I said back when I first started writing - almost - daily that I ping-pong back and forth between being scared to death of the outcome of the election and cautiously optimistic.
If you care about decency - let’s start with the lowest common denominator I can think of - you have to care who wins this election.
I’ve been something of an iconoclast my whole life. I’ve mocked traditions. I’ve thumbed my nose at country club rules. I’ve taken the other path as often as not. I’ve questioned authority. And I’ve looked down my nose at my fellow Americans - generally speaking. For instance, I have been known to say things like, “I’ve always thought a certain percentage of Americans were buffoons, even before the internet, and now the internet provides me with proof.”
But I’ve always tried to be “decent”.
In person, I treat people with respect. And, even after they give me reason to doubt their own ability to be decent, the worst I will do is simply avoid or ignore them.
The elected leader of the United States is not a decent person. And it matters. He is too spiteful to be the leader of all of America. He is too vengeful. He is too self-centered.
I think those Americans who wanted to upset the apple cart in Washington, D.C. but are otherwise decent people, see that truth. They voted for the apple cart upsetter in 2016. They were thinking - as I had been thinking - that Washington, D.C. needed shaking up. My preference for doing that was Bernie Sanders. You can call Bernie Sanders anything you’d like, but I believe him to be a decent man with honorable intentions.
In the parlance of cyber info warfare, these otherwise good people are the “persuadables” of this election cycle. No decent person likes churlish, rude and unmannerly persons. I like to refer to the man as the insufferable boor and, if you haven’t taken the time to look up the definition of ‘boor’, well, there it is - churlish, rude and unmannerly.
I am not going to relent or rejoice because the insufferable boor has proven - once more - just how spiteful and malicious he is by purposely playing down the severity of the pandemic. (Now I am sounding like today’s New York Times headlines, padding the message when I ought to be bringing the thunder.)
The president of the United States lied to the public, repeatedly, about a deadly virus and, consequently, sentenced an untold number of Americans to death. This means, not only is he not decent, which is without question, but that he - and all of his enablers, and there are many - have blood on their hands.
Even so, this will not be his political death knell, as it should be.
But, I do believe, it is another nail for the coffin as it relates to those decent voters who wanted the apple cart to be trashed. Those decent voters overlooked his boorishness in 2016. They were willing to disregard all of his slights and inappropriate behavior and rape allegations and incest inferences and cozying up to human rights monsters and people not unfamiliar to every ethnic slur ever spoken.
I don’t think that will be the case this time around.
So, today I am hopeful.
There are decent Americans spread across every state of every political persuasion who are offended by this man’s presence in the White House. Enough to alter the minuscule electoral advantage the boor had in 2016. Of course, we can’t count on them to vote, and we can’t count on them to vote favorably if they do. They need to be reminded how indecent he is, was and will be.
They need to be reminded he was fully aware of the deadliness of the virus while encouraging schools to reopen, holding mask-free rallies and accepting zero liability and calling it a hoax by the Democrats.
They need to be reminded how many U.S. military service members, whether active or not, he has denigrated, belittled and besmirched. From generals to privates.
They need to be reminded of all of his smarmy comments about women.
They need to be reminded of what a lying sack of shit - I mean, how untruthful the man is.
Simple decency is the lowest common denominator, and I think it will play a major factor, but, of course, there are many other reasons:
If you care whether there is rule of law, and democracy, as we have come to know it - vote Biden/Harris. Vote Blue up and down the ballot.
If you care about the social safety net - vote Biden/Harris. Vote Blue up and down the ballot.
If you care about your public lands - vote Biden/Harris. Vote Blue up and down the ballot.
If you care about climate change - vote Biden/Harris. Vote Blue up and down the ballot.
If you care about addressing social justice and systemic racism - vote Biden/Harris. Vote Blue up and down the ballot.
If you are about human rights - vote Biden/Harris. Vote Blue up and down the ballot.
If you care about holding on to the somewhat affordable health care we have now, along with the provision about pre-existing conditions and the provision that allows those under the age of 26 to be on their parent’s health plan (I’m thinking of you bomb-throwing Gen Zers), and then - hopefully - improving on it - vote Biden/Harris. Vote Blue up and down the ballot.
And, after we see them elected, and we make sure there is a peaceable exchange of power, that is when we start rocking the apple cart.