Polling Shows
I was reading this morning that polling shows Donald Trump leading Joe Biden in five key elections states and I must say I was surprised. Yes, I lean politically left and feel that Biden has done a good shop since taking office, and yes, I deplore Donald Trump and feel he has been a horrible influence on American politics and culture, but…. I try to respect the fact that there are a lot of people who don’t agree with me. We live in an anguished time. People are afraid, anxious, uncertain, and distrustful not just of our government but of each other. It’s easy to blame “those in charge”, easy to feel that if there were different people calling the shots, things would be different and better. Different? Certainly. But better? I’m not so sure. I have no strong sense of what the people vying for the Republican candidacy would do if they were elected. What would their policies be, what changes would they look to make and why? Has politics always been more about cultural differences than vision and accomplishment? The Gavin Newsome/Ron De Santis debate was two men – or was it two states, California and Florida – hurling personal insults at one another. As was Nicki Halie versus “you’re so desperate” Ron DeSantis debate. I didn’t get a sense from either of them “this is what I’m about, this is what I believe in, and this is how I’d go about making it better if I was elected.” Big phrase there. Make it better. From what I understand Trump’s only answer to making things better is to push a greater anti-immigration agenda and to block Muslims and middle easterners from entering the United States. Oh, and he wants to be a day 1 dictator, to go after and root out the vermin in America, the utterly deplorable people who have had the unmitigated gall to criticize him, indict him and demand he be taken to justice.
As I’ve written before, I worry about the future of democracy. I fret about news headlines that have come to resemble over the top movie titles and insane video games. I worry about unprincipled, dogmatic politicians and the interest groups that finance them. I worry about the future of my children, the future of all our children. And my question is this. What are you going to do for them? The children. All the children. If you were asked this question at a news conference, how would you answer? Could you answer? What are you going to do for the future of the world? How are you going to make it better.
The polls and the politicians running for office don’t ask or answer that.
“Make a career of humanity. Commit yourself to the noble struggle for equal rights. You will make a better person of yourself, a greater nation of your country, and a finer world to live in.” Martin Luthor King
