History
The Election of 2020 is an historic turning point in the American story. It is greater in importance than the Elections of 1800, or 1828, or even 1932, all huge milestones in our past. It is on a par with the Election of 1860, when Lincoln became President. That was the pivotal moment when the country found that, as John Brown so prophetically put it: “I am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood”. The Civil War soon began.
I hope that, whatever the outcome forty-six days from now, bloodshed won’t be the result, though many of my friends believe that blood is already on the streets. But I do feel that there is an existential choice to be made in the American Democracy. I also know we are a nation of two sets of “facts”, and two sets of beliefs on how America should continue.
Alternate Facts
Those alternate sets of facts don’t allow for normal discussion or even debate. If there is no common place of understanding that both sides can acknowledge is true, then there can be no accommodation, compromise, or acceptance. We can’t even agree that masks, used to prevent infection for over a century, can benefit our COVID infested nation. If we can’t agree on that, then what can we possibly find in common?
Michael Steele is the former Chairman of the Republican Party. He stands against Donald Trump as part of the Lincoln Project, and feels his Party has abandoned its goals. On the issue of masks, Steele said this:
“I’m exhausted, I’m exasperated … The fact that we have to literally beg people to wear a mask to save their own dumb ass from getting sick? I’m sorry. To me, it is beyond the imagination. And yet 40% of the country looks at it and goes, ‘Yeah, I’m with stupid.’ So, look, America, at this point, you have a stark choice, in the face of everything that is going on. I don’t know what more you can take before you say you’ve had enough. Because my heavens, this is too much for a country to go through.”
Debates
Those opposed to re-electing Donald Trump will not win a “debate” with his supporters. We shouldn’t even try. We should acknowledge that forty percent are “lost” and hope that some day they will find their way back to the American experiment. And we should fight like Hell for those few who still seem to be “unsure”. They are the ones who say they don’t like what Donald Trump says or does but know that their 401-K’s look good. We should hold their feet to the fire of Trump’s immoral actions, and hope that the “better angels” of their conscience are stronger than their greed. Or maybe we should simply ask about the hundreds of thousands lost to the Corona-Virus.
But we all have friends and family members who are far past arguing with. The simple answer to that is: don’t. Don’t waste your time and lose you relationships because someone is a Trumpster. You cannot argue with someone who won’t accept any of the foundations that you used to have in common. It is a waste of your energy, and creates an even greater rift in your relationship.
Target Your Passion
Use your passion wisely. Get those that agree with you to the polls. Convince those that don’t seem to care that they should. Realize that many younger people think this is exactly what politics always was, and so perhaps see little difference between Biden and Trump. Don’t attack them for that, but show them the grace of John McCain taking the microphone away from the person who called Barack Obama an Arab, or giving the concession speech praising the first Black American President. It wasn’t so long ago, but it’s beyond many of their memories. Donald Trump wouldn’t do that, but Joe Biden would.
Convince them that politics is always about compromise. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren recognize that as they fully support Biden’s candidacy. While Biden may not offer all that younger voters want in a candidate, he will get them full closer to their goals than Trump, regardless of what Joe Rogan says. (And if you don’t know who Joe Rogan is, you ought to find out).
And for those friends and relations who are fully steeped in Donald Trump: stop arguing with them. Talk about work, or baseball (not professional football!) or anything that doesn’t devolve into a political argument. That will take some doing; somehow everything seems to return to the controversies of politics. But to quote Michael Steele one more time, don’t waste your energy. Let them, as he said, “Go with God”. It’s the best you can do.
