Don't Be a Buzzkill

 

From the beginning of our Republic, politics has been a rough-and-tumble business.  Adams and Jefferson were bitter enemies as they vied for their Presidencies way back in 1797 and 1801.  While they became friends in later life, they viciously attacked one another during their campaigns.  Jefferson’s camp accused Adams of having a “hideous hermaphroditical character (possessing both male and female characteristics) which has neither the firmness of a man, nor the gentleness and sensibility of a woman.”  In return, Adams men called Jefferson “a mean-spirited, low lived fellow, the son of a half-breed Indian Squaw” which was an insult at the time.  As the slurs piled up, Adams was labeled a fool, a hypocrite, a criminal and a tyrant while Jefferson was branded a weakling, an atheist and a coward.  This was pretty brutal stuff at the turn of the 18^th century.

At the beginning of the 20^th century, Teddy Roosevelt and William Taft were best of friends.  Taft was actually Roosevelt’s hand-picked replacement for President when he decided not to run in 1908.  But in 1912 when Roosevelt decided to create the Bull Moose party and run for President again, he and Taft famously went after each other.  Taft called Roosevelt unethical and egotistical to which Roosevelt responded by calling Taft a fraud and disloyal.  In 1964 Lyndon Johnson portrayed his opponent for President, Barry Goldwater, as an out of control warmonger with his finger on the nuclear bomb button.  No facts.  All emotion.  But LBJ won the election.

Most of us remember the relationship between President Reagan and Democrat Speaker of the House Tip O’Neill back in the 1980’s as cordial and maybe even productive.  But when they were at odds, the political gloves came off.  Tip O’Neill thought that President Reagan didn’t possess a sufficient understanding of the legislative process and called him the most ignorant man to ever occupy the White House.  In return, Reagan once compared Tip O’Neill to a Pac-Man because he was a round thing that just gobbled up money.

But what do all of these political attacks of the past have in common?  They all featured candidates or rivals attacking each other.  That practice changed however for the first time in 2016 when Hillary Clinton decided to attack not only her opponent but even American citizens who dared to vote for that candidate.  In her notorious “Basket of Deplorables” statement, Hillary attacked tens of millions of her own constituents and called them “racist, sexist, homophobic, xenophobic (and) Islamophobic”.  These were the very people that Hillary hoped to represent as President.  She obviously doesn’t even like many or arguably most of the American people.  This statement not only lost her the election (in my opinion) but also paved the way for today’s fiercely divided country.

Sadly, Joe Biden has decided to continue this new tradition of attacking and demeaning the very people he represents.  First, he stated that “white supremacists are the greatest terror threat in America”.  Of course, he never explains how he and his national security operation came to that conclusion or exactly how many of these “white supremacists” there are out there.  This allows every person of color to suspect every white person (especially conservatives) of this pathetic mindset and further divide the country, which I believe is his real motive.  Since he made that statement I have seen no evidence that this group, which I believe is a tiny sliver of the American populous, is a threat to our country.  In fact, during the “summer of love” in 2020, dozens of people were killed and billions of dollars in damages were inflicted on cities across the country in riots instigated by Antifa and BLM.  You would think he and his security experts might show some interest in those groups, but no.  

Then, Joe turned his scorn onto the Trump voters, or the entire Republican Party.  He accused all MAGA supporters of being “semi-fascists”.  First of all, what the heck is a “semi-fascist”.  It doesn’t really matter.  Once you attach the word “fascist” to anything it conjures up visions of Hitler and Mussolini from WWII.  Then he made it clear, “It’s not just Trump, it’s the entire philosophy”.  So, anyone who believes we should be trying to make America great again is a fascist?  Does Joe even know what fascism is?  Fascism is an authoritarian government, headed by a dictator that forcibly suppresses its opposition.  That sounds more like the Democrat Party today, but even I won’t go so far as to suggest that all Democrats want Hitler or Mussolini running our country today.  Comparing tens of millions of Americans to fascists is both dangerous and reckless, unless your goal is to turn Americans against each other.

And wokism is the exact same philosophy executed by the general public.  If anyone disagrees with you, they must be demeaned, ridiculed and crushed (canceled).  They certainly can’t be listened to.  But the good news is that it appears the entire country is getting weary of these tactics in politics and in everyday life.  Even Barack Obama suggested that Democrats can sometimes be “a buzzkill”.  He added that people in America don’t want to have to walk around “on eggshells” in fear that they might say something that a Democrat might disagree with (or a Republican).  In fact, I enjoy a good debate and have many friends who are willing to have those debates with me without questioning my patriotism, sanity or the content of my character.

If you agree with Barack Obama and me, the solution to eliminating this new phenomenon of selective character assassination is simple.  In politics, don’t vote for these self-serving narcissists.  If you hear a politician demeaning or attacking huge swathes or even undefined numbers of American citizens, don’t vote for them.  I can assure you that their accusations are unfounded.  My opinion of the average American is pretty high.  It is only the extreme elements of both parties (maybe a total of 10% of the country) who bash our citizens relentlessly for their own political gains.

Finally, we must ignore the wokists out there who cannot tolerate opinions different than their own.  Since this intolerance of opposing opinions is being taught throughout our college campuses these days, this will be a challenge.  But if we all continue to point out the hypocrisy and intolerance of their behavior, we will eventually set them straight, for as the Bible says in John 8:32, (they) shall know the truth and the truth shall set (them) free!