A continuation of the sad part about MAGA, partisanship, clueless elitists, what next and adding a touch on the voting of the lesser of two evils

 

I usually am a spit shit talk trash kind of opinion writer. I like spewing my thoughts and letting the reader determine if they care.

Then earlier this morning I tweeted or “Xed” a post about the lesser of two evils. Since it was “X” there is limited space I use. I do not feel the need to give any of my money to Musk. He doesn’t need it.

And then I got to thinking. I already knew there is substantial literature about voting the lesser of two evils. So I researched it a small amount this morning and it goes back further than I realized. To spare you a dissertation I will ask that you do some research on your own.

I do want to mention though I will pitch my tent on the side that you should still vote principles, not succumb to I don’t feel anything will get done if I don’t fight what I can by compromising my principles to vote for the lesser of two evils. In the long run, we don’t get better until we don’t give up our principles.

One argument from some of what I read this morning is an article from the publication Pysche by Robert Simpson an associate professor written about the 2020 election. And his points are specific to that election, yet you can apply them broadly or over all elections. He also references a philosopher Bernard Williams. Honestly I didn’t go back and read all of Mr. Williams’s books this morning so I may be going down a rabbit hole I don’t want to. Yet, 

Professor Simpson’s comments struck a chord with me. Here is a paragraph that outlines the dilemma a bit:

“A more familiar context in which this problem presents itself is at the ballot box. Suppose you believe the state should look after the wellbeing of the poor and combat the structural forces that enrich the wealthy. Suppose you’re in a two-party electoral system, and that the party notionally aligned with your ideals made a Faustian pact with business elites to shore up the policies that perpetuate poverty – low minimum wages, tax incentives for rent-seekers, privatisation of public services, etc. What kind of ballot should you cast? You can’t vote for the party pushing things further to the Right. And if you don’t vote, or you vote for someone who’s almost certain not to win, you’re helping that same regressive party get elected. Yet lending your support to the ‘lesser of two evils’ candidate, whose platform you don’t really support, feels like an unacceptable compromise to your ideals.”

Here is some of the set up of the point I ask you to consider. These are sections of early paragraphs in the argument:

“Bernard Williams argued that you should care about maintaining integrity in your personal ideals – not necessarily at all costs, but at least a bit. That’s because you have a special proprietary responsibility for acts you perform. Those choices and acts are, in some special sense, yours, distinct from outcomes that result from combining your choices and acts with everyone else’s.”

“Don’t vote for the front runner. You are responsible for the acts you do, not for everything that they lead to. If you quit and those animals suffer more, you aren’t responsible for this; your boss is. If a demagogic president remains in power, that’s not your fault.”

“But perhaps you find this way of thinking a bit spineless, or even a bit lawyerly. ‘The outcome wasn’t fundamentally my fault’ seems like a feeble excuse for something you could have helped to prevent, if you had just suspended your scruples for a moment. It sounds like the special pleading of a moral narcissist – someone who cares more about preserving an unblemished moral record than about making the world a better place.”

“Williams acknowledges this concern, and he agrees that integrity matters little when you’re just trying to maintain the warm, fuzzy feeling of being a flawless do-gooder.”

Now I am going to brag a bit, Yes I know as a Christian we are to remain humble, but I am still closer to the sinner side of the saint to sinner sliding scale anyway so here goes. Or at least I live out this idea of being more than writing or maintaining a fuzzy feeling of being a flawless do-gooder. I honestly feel not just in in mad ravings on this blog, but overall I try to not compromise and do things just to make me feel better. I have stated repeatedly I don’t vote for the duopoly. I don’t. Yet it did take years to find a party that truly came close to my values. Luckily I found them and vote for them wherever they are on a ballot. They are a small party so it is not often, but I do. It is a small act, yet to me it is the my part in fighting the good fight.

And here is the paragraph I want you to think about:

            “Williams’s ideas about integrity suggest that someone who’s reluctant to follow a lesser-of-two-evils strategy needs to at least interrogate that instinct. If you’re genuinely trying make the world a better place, Williams says, it isn’t enough to simply promote the good within the limited range of choices you’re being offered. You need to try to become someone who actively builds those choices, shaping which outcomes result from which actions. And that means taking on projects and principles that you mean to live by – even if this might produce undesirable outcomes in the short term.”

Yes I know I cherry picked a couple of sentences from the article to have you circle back to the above paragraph so go read the whole article. There are more indepth examples of what leads to the points.

And again any simple search on the internet for the phrase voting for the lesser of two evils is going to give you that inordinate amount of literature to read. I quickly read through a few, hence how I learned this argument goes back to the 16^th century. Also there are interesting takes on what Pope Francis meant when he said we should vote for the lesser of two evils. One touches on the literal aspect of the verbiage and another touches on you have to listen to his explanation that it is not the lesser of two evils, but that finding the good is the lesser of two evils. Knowing a bit of Pope Francis’s work I feel the latter better represents what he says.

And using one article to make a point is  never enough, yet I hope you at least do some self contemplate on on the sentence:

“Williams’s ideas about integrity suggest that someone who’s reluctant to follow a lesser-of-two-evils strategy needs to at least interrogate that instinct.”

What does that mean for you and how can you apply what I ask you to do is give up on the duopoly and help us find more common pragmatic solutions to the issues facing our country?

Cheers

The sad part about MAGA, the clueless elitists, partisanship is now a four letter word and what next.

 

Well the title just wore me out. Let’s start with the easy part, partisanship is effing this country good.

