On Fourth of July I had one of those weird thoughts I sometimes have. (Shocking, I know.)
The thought came to me that when it comes to politics Democrats are like the nice preacher who says if you work hard and act nice then you'll go to Heaven. Whereas Republicans are like the fire and brimstone preacher who says if you don't do exactly what he says then you'll go to the pits of fire and damnation!
Democrats like Obama and Bernie (less so Hillary) are always about the "high road" and the vision of everyone getting along and working together. Republicans like Trump and W Bush are more about being afraid of immigrants, terrorists, Obamacare, and whatever else they want to scapegoat at the moment. One is the carrot and the other is the stick.
Weirdly the stick has been winning. I guess besides being a nation of grumpy bulldogs we're also a nation of masochists who like being hit with a stick. Or just sheeple who need someone to tell us to be afraid of this or that so we'll get our asses to the voting booths.
Growing up a fan of Star Trek and Star Wars and all that, I'd like to believe the carrot would eventually win out. The better angels and all that. That doesn't seem to be the case so far. Of course for Democrats now Trump is a stick all on his own without them having to do much to wield it, much like Bush's blunders in Iraq and tanking the economy in 2008. Sometimes you have to find the stick and sometimes the stick finds you. Or whatever.
1 comment:
I do hope this big stick has been worked into a corner.
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