I’m ready for a change, any change. I know you probably are too.
Life is essentially stagnant at the moment. I heard one pastor on a podcast say that we (Americans) were suffering from “spiritual undernourishment.” He’s right.
In addition, I think we’re suffering from a lack of what makes each one of us, “us,” because the things we use to define and shape our lives are either shut down or modified to such an extent that they’ve lost what made them good in the first place. This pandemic is awful. We’ve put our lives on hold, and we’ve been asked to wait longer. Who do we become when we stop moving forward?
Chaos (what else can you call this?) creates opportunity, good and bad. This was a great opportunity for us as a nation, but we’ve blown it. Because this is an election year, both parties have used the virus for political points. The angst of living in America in 2020 has driven us deeper into our partisan political tents, and we have our elected leaders to thank for exploiting the moment.
How a nation responds to a respiratory virus should not be a partisan issue. This was a real crisis, deserving of real, serious, solutions. If there was ever a hope that Americans had the ability to put partisanship aside, the virus proved it a naive fantasy.
Instead, both parties are all-in on a God-awful pandemic. Nothing else matters in 2020. It makes me sick to my stomach, and I write about politics for fun.
Moving ahead to November, there’s only two scenarios that can play out. The obvious one is that the virus keeps roaring and America stays shut down. If this happens, Trump is defeated and Democrats make gains across the country. Trump can’t escape this fate, and neither can the Republican Party. It’s easy to sit inside in your A/C on the 20th consecutive 90+ degree day and write off 2020 as the year that Trump lost by 20 points.
But an autumn chill has its way of injecting energy into the souls of men. What if the angst were to “lift” sometime before November 3. What if the virus numbers decline? What if Americans begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
What if America can win?
Can it?
Or have we given up? Sometimes it feels that way.
In North Carolina, our numbers appear to have peaked, this week in fact. If they haven’t peaked, they’ve at least lost upward momentum.
The United States Curve appears to be leveling off as well:
If the virus numbers decline in any significant way before November, the loud screams to keep schools, businesses, and pretty much everything we enjoy shut-down will quiet.
The only ones advocating shutdowns will be Democratic leaders like Roy Cooper. It will be too late for them to turn back. There will be a debate about who got us to the other side of the mountain, but it won’t mean anything. We’re already in our partisan tents, remember?
Donald Trump has lost a lot of his mojo. It’s likely that even he believes that he’s going to lose.
You don’t whine and complain about the methods being used to carry out an election that you think you’re going to win. If you’ve got it in the bag, you can’t wait for election day.
To conclude, 2020 has put me in a odd predicament. In a way, my new hope is that Donald Trump doesn’t get blown out, because that will mean the Covid pandemic improved, our way of life was not permanently destroyed, and my children can have a real public education.
I started this site because partisanship is ruining our ability to function at all levels of government. The virus has proven that well. I’m sick of it, though. I know you are too.
We’ve got to find a way out, and staying safe and warm in our partisan bubbles won’t get us anywhere.
Where do you want to go, America? You can’t stay inside forever.
Cross Creek Divide 