What I want to dive into and can’t wrap my head around yet are the 45% of people that elected the continuation of policies in the 2008 election. Hear me out. 45% of people voted in 2008 to preserve the state of affairs we were in *then*. If you can remember, we actually thought America was about to go under. It was the most scared I have been for an immanent collapse in my lifetime. It was not a Nostradamus prediction of collapse 4 years away, it was collapsing right under our feet. Not everyone can be an economist, but when we were confronted with a collapse in America, that ended up stretching over the western world, 45% of people in the US were like – yeah I can convince myself that it’s okay and can look past all of it – “4 more years!”
Where was all that passion I see now for the obvious change and disapproval needed then? Where was the wherewithal then in holding people accountable for bad policies and a brightless future? I would be far more content if the 2008 election we saw an 80/20 or 90/10 split among voters. But to have passion about creating a bright future, and arguing about the impact of the economy now at an almost equal % breakdown as then is — absolutely mind blowing. The arguments to vote for change then were dismissed by those 45% back then for a far more hopeless situation. If it didn’t matter enough in the last 10 years, why dose it matter so much now?
Is the whole country held hostage by something as simple as switching from a red neck tie to a blue one?
Have we turned politics into a sporting event where your team wins at all costs? Is it the person, the policies, and the state of affairs, or just a jersey and the opportunity to engage in heated arguments over a Poppa Johns pizza that drives us all? Sadly, the last 8 years point strongly to that fact that it is, and that is what has let me down the most. Which ever way you decide to vote now, my issue is with consistency and perspective. What would YOU say to YOURSELF if you went back in time to only 4 years ago? Would you have to change what you were passionate about now just to agree with your former self then? I don’t know how this election will turn out, but I do know that there is a far greater problem in America, the lack of objectivity, and a passion to *find* issues to leverage for the benefit of an election, and not the need to examine an issue for the sake of true, united, prosperity.
Here is one project that could help… Write down what you are so mad/passionate about in this election. Write what you expect and want, and where the failures are that you feel so strongly about. Put them in a box, and read them every 4 years before an election. If Mitt does well then honestly great – I want the *country* to succeed be it by a black, white, or green president. But if he does poorly will you have the objectivity to see it? Or will you make excuses and change your passions so your team, not your country, can win? Will you blame *bad* performance on the last president, would you blame the *great* performance on the last president just the same?
(And don’t be so cocky about how it would play out. 45% of you would have already been screwed if you stared this project only 4 years ago!)
Look, believe what you want, but a great america actually starts with you – not the president.
A great politician will become great at being elected, a great business man will be great at making allot of money for himself, and a great citizen will do what’s best for them and their neighbors. It is tough to trust that all three will work perfectly for one another with such different objectives driving each of them. The greatest side to have faith in and support is, and always will be, the citizen’s side. If you are picking a side, pick our side, the non elected, non-special interests side – the peoples side.
The greatest impact made is not from someone elected, but from those that elect.
Please, keep sports out of politics.
Sean Shadmand 