I’m endorsing you

Eric Luoma

Fountain, MN

I’m endorsing you. Oh, and me too: Us — a pick-up team! Yay! The never-ending task is to save us from a dystopian future. As election day nears, we will witness our National dialog devolve into evermore divisive and hateful rhetoric, because in the perfect zero-sum game everyone loses, and that’s what we are playing today. Most will blame the media, or the government; the remainder the opposing view point, as if there are only two. But the sad reality is that the government, the media, Donald, or Hillary, the “Libs,” “Alt-Right,” “AntiFa,” etc., etc., yada, yada, are not to blame. We are. You are. I am. We’ve chosen to play this pathetic zero sum game, and only we can choose another. While we’ve perhaps learned not to define the world in black and white, we continue to make equally absurd false divisions: “Left or Right?”, “Conservative or Liberal?”, “Socialist or Capitalist?” Any form of aid could be construed as socialist, and a $56,000 air ambulance ride could be construed as capitalism run amok. The point is that these are false choices. But they are easy choices, as are the choices to consume and proliferate media that reinforces our world view; to ignore facts that do not; and to accept behavior contrary to basic moral code for those whose lies we prefer. We all do this to some extent… if we at least acknowledge that, perhaps we will do it less often. Perhaps we’ll try another game, like a pick-up game of liberal democracy. While we all know there is no easy answer to the bitter state of our politics, consider that there is no one “answer” at all, but rather a continuous work in progress where we are either working or sloughing. A government Of the People, By the People and For the People requires constant maintenance by you and me. If it fails, it’s because we have. We will never — NEVER — be able to check a ballot box and have everything fixed. We have to work at it daily to either move forward or not. Back to the false choices of left or right, conservative or liberal – I think everyone who has any moral fiber at all would welcome a full spectrum of thought and action to make the world better. We all want to make progress while carefully conserving the gains we have made. We love a liberal exposure to human talent and the ability to share with our family and friends and good people we meet so long as we don’t foolishly put ourselves at risk. Indeed we need people to dream, to propose better ways, to envision a path of progress… and also those who skillfully and carefully implement without fanfare, alert us to potential risks, guard and protect those who need it. To carefully progress, we have to constantly engage and constantly work hard. Sometimes we will be the strategic dreamer, other times we’ll be out of the lime light, rolling up our sleeves to implement. I suppose, even if we pull out of this divisive dystopia, we still might appear “liberal” or “conservative” at times… but hopefully, the predominant description will just be “a good human.” Or not. It’s our choice. Sorry, but constant engagement and hard work are still not enough. We also need to constantly care about the Truth and the Results… and, wholly crap… to be patient, too! I hate that one — it’s so agonizingly difficult. Patience comes from understanding, which comes from effective listening and careful observation, which can only occur when you are curious, research with diligence, and remain open to questioning your own world view. With Patience and Hard Work and Truth, the results will become more clear, as will the path forward… but only — ONLY — if we put top value on the binding force of Integrity, and the questions that truly matter: Is this concept, strategy, or plan “Of the People,” “By the People” and “For the People?” Is it consistent with our inalienable human rights? What ya say – we on the same team?