{"id":3267,"date":"2020-09-17T18:35:21","date_gmt":"2020-09-17T22:35:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=3267"},"modified":"2020-09-18T08:50:59","modified_gmt":"2020-09-18T12:50:59","slug":"go-with-god","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2020\/09\/17\/go-with-god\/","title":{"rendered":"Go With God"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

History<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Election of 2020 is an historic turning point in the American story.\u00a0\u00a0It is greater in importance than the Elections of 1800, or 1828, or even 1932, all huge milestones in our past.\u00a0\u00a0It is on a par with the Election of 1860, when Lincoln became President.\u00a0\u00a0That was the pivotal moment when the country found that, as John Brown so prophetically put it:\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI am now quite certain that the crimes of this guilty land will never be purged away but with blood\u201d<\/em>.\u00a0\u00a0The Civil War soon began.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I hope that, whatever the outcome forty-six days from now, bloodshed won\u2019t 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 \u201cfacts\u201d, and two sets of beliefs on how America should continue.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alternate Facts<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Those alternate sets of facts don\u2019t 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\u2019t even agree that masks, used to prevent infection for over a century, can benefit our COVID infested nation.  If we can\u2019t agree on that, then what can we possibly find in common?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’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.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Debates<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Those opposed to re-electing Donald Trump will not win a \u201cdebate\u201d with his supporters. We shouldn\u2019t even try. We should acknowledge that forty percent are \u201clost\u201d 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 \u201cunsure\u201d. They are the ones who say they don\u2019t like what Donald Trump says or does but know that their 401-K\u2019s look good. We should hold their feet to the fire of Trump\u2019s immoral actions, and hope that the \u201cbetter angels\u201d of their conscience are stronger than their greed. Or maybe we should simply ask about the hundreds of thousands lost to the Corona-Virus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But we all have friends and family members who are far past arguing with.  The simple answer to that is: don\u2019t.  Don\u2019t waste your time and lose you relationships because someone is a Trumpster.  You cannot argue with someone who won\u2019t 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.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Target Your Passion<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019t so long ago, but it\u2019s beyond many of their memories. Donald Trump wouldn’t do that, but Joe Biden would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Convince them that politics is always about compromise.\u00a0\u00a0Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren recognize that as they fully support Biden\u2019s candidacy.\u00a0\u00a0While 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\u00a0Joe Rogan<\/a>\u00a0says. (And if you don\u2019t know who Joe Rogan is, you ought to find out).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019t 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\u2019t waste your energy. Let them, as he said, \u201cGo with God\u201d. It\u2019s the best you can do.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

History The Election of 2020 is an historic turning point in the American story.\u00a0\u00a0It is greater in importance than the Elections of 1800, or 1828, or even 1932, all huge milestones in our past.\u00a0\u00a0It is on a par with the Election of 1860, when Lincoln became President.\u00a0\u00a0That was the pivotal moment when the country found … Continue reading “Go With God”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3267","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nGo With God : Our America - 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