Disillusioned

I didn’t really pay attention at the time, but my grandfather was apparently very active in politics during his lifetime. My understanding is that he was a lifelong Republican and worked in some capacity to rally support in and around Grundy County. I have on my wall a plaque he received as a token of appreciation. It’s a reproduction of a map of Tennessee as it was in 1818. On it is says Season’s Greetings 1979, Governor and Mrs. Lamar Alexander.

Apart from occasionally complaining about the state of affairs at a national level I’ve never really made an effort to be deeply involved in politics until recently. I was looking at the plaque and wondering if the current state of affairs had activated a dormant hereditary trait. Given that I’ve kept my distance I wasn’t sure exactly where to begin so I mostly tried to educate myself by visiting candidate and party websites and following some of the candidates on social media.

For most of my life I felt like my beliefs were more closely aligned with libertarians than any other party and I tended to vote as such. Broadly speaking, a smaller government that keeps its nose out of the people’s personal affairs and is disciplined when it comes to spending. Those beliefs have modified somewhat as the years have rolled by. Well, the first hasn’t changed and I disagree with both parties on different issues with regards to personal freedom. As for the fiscal policy I’ve come to realize that I’m not opposed to government spending in general, rather, I’m opposed to reckless government spending. The Republicans talk a big game but, while in power, have they ever tried managed to produce something close to a balanced budget?

Anyway, I don’t want to get into every little detail, but my thinking is that a “blue wave” this November would be a good thing in that it would hopefully force us back towards the middle and act as a check on some of the president’s more extreme positions. And if I allow some optimism to creep in perhaps there’s a chance that the parties will attempt to reach across the aisle and work to dismantle the tribalism that is responsible for so much division. Not a very realistic scenario, but a fella can dream.

So, while I’m leaning blue, my attempts to engage with Democratic candidates and the Democratic party have fallen flat and so it’s hard to get particularly excited about either. My hope was to make a connection and discover how and where I could contribute but that hasn’t happened so far. Granted these attempts have been confined to social media and perhaps they are focused on more traditional channels of communication. I’ve seen candidates mention things like “they may outspend us, but they won’t outwork us” which I imagine refers to going door to door and working the phones which is all well and good but I’d be more impressed if there was also an effort to work smarter. That’s not to say that the candidates aren’t using social media, they are. But they are using it to talk at us, not to us. I don’t need or deserve a plaque like my grandfather received nearly 40 years ago. To begin, I’d just like someone to say: I hear you.