I am not calling President Trump a devil of course, nor slyly insinuating that Waters or Clinton are either. But all three of them are less than perfect, and all three of them in glaring ways and manners. That means that if we're going to vote for or support any of them we're forced to take them warts and all.
Because of this, a vote for President Trump does not necessarily mean support for his sometimes poor decisions and poor words. Likewise, a vote for Clinton did not of necessity mean you supported how she handled Bengazi or her e-mail server. Perhaps a given voter did support everything Trump or Clinton said or did but not, again and I stress, of necessity. We have no choice but to select among imperfect people. If we ourselves are on the whole good people this will rightly leave bad tastes in our mouths. But tell me, please, what other option do we have?
Are we to wait until someone is perfect before we can vote for them? I should hope not. That is a fool's errand. We must make the best choices we can under the circumstances we've got. In my case, in 2016 that meant voting for Trump because, overall, he had more pluses than Clinton. That does not however give either one of them a pass for their errors, nor that I am not repulsed by stupid actions on the part of either. It's simply a reflection of the fallen world we live in.
So kindly do not call me evil because I've dealt with the devil. You do too.
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4 comments:
Say you're going to a party and given a "plus one". If you bring a friend to the party and they become obnoxious... well, sure, that obnoxious friend is still primarily at fault for their bad behavior. They are their own person, granted.
But you, second most, share the responsibility of minimizing that friend's damage to the evening. It doesn't matter that they're not normally like this, or that you could have chosen to bring someone worse but didn't, or even that there are other obnoxious people at the party so your friend's not the only awful person in attendance.
It may be fair to say other people haven't taken responsibility for their own "plus ones" now or in the past, but that doesn't change the fact that it's your friend who's currently spitting in the punch bowl and trashing other guests. You should be the very first person to correct them.
I think that's what people are trying to say when they talk about support for Trump or other political figures/leaders/organizations. The people you support reflect on you, for better or worse.
I don't really disagree with this. Who we support does to a certain degree reflect on us no matter what. Yet that doesn't mean I think my plus one was right when he spat into the punch bowl, nor that I directly encouraged it, and I believe you acknowledge that. For myself, I readily concede that President Trump needs to better mind his manners. I try to admit that when he's wrong, he's wrong. And I think my point about warts and all covers this really: we know that no matter whom we support will have done bad things in their past. I can't see getting around that.
This applies across the board of course. I think both sides of the political divide need to be more mindful of it.
I thought I'd comment directly on your blog because it might be less of a circus than Facebook, but now I miss the "like" button, which I feel like is now part of civil discussion online. Go figure.
I do think we're in general agreement, and what we (the royal "we") ultimately disagree on is how outrageous "the friend" is and the extent to which they must be actively corrected/countered. If you don't see the harm, you don't see the harm. And if you do, you do. That's a hard fight to win from either side.
I appreciate the comments here! Quite honestly, it helps my blog numbers. Facebook does, sadly and all to often, become a quagmire. I do believe too that we are in essential agreement. I assure you that I see the harm, both real and potential, in all political hyperbole from all sides.
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