Venting about Politics

We should feed our positive nature.

It’s been a while since I wrote a substack. Life has been a roller coaster. A lot has changed in my life. I won’t bore you with it all today, but I wanted to share something.

I have been in politics for nearly four years. During that time, I’ve devoted myself to constantly studying history to be better prepared to speak about complex issues. I have also dedicated lots of my time to attending political events. I do not discriminate. I have attended democrat events, MAGA events, and NeverTrump events. These events leave me drained and saddened.

Regardless of the organization, a political event follows the same basic pattern. The event is often a party; it serves drinks, appetizers, and hands out swag. The people attending are on the ground, and the leaders are on a stage speaking from a microphone. When the leaders speak, they spend their time attacking the perceived enemy. Saying things like, “We must come together to defeat (said enemy) from destroying the country.” Missing from the speeches are any concrete ideas or solutions to the problems the country is facing.

I tend to hang around long enough to speak with the leaders to challenge them on the emptiness of their speech. I try to do this as respectfully as possible. I understand that people do not like to have their ideas, or lack thereof, challenged. This rarely goes well. Instead of debating with me, I am shunned, not invited back, and often called whatever the name of their enemy.

I share this because it’s hard. It’s why regular people do not engage in politics. Nothing is going to change until we get new leaders. Nothing is going to change until those shunned are given a voice.

When I leave an event, I typically have a moment of sadness wash over me in the car. My wife witnessed this over the weekend. She was concerned. What saddens me is that no matter what group is speaking and what group they are speaking about, I have friends and family in those groups. So, I am constantly at events where leaders are calling my friends and family traitors, communists, and enemies of America, and the people in the crowd are cheering. I know those charges aren’t true, but the people making the charges don’t seem to. And I doubt the crowd understands the complexity of the issues since the leaders never bother to discuss them. I fear what will happen to a world with such negativity and lack of debate.

The problem with our politics is it feeds negativity. It seeks to divide as a means of unity. There is no place for ideas and no room for debate.

I wish there were a place in politics for people to debate, a place to recognize our differences and seek to understand each other. A place that feeds our positive nature as opposed to our negative nature. I attempted to create this with the Madisonian Republicans, but I am limited in my abilities without a large number of volunteers or substantial funding.

The thing that gets me down the most is that I often wonder when I will become like them. When will I get tired of the failure and empty events and start feeding the negativity as a means to fill the room? When will the negativity shape me to be negative? How will I know when it has happened?

That’s all I have for today. Thank you for letting me vent.

Check out my latest article in the Blaze.

Peace & Love.

Jeff Mayhugh