I am an introvert. Three independent groups of people gave me the nickname Silent Steve. I maybe say a couple thousand words a week, and most of that is at work where I have to talk to customers. If I didn’t have to work, and talking to the dog didn’t count, I could easily be down to a hundred or so words a week. There are several factors as to why that is. First, it’s just the way I am. Second, I do have interests I could talk about, but most of the people I know who share those interests are online. And third, many of my views on religion or politics aren’t widely shared where I live.
Expanding on that third
point, I think Trump was the worst President since … ever. The next worse one would probably be Nixon,
but at least he had the decency to resign.
I have a pretty good grasp of history since WWII, and I know there were
some corrupt Presidents in the 1800s, but none of them tried to overthrow the
government. I’m in the rough spot of on
one hand wanting Trump to be punished in prison for the rest of his miserable
life for the uncountable number of crimes he’s committed, but on the other hand
I see that he clearly has mental issues and deserves dignified treatment and
care.
Now I live in a very red
county. I had written that even in the
weeks after the assassination attempt, I didn’t see any increase in Trump signs
or hats or anything. But in the last
couple of weeks, I still haven’t seen any new yard signs, but there has been a
slight uptick in people wearing Trump hats or shirts. And even people not wearing such obvious MAGA
clothing will still blurt out some MAGAish statements. It’s not a question of if, but when I’ll hear
someone make a racist comment about Harris.
All of this is to say
that I don’t talk about politics in general, but in the last decade or so I’ve
become even more guarded. So I’m not one
to put up a Harris/Walz sign, or wear a button or anything like that. And I’m too broke to help them with
money. I do write stories, such as “Hot Enough for Ya?” which shows what could happen with a second Trump term, but too
few people follow me and will even see it.
This came to a head a
couple of months ago. I felt like I
wasn’t doing enough to save democracy.
Like, the fate of the nation rested entirely on my shoulders. I wanted to do more, but couldn’t and felt
terrible. And I realized that one, it’s
not all up to me, but more importantly two, I wasn’t the only one who felt that
way. There are probably tens of thousands
of people across the country giving themselves ulcers worried that they,
personally, aren’t doing enough. Maybe they’re
an introvert and don’t like talking to strangers about things like abortion or
climate change. Maybe they’re struggling
financially and can’t really afford to give some politician $20. Or maybe they’re a blue dot in a rabid MAGA sea
and don’t want to make themselves a target.
And my message to all the political introverts out there is you are not
alone. You don’t have to single-handedly
save democracy. If the only thing you
are emotionally/financially/physically able to do is vote on November 5, then
do that. The entire point of talking to
people and paying for ads is to get people to vote because that’s the most
important thing. And if that is the only
thing you can do, then you’ve done the most important thing.
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