Heartbreak & Go Pack Go!

These have been some really difficult days for our nation.  Honestly, I’m heart broken.  And we still continue to act like kids on a playground, trying to blame each other for who started the fight. “Well, Billy pushed me first. Yeah, but Suzy called me a bad name.”  When will it ever stop?

Yes, of course their are bad actors who are more directly responsible for inciting, aiding and abetting the violent mob that attacked our Capitol last week. And they MUST be held fully accountable for their despicable actions.

But if we stop there; if we only want to shift blame, demonize our opponents and “win” arguments, then we are missing both the graver danger to our democracy, and the greater opportunity we have, now, to band TOGETHER and save our country! To do this, we must reject violence, turn away from our violent rhetoric, and confess our “angry mob mentality” toward other Americans who don’t look, act or vote the same way we do. NO, democrats are not communists. NO, all Republicans are not racist. Let’s stop this dehumanizing nonsense, and give each other the benefit of the doubt. We need a lot more empathy and Grace in our political and social discourse.

We have a COMMON ENEMY, in this FIGHT to save our democracy–it’s our dysfunctional, broken, petty, polarizing, hyper-partisan political system (a classic, anti-competitive “duopoly”). We need to come together to FIX our broken political system. We can fix it by implementing proven political innovations; reforms such as: open, NONpartisan (single ballot) primaries, with ranked-choice or approval voting (like we did here in St. Louis City), independent redistricting commissions, and any other reform that makes our system more open and more competitive. We need a free and fair political “marketplace” where the best ideas, and the best candidates win. This is how we make our democracy work for “We the People” once again!

Extremism, and extreme rhetoric, from both sides, is destroying our country. We are reaping the poisonous fruit of a toxic political culture. Our House is on fire, and we want to argue over who’s responsible for removing the fire extinguishers. 

I could go on and on. But, I’m going to take the weekend, root for my Packers and hopefully, lighten up a little bit! 🙂 And then, there is still a lot of good work for us to do … together. Take care, Go Pack Go, and I’ll be back in touch next week.

Eric