Crossing the Line
I voted for Ronald Reagan in both 1980 and 1984. I admit it and with the benefit of hindsight I think I contributed to the downfall of the liberal democracy that worked so well for our country from 1945 until 1980. I was actually more a fan of George HW Bush back in those days, but he didn’t have the momentous that Reagan had, so I stayed with the team and we pushed on through the 80’s in what at the time seemed like fine fashion. That was all despite the wrong-rootedness of the whole Supply-Side economics hoax and the gradual, but undeniable, wealth inequality trend that has since gotten out of control. By the way, I also voted for my man George HW in 1988 and watched him wallow aimlessly for four years until Bill Clinton looked like a better alternative in 1992. That was all well and good for four years as we watched a smart guy manage through his shenanigans. I hated his untruths stated directly to the American public over the Monica Lewinsky affair. I don’t care so much about what he did, since he and she were consenting adults (even though he did use power to his sexual advantage). But outright lying to America was and is unacceptable for our leader. I’m not sure I can bring myself to say I should have voted for Bob Dole in 1996, but maybe I should have. I am prepared to cross the line of admission of guilt by saying that I was wrong to vote for Reagan twice and wrong to vote for Clinton the second time. I wonder how the country would be different from both of those decisions (assuming they would have ruled the day). Since Carter, as good a man as he was, didn’t deserve another term, I guess I am mostly wondering how the world and America might be different had Mondale won in 1984 and Dole won in 1996.
With perfect hindsight, I guess what I am saying is that nothing should matter more about selecting our leaders than the issue of character. In my view, that should have disqualified Clinton term #2 and certainly Trump in either of his elections. I am not sure where I put George W on this spectrum of character. I never thought he deserved to be president since I think his name was the only thing that gave him that opportunity, certainly not his deeds to that point. It was clear that he was positioned as a political puppet by Republicans, but there is always that element to some degree. On the absolute issue of character, I believe he falls somewhere in the neutral to positive territory and he did not disqualify himself on that spectrum. As for Gore, it is hard for me to say he deserved to win, and he certainly is a man of good character, but I don’t put him in the category of Mondale or Dole because his opponent was not so much of weak character. The important thing to me is to honest with myself in hindsight about who were good choices I made and who were not so good choices. I am prepared to cross partisan lines in that exercise as you can tell.
That ability is not something that my red friends (please do not assume that I mean all people of a red persuasion, simply the two I am thinking of that live in Florida at the moment). Both of them come from states that were historically controlled quite strongly by Democrats, New Jersey and Illinois. Neither of them feel their home states have been well-governed and both are much happier being in Florida. Both voted for Trump twice and now I would say that both dislike Biden to varying degrees with one thinking that Trump would be better and the other thinking that Trump is bad and should not be on the political scene any longer. In that way, these two are emblematic of the current Republican Party. There is great angst in their ranks and there is a divergent view about Trump. But one thing that remains solidly unchanged for both is that they each stand by the choices they made in 2016 and 2020 for Trump. That I cannot comprehend.
They are unwilling to cross that line and say that they made a mistake and trust me, I goad them to do so almost every day with each and every new revelation of the factual basis for Trump’s abject lack of good character. Their arguments start with a rehashing of how bad Hillary was and what a crook she was per her deletion of what they believe wee classified emails. When I point out that no one in all these years has provided a shred of evidence that any of her deleted emails were classified or contained classified secrets, but that doesn’t seem to matter to them. Their rejoinder is that she deleted them specifically so she could not be tagged for that. Naturally that makes no sense, but their comment is that she is simply a smart crook. I then say that at least they admit that Trump is dumb, knowing full well that they will refute that notion and say that I am being partisan and am blinded by that. I suggest that dumb is as dumb does and what he has allowed his ego to command him to do is, simply stated, dumb. That is usually where the conversation ends, as it always seems to, when there is no response worth making.
But what troubles me more than anything is these people’s unwillingness to cross that line in admission of having made a mistake. If we cannot be realistic and understand that all the looking didn’t prove that Hillary did anything so wrong and that Joe Biden has never been proven to be as corrupt as the MAGA crowd likes to accuse, and that the evidence about Trump’s felonious activities is almost irrefutable, where are we? Why is it so hard to cross that line? Why is the admission of guilt and the admission of error so hard for some people. I know the superficial answer to that. It is that bluster is often an effective way to keep yourself from accountability and that seems to be a key goal for many people. I personally find accountability to be as honorable a trait as any. Being able to admit a mistake seems to me to be as good a sign of character as any. But I recognize that that thinking is not universally shared.
I like to think that I have learned from my mistakes. I actually feel it is one of the greatest traits that we as humans share. But while we all learn from our mistakes, apparently, we do not all take away the same lessons from those mistakes. Some, like Trump and his supporters, seem to learn that they should never admit to a mistake and should always double down and muscle through because admission is a sign of weakness. I feel the exact opposite. I find it is a sign of strength and a willingness to own our mistakes and take positive lessons away from them. I will always put character first on my criteria for electing our leaders and a willingness to be accountable is a big part of that. I feel that crossing the line may be the most important step we can all take in our political lives.