December 24, 2020

Our election process has been captured in our media outlets and conversations with each other with outrage, fear, disconsternation, indignation, sadness etc. on the one hand; On the other, relief, hope, light at the end of the tunnel, and faith in democracy.

Communication across the political divide remains very problematic so that those trying to debate and discuss issues with differing beliefs and viewpoints miss each other to put it politely or else sigh and conclude that the opposer of their viewpoint is duped, a sly liar, or plain evil. I've tried to keep focused on my curiosity that facts to some in these discussions do not matter. 

For example, sometimes while hiking with our small group a member bemoans the opinion that Donald Trump has been unjustly maligned and hounded by the liberal, socialist left wing zealots. The latest insult has been this election in which the votes were stolen from him. I talk with this person and when I bring up research into the election for example he then changes the subject to some other topic related to alleged unfair abuses against our president.I then attempt to redirect to his original assertion about the election and the researches into the election to investigate the truth or falsehood of this theory of a rigged election. Finally in this instance I was able to get him to read an article which investigated the facts of the matter. He grudgingly agreed that maybe I had a valid point. I then learned that he does not like to read any articles of any length or complexity with words he is unfamiliar with. He never reads fiction and mostly views on video Fox news. I suppose the New York Times is too left wing. Nevertheless, I do hand it to him since he has read my blogs up to this one and complemented me for some of my musing. 

My readings and articles that I have shared here have been fun for me to digest and then reflect on. I'm not married to any of the opinions I expressed or endorsed without knowing I can be wrong. The methods of free inquiry require giving the devil his due expression with the understanding that I may be the devil's advocate. Free inquiry requires free expression including expression of opinions that are hard to stomach or even hear. Michael Shermer wrote an excellent article on this subject which I think is worth your while reading through this link.   https://quillette.com/2018/06/10/giving-devil-due-freedom-inquiry-science-politics-inviolable/

So back to my discussions with my hiking friend. I shared with him an article about Al Schmidt city commissioner opf the Philedelphia Board of Elections. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/16/magazine/trump-election-philadelphia-republican.html?referringSource=articleShare

A Republican who represented our democratic tradition to allow our voters to decide our elections. Brave, thoughtful, and responsible he carried out his duties despite the Trump's representative attempts to invalidate and disenfranchise our voters. My friend's comment is that he recognizes Biden's election but he waits to see if Biden isn't the devil. Well, I decided to visit this devil's point of view by reading Michael Anton's book The Stakes. In a previous blog, I did cover some of Anton's more recent views which have changed since this book. In any case, he makes the point that in the U.S.A. the establishments of oligarchs power base, coupled with the University liberal factions, and the civil servants and democratic states political machine are dictating the exploitation of the middle and lower classes while holding onto increasing wealth and perpetuating human suffering. In my view he rightfully highlights some of our social, political, and economic problems blaming the liberal factions. He has a point that liberal and conservative interests are similar in many way that allows corruption and exploitation for the benefit of special interests. Citizens United the 5/4 Supreme Court allowed money to flow from corporations into political disputes fueling this problem of special interests ruling over the middle and lower classes. 

So congress has passed a Covid-19 and economic relief bill but Trump decided that he will veto this unless there's a check for $2000 for American's (presumably with his signature on the check). He has other criticisms of the bill which includes some pork in the bill. He has vetoed the military defense bill also denying reforms and benefits for our military. He has pardoned some bad actors including people who have wantonly murdered innocent civilians in Iraq causing some international uproar. Those that Mueller's investigation brought to trial and were convicted of legitimate crimes which some confessed to he pardoned. So maybe we'll have another government shutdown caused by his actions (remember the circumstances of the protracted previous one?). The possible upside is that the Senate races in Georgia may have been influenced by these actions to elect democrats. From the democrat side such craziness is absent so far with Biden continuing to appeal to reason and empathy. 

Oh, well. My fellow traveler reading this blog. Should we cave into opinions crafted for our consumption (Boorstin) without checking the assertions from other sources? If we're slow readers not used to debating according to scientific discourse how can we escape groupthink and brainwashing?  Am I barking up the wrong tree in attempting to dialogue using information and rules of logic as my guides? 

So Rebecca and I watched the other night Ghost Shell a sci-fi dystopian movie which had a plot in which the good and evil were well defined brutal and caricatured. But the visuals and video manipulations took us into such beautiful dreamlike spaces so the movie was worth it even with the commercials. I even was exposed to Bone Protein supplement from Ancient Nutrition in the commercials but I did not bite and go down that rabbit hole.  

Leonard