Our country will survive

Five months to go until the 2016 elections.  It hardly seems possible the political choices could be any more dismal.

For differing and similar reasons, the presumptive major party candidates for the office of the presidency are simply unworthy of the position they seek.

This leaves our nation facing a quandary for which no clear palatable, reasonable, or (dare it be said) sane alternative presents itself.

Legions of woefully uninformed, ignorant, greedy, and/or inept voters will certainly cast their ballots for one of these two.  Unless some cataclysmic event arises, one of them will be elected to serve as the next President of the United States of America.

At this point, one could start forecasting all the doom and gloom that will befall our nation.  It matters not which individual is elected, because the strident supporters from the other side can provide long lists of reasonable and unreasonable predictions.  Perhaps some of the gloom and doom, regardless of who is elected, will come to pass.  But it isn't reason to flee the country.   

A singular strength of our nation is its ability to survive.  It has survived the Civil War, multiple world wars, political scandals, slavery, economic recessions, the Great Depression, housing booms and busts, civil unrest, riots, 9/11, reconstruction, impeachments, Vietnam, high unemployment, the Dust Bowl, assassinations, Watergate, and countless other challenges.  It has survived its previous exceptionally poor choices for president.  

It has survived.

We cannot accurately predict what form survival will take in response to this new challenge, but survive the country will.  

There may be pain involved, but at the other end, our country will be better for its survival. 

We will endure the next months of hyperbole, insults, shrill voices, unfounded claims, stilted polls, expenditure of outrageous sums of money, ridiculous pronouncements, outright lies, clever misrepresentations, and perhaps even legal upheaval.  Then the election will be done.

Take a deep breath, exhale slowly, and remember that our country has survived worse and will survive this.  

Not all (fill in the blank) believe (fill in the blank), are (fill in the blank), and behave by (fill in the blank)

Not all (fill in the blank) believe (fill in the blank), are (fill in the blank), and behave by (fill in the blank).

Maybe 2016 will be a better year.  Sadly, we are at a point in our nation where people ascribe all sorts of beliefs and behaviors to all members of various groups.  Whether the grouping be ethnicity, race, religious, gender, economic, political, age, employment,   locality, or some other in the nearly endless list of possibilities, folks rush to (usually) directly associate all members of a group with the characteristics, beliefs, and actions evidenced by one (or an incredibly small proportion) of that group.

Saying all white males are racist because some white males belonged/belong to the KKK is pure nonsense. It is no less offensive than saying all black youths are thugs and murderers because some black youths have rioted, looted, and killed each other.  

The intensity of the language and attacks are growing.  Perhaps folks are being incited by those with personal agendas or others with deep rooted and unreasonable prejudices.  But whatever the cause, the evil language and attacks are escalating, leading to increasing tensions in nearly every segment of society.  The media, conservative and liberal, relish in beating their drums to stoke the intensity.  

Absolutely, there are disreputable, villainous, and even evil people.  But they are not so because of some identifying characteristic or grouping.  They are simply disreputable, villainous, or evil individuals.  Period.  They are not disreputable, villainous, or evil because they are white, black, brown, Jewish, Muslim, male, female, straight, gay, tall, short, democrat, republican, old, young, poor, middle-class, wealthy, educated, employed, unemployed, or any other group.  The inability to separate and recognize people as individuals is very troubling.  One example is blaming the actions of a group from decades or centuries ago and then demanding recompense today for those actions of yesteryear.

Stated differently, people in contemporary America demand action not for injuries they have individually and personally suffered, but for injuries suffered by others decades or centuries ago.  This is similar to the ethnic hatred dominating many parts of Europe and the Middle East.  Centuries old hatred that impedes progress towards peace.  Centuries old dogma unbent by today's reality.

Maybe in 2016 our nation can stem, then reverse this trend.  While possible, I sense it will not occur, in large part because of the national political machinations.  Both major political parties demonize their opponents.  Candidates likewise, uttering outlandish comment after outlandish comment.  Thus feeding into divisive identity generalities that have no basis in fact.  The politicians seek to garner support from the unsettled and dissatisfied electorate by ascribing beliefs and behaviors to everyone in an identifiable group based on the actions of a few from within that group.  Shameful political grandstanding!

The only reason this is happening is because the people are unhappy with the course of current events.  They are unhappy with their current situation.  And too many people are telling them other group(s) is/are the reason(s) for their unhappiness.  If the majority of the nation was happy, the purveyors of the divisive rhetoric would not find a fertile environment into which to plant these seeds of discontent.  The talk show hosts, political pundits, and social commentators would have no audiences.  The opinion writers would gain no traction with outlandish assertions.  Elected officials and aspirants could not mount election campaigns based on negativity and demagoguery.  

Perhaps then there would be no protests in our streets and on our campuses.  Perhaps the labor force participation rate would be more than 62.5%.  Perhaps more than 57.5% of eligible voters would exercise their franchise.  Perhaps there wouldn't be more than 400 murders per year in Chicago.  Maybe the middle class would be expanding, rather than declining.  Perhaps wages would rise.

Perhaps, but not likely, because too many influential people are counting on you to feel like a victim and blame identifiable groups.  

But we can hope, because not all (fill in the blank) believe (fill in the blank), are (fill in the blank), and behave by (fill in the blank).