Are we done with politics in 2018?
Not a chance!
Winter 2018
There is a familiar sound in my ear. It’s the great voice of Karen Carpenter singing “We’ve only just begun…” You know she’s right. All the political planning for the 2020 election has begun already. The requests for political donations are beginning to come to us. The unbelievable amounts of money needed to run the political campaigns today is staggering. It costs a campaign a ton of money to buy the radio and TV ads, lawn signs and mailbox stuffers that were driving us crazy. The thing is that now so much of this advertising is inaccurate, phony and filled with down and outright lies that it just turns people off from voting because they just don’t know who or what to believe anymore. Maybe if we attend more Town Hall meetings or watch more candidate debates we can discern more clearly who these folks are, what their ideas and proposals really are, and how they will affect us and our families. Until then, we need to begin the process of prioritizing our desires and needs in order to make decisions about policies and people to vote for.
The 2018 midterm elections were very divisive and dangerous. Part of the blame for the mischaracterization, misconduct and mistreatment of other citizens can certainly be placed on the rhetoric of the President. However, the rhetoric of those opposing the President also share a portion of the blame. When we advocate such uncivil action toward each other, we should not be surprised when terrible reactions rise to the surface. We should remember that we are all Americans. As a military veteran of this country, the United States of America, I will never forget that. I hope you won’t either.
Let’s promise ourselves to act more civilly to each other, and to respect another’s point of view and opinion even if we completely disagree with it.
So, are we done with politics in 2018? Not a chance! But we have another chance to improve the quality of it.
In Solidarity,
Ron Duva
Retiree Unit Chairman