Fighting Cynicism with Hope

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I wonder if the amount of cynicism one has is directly proportional to the number of years one spends on earth.  After 71 years it seems like my level of cynicism is off the charts!  It is now just 15 days until the upcoming midterm elections and I find myself simply shaking my head and wondering what country I am living in?

I always thought and believed in the American dream—a dream driven by certain ideals and precepts that I just assumed all Americans lived by.  I have learned that I am naïve and misinformed.

I am a spectator caught in a drama that unfolds on a daily basis that surprises and shocks me at every turn.  I have discovered that 45% of the people who I thought were the same kind of Americans as I am are not really.  They do not honor truth.  They do not honor compassion.  They do not believe that all humans are created equal.  They honor someone who spends every waking hour promoting fear, division, racism, and anger.  They honor someone who does not believe in our democracy.  They honor someone who loves autocrats and makes excuses for murderers because of his own interests.

This 45% of Americans does not understand democracy.  They don’t see what is happening to the precepts of the Constitution they profess to honor….how it is being bastardized and twisted at the hands of people they elected to represent them.

It was Harry Truman who said that the people get the government they deserve.  He was right.

The government in control now is run by people who have no honor.  They believe it is OK to prevent people from having the right to vote.  There is blatant voter suppression going on as I write this, being engineered by Republicans in most state houses across the country.  Georgia, Texas, North Dakota are the most blatant examples we see, thanks to the doggedness of the media.  Do you see any accusations of voter suppression going on by the Democrats?

How does a Secretary of State in Georgia who is running for Governor have the power to simply shelve 53,000 voter registrations and try to prevent those people from voting?  How does a law that penalizes all these people for typographical errors they may not even be aware of get passed, and then get enforced by the same Secretary of State?  Research shows that 70% of those shelved registrations belong to African Americans and other minorities.

How does a Republican legislature pass a law in North Dakota prohibiting voter registration if you don’t have a street address, when the Republican legislature knew in advance that Native Americans on reservations in the state don’t have street addresses?  They consciously chose to try to suppress the Native American vote in North Dakota so that the Republicans in power could hold on to their advantage.  Is that upholding the concept that EVERY citizen in a democracy has a right to vote?

In spite of the Supreme Court ruling against them, Waller County in Texas has done everything in its power since the 1980’s to prevent 8000 students ---black students—attending college in Waller County from exercising their right to vote.  Who elected those people to be able to do that?

The answer to those questions is that the 45% of Americans who honor Donald Trump elected all those people in power. 

Truman was right.

What we have in America right now is rule by the minority.  That is not what a democracy is supposed to be.  It is not fair that Republicans, who are the minority nationally, yet holding two thirds of state legislatures, should be able to redraw voting districts to create voting patterns that solidify their hold on power.  And yet that is what they have done over the past half century.  How is it that during the past 6 Presidential election cycles 2 elections resulted in victory for the candidate without a majority of the popular vote?  Is that democracy?  Not a democracy I understand where it is the RIGHT and OBLIGATION of every citizen to have a vote.

I am a Democrat.  I have been writing in favor of Democratic policy initiatives like health insurance security, compassionate immigration policy, tax relief for the middle class, protecting the environment, belief in science, and the rule of law.  What I don’t see is an aggressive defense of these basic humanistic Democratic stances by the Democratic party.  What is wrong with Democrats?  Why are they afraid to loudly proclaim that those are the things that we should stand for?  Hope and optimism seem in short supply.

With only a couple of weeks to go, they are silent, meek, and not energized.  Why not?  There are some new faces that have some energy and are not afraid to ‘call out’ the Republican surrender to Trumpism.  Beto O’Rourke and Andrew Gillum come to mind.  They are the future of humanistic government and are unafraid to stand up for what the 55% of Americans, of whom I consider myself to be a member, believe.

I am trying to get everyone I know who is ‘iffy’ about voting this year to go vote.  Our future as a democracy is at stake.  If there is no change in the government after this election, there will be no return to the ideals of the founders.  In fact I believe we will see the end of democracy as they saw it back in 1789.  What will come next is anyone’s guess, but I don’t think I want to be around for it.

Help me fight my cynicism with hope. VOTE!