The Politics of Fear

I've lived through quite a few election cycles now. I cannot recall a cycle in my lifetime that was as fearful as this one.

Many on the left are so terrified of Donald Trump that they will overlook and rationalize anything Hillary Clinton says.

Many on the right are so terrified of Hillary Clinton that they will overlook and rationalize anything Donald Trump says.

And many of them do so on a regular basis.

Both sides freak out at the idea anyone would vote third party. "A vote for [third party] is a vote for {Trump,Clinton}" (insert whichever one they are afraid of). And each side is utterly convinced. (Apparently if I vote third party they will both end up in office. That actually sounds like a deal to me, as they'd be too busy fighting to do much else.)

People are losing friends over this. Almost every day I see someone threaten to unfriend anyone who will vote for {Clinton,Trump}. Or see that they have done so. There's a lot of bad "theology" in Star Wars, but sometimes Yoda is right:

"Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering."

It's not guaranteed, but it often happens, and I see it running amok in the USA.

I refuse to live in fear. I refuse to be angry at any of you. I refuse to hate. I refuse to inflict suffering.

Whether you believe in the God of the Bible or not, I urge you to consider the following:

"There is no fear in love. Perfect love chases away fear." (my translation)

Choose to love those around you. Listen to what they are really saying. Talk with them instead of at them. Hold them. Hug them. Walk with them.

Fear will ultimately destroy you. It will steamroll everything and everyone you care about, if you feed it. Love will free you, and offer freedom to everyone around you. Which one sounds like the better deal?

I don't want Ms Clinton or Mr Trump as president. But I'm not going to unfriend anyone over their vote for either.

New Election Process: A Modest proposal

I think it's clear to everyone that we have major problems with the current election process in the USA.

• It's nearly impossible for a third party to get very far in the scene.
• The money wasted on campaigns each year could fund a lot of new jobs, perhaps even jobs producing something that's actually useful.
• Apparently the two parties cannot find reasonable candidates so they randomly pick guys with expensive suits and haircuts.
• Hanging Chads would make a great band name, but it's a lousy way to count votes.
• There's not always a clear winner.
• Nobody trusts electronic voting but the current election's winners.

Rather than trying to tweak it, I propose we do away with the current system entirely. In its place, we implement what we already refer to in every election, a "battleground state".

In this method, the Supreme Court justices would write the names of states and other areas allowed to vote (Washington (DC), Puerto Rico, George Soros' bank accounts) and put them into a Bingo ball basket. The Chief Justice would don a blindfold and draw a slip at random.

The winning state, territory or other entity would then pick a location within its borders. Amidst much fanfare, the two parties would then battle it out. Any and all weapons short of those of mass destruction could be used. Once one side was wiped out or gave up, everyone left alive would be arrested, tried, convicted automatically for hate crimes and "participation in organized genocide"-- perhaps with RICO charges as well-- and locked up in Gitmo.

Then we'd hold write-in elections.

My name is Roadkill, and I approve this message.