A More Important Choice

I wrote this last night, but am a little late getting it posted here...

One of the tragedies of tomorrow’s election is that the winner, whoever it may be, will refuse to acknowledge that a large reason for their victory is not so much about their strength as a leader and their proposed policies, as it is a rejection of the other. Whoever wins will proclaim that “the people have spoken” and will translate that as an overwhelming endorsement, rather than a reluctant acceptance of a lesser evil.

Ultimately, the winner will learn no lessons and, in fact will refuse to believe there is any lesson to learn other than the fact that they are the solution. The winner will bask in victory and allow their ego to be bloated with an unrealistic interpretation of reality. Despite the possible rhetoric of “unifying” the country, the winner will feel no obligation to do so in any real sense, their only concern will be to coalesce and appease those who agree with them and vilify those who don’t. The winner will “play politics.” The winner will leverage every political advantage at their disposal to do what they want to do. The winner will feel no indebtedness to the country as a whole, only to those with deep pockets and and complimentary silver tongues.

Tomorrow’s election results may make things better, from your perspective, if your candidate wins, but neither are the solution for what ails our country, they are symptoms. Our country will not get better because of politicians, it will get better when “we the people” refuse to act like our politicians. It will get better when “we the people” learn to offer a portion of the grace and mercy that we have received, to those who don’t share our opinions. It will get better when”we the people” refuse to allow differences to divide us and we choose to love those who disagree with us, not because they deserve it, but because it makes all of us better.

Tomorrow’s election winner will have no interest in “we the people” making things better because they have more power “when we the people” turn on each other instead of reaching out to one another. The real choice for “we the people” is not in tomorrow’s election, it is what we choose to do everyday after.