I hate to say it, but I'm about to get political. And honestly, probably a bit dark and morose, too. The 2024 election is in a few months and yet again, our choices are Biden and Trump. There's no beating around the bush for this one: it's a dark period in American history. Our country is divided. And anyone who knows me knows I despise the Republican candidate. Not only is he a con man, liar, sex offender, criminal, and Lord knows what else, but he is the biggest reason our country is as divided as it is. Our country was divided before he went into politics, but it was nothing like it is now. He saw a tear in the fabric of our country and gave it a good yank, multiplying the tear tenfold. I think his single greatest act of tearing this country apart came when he would not accept and fought against the election results of 2020. That gave us yet another issue to be divided on, the last thing this country needed.
Will our country ever heal? Well, there are three options. First, it never does, and our divisiveness is our undoing. Perhaps another country exploits it. Second, our country heals, but only after a major conflict such as World War III or the Second U.S. Civil War. Third, we somehow heal over time by electing the right leaders who try to bring us together rather than tear us apart. But the more time goes by, the more the third (and best) option seems more and more unlikely. I do seriously worry for the future of our country. Most empires only last a few hundred years--not that we're an "empire", so to speak.
I'm not wholly against the Republican party--in fact, I started as a moderate and occasionally voted Republican. I voted for the Republican option for Governor my first few times voting and even voted for Mitt Romney in 2012 because I liked his demeanor. But the Republicans have gone so far right and so extreme that I cannot in my right mind consider voting that way anymore. They want to control women's bodies. They don't give two craps about the environment. They won't allow tighter restrictions on guns despite mass/school shootings on a regular occurrence. They want to give tax breaks to the rich and not allow hardly anyone into the country. How is any of that "making America great again"?
I wish we could go back to the United States of America of my youth. Will Gen X and my generation (Gen Y/Millennial) save our country as leaders? I sure hope so. We just have to vote in the right people. Stop reelecting 70+ year-olds who have been in office 30+ years. Give the challenger a chance. Vote based on principles and who is legitimately best for our country, not who most aligns with your personal viewpoints. Let's hope Biden wins reelection, Trump goes away, and the "MAGA" rhetoric slowly dies out.
Update, July 2024: Well, Biden dropped out and while it hasn't been made official, looks like Kamala Harris will be the Democratic nominee. I, for one, am hopeful. For the first time since 2008/2012, I feel hopeful that we can have a president that is respected and will do their best job. Harris wouldn't have been my first choice--I really hope Pete Buttigieg becomes our president someday--but she is a vast improvement over either Biden or Trump. I'm still not that confident she can beat Trump, since Hillary Clinton, another woman, lost to him. But I think enough Americans remember how much of a joke Trump was from 2016-2020, how he added more to our national debt than any president in any 4-year span, among numerous other things. And they'll definitely remember how he too, is declining cognitively. There were a large handful of Americans who don't align with either side politically that were likely on the fence when it came to choosing between Biden and Trump, as they didn't want an 80+ year old president again. But now that we have a younger and more energetic option, I hope enough of them see this and vote for the betterment of our country.
