When you have to speak your piece

I've been attempting to work on my novel today, but I'm having a hard time finding the words.  I think part of the problem is that I have something I have to say, and I don't really want to have to say it.

Years ago, there was an episode of the situation comedy Cheers that included a scene I have never forgotten.  Sam and Diane were arguing, and each had grabbed the other's nose.  They were in a lock, dragging each other toward the ground.  At one point Diane said, "Sam, we have sunk as low as two human beings can possibly sink".  Oh, how I wish that were so.

It seems we Americans are seeing just how low we can set the bar; trying to find how low we can possibly sink.

Partisan politics has always been ugly.  But I never thought I would see the day when a major party candidate for President of the United States would be a narcissistic, bigoted, ignorant bully who insults anyone who dares to question him.  Even to the point of insulting the parents of a Purple Heart and Bronze Star recipient who died in combat.

And his supporters are standing solidly behind him, defending indefensible behavior and actions.  How has it come to this?  Where is our collective conscience?  Where has our moral compass gone?

I've never registered with a party affiliation, I have always registered to vote as an Independent.  I have voted across party lines since I was eighteen.  I try to study the platforms of the candidates, and try to ignore their personalities as much as I can, because I realize that what we see is a media creation, not a person.

I believe that you can't possibly "know" a candidate, except at a very local level, so I always felt my vote should go to the candidate whose platform most closely aligned with what I believe in.

But this election is different for me.  While I still believe I can't possibly "know" either candidate, the actions and behavior of one of the candidates is absolutely reprehensible.

I feel very isolated.  I see many people I know defending his actions and behavior on Facebook and other social media.  I want to ask "How can you?"

I want to ask them if they would think it was OK if I mocked their grief, if I did an offensive imitation of a differently abled person that they love.

I want to ask them how much they have studied the Constitution, and Foreign Policy.  This isn't reality TV, it is reality.

And while most Presidential candidates have no idea what it is like to live in the real world that most Americans inhabit, Donald Trump is off the charts in terms of his relationship with our reality.

He has used anger, and fear, and Hillary Clinton hatred to make his advances.  His only ideas for America are to build walls, register religious groups, impose trade tariffs and sanctions, restore torture, and kill families of people connected to terrorist activities.

As the descendent of immigrants, as a believer in God, as a believer in the values upheld in the Constitution of the United States, I am appalled by his ideology.  And his language.  And his behavior.

I realize that some reading this may vehemently disagree with me.  That is where the feeling of isolation comes from.

Because I can't find common ground on this.  I can agree that I wish that there were better candidates representing both parties.  I can agree that the two party system is broken.  I can agree that we have reached a very dark day in American politics.

But I can't understand how any rational, thinking person who values other people can condone Donald Trump and his total lack of empathy and decency.

And it scares me that so many people not only condone his behavior, but celebrate it.

This isn't about who you like or don't like.  It isn't even about the platforms anymore.  It is about who we as Americans.  Are we a bright beacon of liberty in a dark world?  Or have we become a frightened cowering bully who adds to the darkness?

There is no need to make America great again.  We are what we have always been.  A big melting pot, where some wonderful and some terrible things are true.  We have problems to solve.  But we have always done our best problem solving when we work together, not blame each other.

My hope is that this election year has taught us just how easily we slide from rancorous political discourse into true dangerous dialogue and ideology.  I hope that this election cycle teaches us to compromise more and stonewall less.

Because that is what has and always will make America great.  Our ability and desire to work together for the common good.