Fear & Loathing on the Campaign Trail Mach II • Pre-Election Reflections and a Prayer of Unity for a Divided Nation

With the 2024 Presidential Election coming up prior to our next print edition  deadline, obviously we have no idea what the outcome will be, or if a winner will even be known by the time this publication hits the news stands on  November 7^th.  

What we do know is divisively distorted narratives propagated on both sides of the political aisle designed to fracture our mutual strength and  trust in government to protect, cultivate, and fortify our shared and common interests in life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness have apparently been snatched by demons managing to collectively haunt us with premeditated ignorance and uncertainty.

In ‘A Letter to my Countrymen’ written back in 1833, author James Fenimore Cooper said the following: "Whenever the government of the United States shall break up, it will probably be in consequence of a false direction having been given to public opinion."

He goes on to state: "This is the weak point of our defenses, and the part to which the enemies of the system will direct all their attacks. Opinion can be so perverted as to cause the false to seem true; the enemy, a friend, and the friend, an enemy; the best interests of the nation to appear insignificant, and the trifles of a moment; in a word, the right the wrong, the wrong the right. As it is a rule of humanity that the upright and well-intentioned are comparatively passive, while the designing, dishonest, and selfish are the most untiring in their efforts, the danger of public opinion’s getting a false direction is four-fold, since few men think for themselves.”

It is for this very reason freedoms of speech and expression were enshrined so profoundly as fundamental rights in our Constitution, which have systemically been eroded to the point that regardless of party affiliation, our confidence in government has brought us to this critical juncture in history. 

The Latin derivation of the word ‘politics’ translates into governance over a community, which involves the art of compromise - something we must never forget.  No one person or party has a premium on the truth and because in our Democracy power emanates through the consent of the governed, we must be vigilant, responsible, and wary of the differences between those in power who give us solutions and policies involving questions that cannot be answered versus answers that cannot be questioned. For when this happens, then truth becomes treason in an empire of lies; or in the immortal words of George Orwell, “In. time of deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act.”

But most importantly, regardless of the outcome of Tuesday’s presidential election, please remember these poignant words of biblical wisdom in Matthew 12:25:  "Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand."

Patrick Henry used this phrase in his last public speech, given in March 1799, in which he denounced The Kentucky and Virginia Resolutions. Clasping his hands and swaying unsteadily, Henry declaimed, "Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall.”

These Resolutions were political statements written in 1798 and 1799 by Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, which were a combined  Democratic-Republican response to the Alien and Sedition Acts, which were passed by a Federalist-controlled Congress. The resolutions argued that the federal government's authority was limited by the Constitution, and that states had the right to declare unconstitutional any acts of Congress that went beyond those limits. 

The resolutions argued for states' rights and a strict interpretation of the Constitution. They also appealed to the First Amendment to argue that the federal government could not limit freedom of speech or the press. 

These resolutions were the first official acts to assert the right of state governments to declare federal laws unconstitutional. They also intensified the political divide between the Democratic-Republicans and the Federalists, which ironically is the same situation we now find ourselves in today regarding our political division.

So please dear friends, supporters, and readers, regardless of the outcome of this presidential election, be good, be kind, and most importantly, be civil to one another.  

In summation, I leave you with the thoughts from three inspirational statesman who eloquently frame these sentiments:

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is only temporary; the evil it does is permanent.   - Mahatma Gandhi

"Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."   - John F. Kennedy

"Nonviolence is the answer to the crucial political and moral questions of our time: the need for man to overcome oppression and violence without resorting to oppression and violence. Man must evolve for all human conflict a method which rejects revenge, aggression and retaliation. The foundation of such a method is love."    - Martin Luther King, Jr.

Take the high road, embrace the light, and repel the darkness