strife. Dominate or be dominated.

Hey, did anyone ever suspect that there might be a better way? The chimpanzees, our closest genetic relative, respond to stress by exhibiting violent behavior. Their cousins the Bonobo’s, also our nearest genetic relative, respond to stress by physically loving each other. The chimpanzees evolved more on the savannahs where there were lot’s of predators and Bonobo’s in the rich rain forests of the Congo where there was plenty for everybody.

There’s a clue: look at our origins, where we came from, what we’re made of. Equal parts evil and equal parts good, apparently; equal parts angry and equal parts kind. Plus we have the cognitive ability to make a conscious choice. Now we’re getting somewhere.

Politics has a place but so does living our life, finding our values or what’s meaningful to us and pursuing it with all the knowledge, skill and wisdom we have. And we can encourage each other. Something that doesn’t have an opinion, doesn’t hold a viewpoint, doesn’t get insulted and creates no divisiveness - that’s our life. We hold opinions, life holds no opinions about us. Apparently. Good people die, bad people live on. WTF.

Yes, we can encourage each other. That would be almost an antithesis of politics, or an antidote. Atleast it would be something different. Maybe we could put this in the platform for the next election - encourage each other. I don’t care which party, either one or both. Whoever wants to start a trend and be remembered for something remarkable not just winning and losing over and over again.