A Call for Building Community

From an American who cares

This is my first post. I admit I don’t know what I am doing. I am a former software and website developer. I am not a writer, politician, historian, journalist, or social media influencer. The only thing I genuinely am at the moment is unequivocally sad.

I have no audience. That is a bit of a relief because I can just be honest and put myself out there - speak out into the void. For a long time, I have lamented the divisive nature of our two-party system. The engines that fuel our politics seed our social media with misinformation and inflammatory language designed to reinforce that division, make us angry, and trigger hatred for each other. Hate fuels more hate and we as a people are the weaker for it. We are just pawns in a multidimensional game of chess and we sometimes don’t even know who the players are.

As the President is preparing to address our nation later tonight, I worry that not only will our future not be that great America that was promised, but instead, the stability and support that our long-standing government institutions provide will be destroyed in the name of efficiency.

I don’t want to create more party divide by saying that. I don’t want to convince you that my fears are your reality. But if you share these fears - or eventually come to share them - and also are tired of the political hate and divisiveness, I am here for you. I am looking for a way to mend those fences. I suspect that over time, gradually, more and more people from across the political spectrum will find themselves in this place of need. Things that they thought would not affect them, do. Things they thought would not happen, happen. If I am wrong, no one will be happier than me.

If my fears do materialize (and I think they will unless something disrupts our current path), then we all will be facing struggles like we have never known before. The programs that we depend on (Medicare, Medicaid, ACA, Social Security, national parks, forestry services, environmental protections, consumer protections, disease control and scientific research, national security, the legal system, the military, aviation safety, etc) will fail us and eventually collapse. Even our representative democracy and constitution are on the table.

I have never felt stronger that this is the path we are on, and so far, I have seen little action to stop it. It makes me sad - all the people who will be hurt - many more immediately than myself. But I won’t let it make me angry to the point that I turn on fellow Americans in the same sinking ship. We are going to need each other. Political parties won’t matter. Getting by will. We need unity across political parties to fix it. We will need to stop using party lines to attack each other and do the will of our party, and instead unite together and make our representatives act according to the will of the people. This will never happen if we can’t set aside the hate and recognize that our strength and power lies in our commitment to each other.

I know that sounds like an impossible hope. But I have friends and family from across all political spectrums, from a relative who is a Christian nationalist to another who is trans. Somehow or another, we all still get along and show up for each other, treat each other with respect and love, even though we may greatly disagree about politics.

This blog is my therapy - my refusal to give in to despair - and my feeble attempt to move in a healthier direction. I don’t ask anyone to set aside their views. I don’t advocate for shifting all views to the middle. I instead only ask that we do not direct hate toward those with different views. That we listen to each other. That we support each other when we are in need. And that we don’t let our leaders destroy institutions that we pretty much universally depend on. Any system can be made more efficient, especially our government. Gutting entire systems, all of them, all at once, without thoughtful analysis and understanding will perhaps save us some money short term, but will not make our systems more efficient or serve the people, and will likely cost us much more in the long run in terms of money, services, and chaos.

NOTE: As a hobbyist wildlife photographer, I will adorn my posts with nature and wildlife photos. Escaping into our natural world is another great therapy that I would like to share.

—just an American who cares

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