Second how do you address people, identify where you see the problem without name calling. Well I just blew it in the title, but I feel stuck saying clueless elitist because that is exactly the problem with a good chunk of the leadership on the left.

Which leads to the sad part of MAGA. There is only a minority of MAGA that is racist and misogynist and unfortunately that is the loudest part on social media. There are some MAGA that get involved, yet they are overshadowed by the worst of their movement. Why do I say this is sad because unbeknownst to the left many of these people are the hard working Americans they talked down to for decades. Hence the cluelessness.

I have talked about it before yet without the emphasis on partisanship making it worse. In fact extremely worse therefore the effing it up problem. And partisanship is effing the country not just the two sides.

Put good hard working Americans who just wanted to have someone stick it to the people who  ignored them politically and generally economically, add in FOX News creating a demonization narrative that began to hypnotize them, a one sided partisan argument that acted like they were on the hard working American’s side when actually their political actions added to the struggles of these same hard working Americans and you have the recipe for the greatest grifter in our country to succeed. Trump knew the words of the anger. He doesn’t give a spit about his voters, but he knew how to spit out the words. He knew well what they wanted to hear. And now he has taken partisanship to a whole new level. The clueless left can’t match it though.

They do have sort of a base, yet nothing as intense as the wave of hate Trump jumped on and is surfing through every turmoil he can or did create to continue to hold in line scared Republicans who care more about their little island of power than the people they represent.

And this is why it is sad for MAGA. The one person they felt understood and appreciated them stashed them on his surfboard and created a tsunami that is destroying this country. And they are all on board screaming with joy as their lives are about to be thrown against the rocks when the wave crashes. Unfortunately this is all about to crash down on the whole country so yeah even us “who didn’t vote for this” will be wiped out. So is this the end?

It never is, it is just a matter of how fast we can figure out what to do when the wave hits the rocks and the subsequent undertow pulls us all under. How do we swim back to shore?

We can’t rely on the cold water waking MAGA up immediately. It may or may not take a generation. And my fear is those waiting in the surf as the water clears will be the clueless elitists with a damning I told you so attitude. And the kind that ain’t good for healing. Yeah, the same mindset that ignored the real problems facing this country as they told us everything we did especially MAGA that was wrong with us. Complete and utter elitism with no understanding their partisanship is part of the problem.

So instead of the waters clearing, the murkiness will continue unless we who understand both sides of the current left/right partisan madness then realize we can’t let either side take charge. And it is okay if there is a left/right or true conservative/liberal divide in the country. I stated before I believe in that let’s say minor dichotomy. Why, because times change and you need policies that reflect the times. And sometimes we need to move forward and sometimes we need to pull back. It works when we understand we are not partisan sides trying to win, but offer solutions that work best for the times.

We were already headed for a my side must win long before Trump joined the partisanship battle in American politics. He was just the catalyst the created the current I would say gridlock, but it much more than that politically.

So going back a couple of paragraphs, I do believe in the left/right see saw or whatever other metaphor floats your boat, but what I do not like is saying compromise is a solution. Or the system needs compromise. No, it doesn’t. Compromise only dilutes what you are trying to do to appease people and can create gridlock. And as mentioned we are nowhere near any political gridlock, we are two hard headed rams butting each other and getting nowhere. And we are about to fall off the cliff of sanity.

So right now and going forward in the immediate future people not caught up in the effing partisan rams falling off the cliff need to find a few very specific issues that affects the vast majority of this country. And I mean just a few issues and where liberal or conservative is more about what is the best solution. We need to work on those for a few election cycles, really sit down and hammer out solutions so we can start clearing the water and give something concrete people can see in the water.

And there are a few issues people can prioritize pretty easily in my limited sight. Social security, balancing the budget, leveling the tax code and finally new election finance and campaign laws. The first three can be worked on together in some of the policy. The campaign laws need vigorous overall so people can be represented, not the select few. Money should not be the driving force behind choosing people to represent us. Somehow we need to make this change now.

There are other major issues that need immediate attention also, such as new immigration policy, and a rebuild of what education means to us as a country. For now the immediate needs are paramount. The direction must change and spending two or three election cycles working on settling the dynamics down and fix our immediate financial situation gives us the biggest bang for the immediate buck now worth 28 cents.

You can argue what might be more important and if you have a good case I will listen. I chose my three based on some general concerns. Social security was our first program to help the average person and we need it to survive so people can survive. The budget is a disaster. Yes we need to reign in spending, it is imperative, you just can’t spend all the time. Cuts will need to be made. Not the DOGE cuts for political theatre, but real well thought out cuts, so this is why I say two or three election cycles. Our government can still do in the background much of what it already does, but we need to reduce the bureaucracy, not dramatically, but practically. There are things we need from out government like roads or law enforcement. Those will need work now and in the future, yet for us to move forward we need to identify the most important issues facing us. I have laid out the campaign issue and then the trilogy of tax code renovation/leveling, social security and the budget. And you can tie some of the solutions up in one package if done right.

Then by the grace of God if you can not compromise, yet actually write real solutions we, the people get victory at so many levels that by then the waters will have cleared. Once we see our feet again standing in the surf, we can start working on the next highest priorities to continue this great experiment of what our country truly can become. And yes then the right/left or liberal/conservative pendulum can swing as needed not based on partisanship, but who has the best ideas for the moment.

That was the framework our Founding Fathers worked to try and give us. Let’s celebrate 250 years and start finishing the job.