CxD #139
Character + Policy; Perspective; Voting; CxD Office Hours
1.
One answer to the question of “How can you vote for Trump, knowing what you know about his Character?” is “I don’t vote for politicians, I vote for policy.”
The obvious problem is that Character is never isolated; policy is made by people, and people have Good or Shitty Character, or something in between, made out of wholesome or unwholesome ingredients. In other words, Character has consequences. If a dishonest person makes policy, that policy will likely to be dishonest in some form. It is fantastical to think the things you believe or vote for are not affected by the character of people who vote them into law.
Everything is connected to everything else, and a person’s Character is like the hub of the wheel that makes things go the direction they go. If selfish, power-hungry people are making policies that you align with, consider to what extent those policies are good for you, but bad or dangerous or deadly to others. Protecting only yourself guarantees a life of fear and fear-mongering. Policy and Character are intertwined.
Consider for example, that Trump admitted, on tape (!), in conversation with one of the world’s most respected journalists (!!), that he deliberately lied to the American Public (!!!) about how deadly and contagious COVID is (!!!!), and that he is continuing to lie (!!!!!) in order to not induce panic (about the economy, which affects him directly). This particular episode of Pod Save America is especially jaw-dropping about how openly deceptive Trump is at this point, literally admitting he’s lying, while the policies behind his lies are directly responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of people. I can’t even wrap 100% of my mind around the horror and absurdity of all this.
That approximately 42-45% of Americans will still vote for him at this point means their cognitive dissonance about who they believe they are and what they actually stand for is so extreme that to change their mind publicly would overwhelm their capacity to stay psychologically intact. And so here we are, a country with millions of people ready to vote for a man who publicly admits he is lying to enrich himself, like Nixon, but instead of Watergate as a middle man, just telling a journalist exactly what he’s doing. 🤯 Humanity, are you too outright stupid to save yourself? 😢😥
2. Consider your Perspective:
3. As you gain Perspective:
4.
A supremely useful voting guide to all the states.
5. A point of clarification about the CxD office hours I’m holding every Thursday from 7-10pm @ Radio Coffee in Austin, Tx. It’s a structured and deliberate way for me to wean myself from believing I have to check my email or phone all the time because I’m so important and people need to talk to me. The truth is I’m not important at all, and almost all people do not want to talk to me. Therefore, getting off social media and its cancers, as well as quitting frequent phone checking and emailing are not going to have much of an impact on anyone except me. But just in case, should someone feel the need to connect with me deeply, one-on-one, stopping by and drinking a beer or two with me in this protected and regularly scheduled way means there’s always a way for me to stay in relationship with those who do care about me without needing all the tech gizmos to mediate.
Here’s what COVID-safe Office Hours #1 looked like last week:
And here is a gift I was introduced to by two friends who stopped by 🙏🎯:
The pleasures of going for a rainy walk in your living room.