You know I really can’t tell, and as a non-American outsider see that both sides are being extremely alarmist at this moment. Although the main criticism of Harris is that she is more of the same, there are plenty who try to paint her as a radical and dangerous left-winger, when she is nothing of the sort of course. Makes one wonder where the real Donald Trump ends and the caricature begins on the other end of the spectrum.
This is simply what we call polarization in politics, and is very hurtful to any semblance of unity that nationhood requires. America will likely not heal from this for a while, no matter who wins. Unless, whoever wins, delivers on something that matters to everyone, regardless of politics, that is usually something having to do with the cost and quality of life. That tends to placate people, even while their freedoms are being curtailed.
But I do feel that Trump is more symptom than cause. And the article suggests as much as well:
“…rising political antagonism in America is a perennial outgrowth of its defining conflict over race and national identity — with the current round of conflict sparked largely (albeit not entirely) by backlash to Barack Obama’s 2008 victory.”
There is nothing alarmist about raising the alarm when one candidate wants to bring back the spoils system to give regulatory power to the world’s richest man, and leadership of some of the most important health organizations in the world to an anti-science, disturbed individual who mutilates roadkill. It is objectively alarming when a candidate for leadership of the most powerful military complex in history cozies up to dictators and admits that he would like to be a dictator, just for one day. This candidate himself will be serving a final term and has displayed questionable mental health, and is facing significant criminal and civil liability and therefore has nothing to lose.
Make no mistake, this election is between more of the same, with many of the negatives it implies, and an inflection point in world history the likes of which we have not seen since perhaps 1985.
You know I really can’t tell, and as a non-American outsider see that both sides are being extremely alarmist at this moment. Although the main criticism of Harris is that she is more of the same, there are plenty who try to paint her as a radical and dangerous left-winger, when she is nothing of the sort of course. Makes one wonder where the real Donald Trump ends and the caricature begins on the other end of the spectrum.
This is simply what we call polarization in politics, and is very hurtful to any semblance of unity that nationhood requires. America will likely not heal from this for a while, no matter who wins. Unless, whoever wins, delivers on something that matters to everyone, regardless of politics, that is usually something having to do with the cost and quality of life. That tends to placate people, even while their freedoms are being curtailed.
But I do feel that Trump is more symptom than cause. And the article suggests as much as well:
“…rising political antagonism in America is a perennial outgrowth of its defining conflict over race and national identity — with the current round of conflict sparked largely (albeit not entirely) by backlash to Barack Obama’s 2008 victory.”
There is nothing alarmist about raising the alarm when one candidate wants to bring back the spoils system to give regulatory power to the world’s richest man, and leadership of some of the most important health organizations in the world to an anti-science, disturbed individual who mutilates roadkill. It is objectively alarming when a candidate for leadership of the most powerful military complex in history cozies up to dictators and admits that he would like to be a dictator, just for one day. This candidate himself will be serving a final term and has displayed questionable mental health, and is facing significant criminal and civil liability and therefore has nothing to lose.
Make no mistake, this election is between more of the same, with many of the negatives it implies, and an inflection point in world history the likes of which we have not seen since perhaps 1985.