Written 11-6-16.
I started this to address something I find nauseating. I have discussed this previously with a few of my conservative contemporaries and they readily agreed. When a Liberal, Progressive, Democrat (or however they self-identify) person of any age disagrees with us (Conservative, Republicans) politically, they take on a "attitude tone" with us. The tone they strike is that they are of vastly superior intelligence to us. Did I say vastly? Yes? Good, because that is what I intended to say. This tone is really quite amazing. Are they implying that anyone who disagrees with their highly informed and experienced position is obviously just not very bright? Or, is there possibly a touch of discrimination, i.e., Ageism?? Yes, it clearly feels that way. Just for informational purposes, when we hear this tone, we are LESS likely than ever to agree with them. You probably react the same way to that tone, right?
So today, having wasted way too much time wandering around on Facebook and choosing to just not engage in any battles today, I have reached some conclusions. I should note that one of the biggest items to impact my thinking today is that I have already voted. I reached my decision even though some might think I have an aged, demented, delusional, warped brain and point of view. Luckily, none of those medical situations preclude me from voting. I even drove myself to the polls and back without incident. Am I being sarcastic enough? I hope so. It might be overboard, but it is fun.
I'd like to point out that I did start out as a Democrat back in the dark ages (there was electric light but no Facebook and no cell phones). I have learned from many of my contemporaries that this seems to be a normal progression. With a few more voting opportunities and experiences, we morphed from being Democrats to Republicans or Independents. I clearly remember voting for George McGovern in 1972 (against Richard Nixon) and later for Jimmy Carter (against Ronald Regan) in 1980. Only twice have I voted for the winner of a presidential election and I have voted in 11 previous presidential elections (2016 is the 12th).
So it's not exactly as though I've always been a mainstream voter. I like to think never voting for the winner means I'm an independent thinker. Or maybe I'm just counter culture and like to be different. Who knows or cares..at this point, what difference does it make?
Okay, all that reminiscing was fun but now to the real bottom line for today.
I have seen many what I would call "turning point" elections. In my view, 1980 was a turning point election as was 1994 and 2008. This election will also be a turning point election. Whatever the outcome is, I will not live long enough to see the far reaching results. It probably sounds morbid, but true. Many of the older Baby Boomers will not see another election. We are trying to do the best we can for the future by voting very carefully in what could be the last election we participate in. We have listened to a lot of political promises in our lifetimes and seen the reality they turned into so we believe we have some wisdom gained through experience to make a good decision. No matter what age we are, we can only do the best we can do.
