Trying to find sanity in a sea of lies; strong leaders vs egoists

I recently read a friend’s Facebook post that said something about feeling like they were reliving the past, in reference to current politics. I smirked when I read it because I can very much relate. I commented, saying that I had gone to my first protest at 17 over the war in Iraq as a student journalist; ironically, I was in the same park 23 years later protesting the President of the United States.

I was vocal about my dislike of Trump his first term in office. Back then, people would make some insult out of calling me liberal, or a Democrat, and I brushed it off. At the time, I rather would have been called that than have anything to do with MAGA, and those hurling the insults were random internet people—not something I waste energy on. I had proudly voted for Obama, and was beyond irritated at Republican politicians for doing everything they could to prevent any progress from happening, hiding behind veiled racism and hypocrisy while Obama was in office. What had started as an occasional annoyance when Bush served as president had become a full-blown problem during Obama’s terms, and it only got worse under Trump as he used sensationalism to rapidly accelerate the division that had been simmering for years.

Now, not even a year into his first term, I’ve attended three No Kings protests, published a book of political satire, and helped found a small group to help spread bipartisan political event information throughout Northwestern Missouri, all with the intent to bring us together and end the violent rhetoric that has caused this division.

In the grand scheme of things, I’ve never been all that interested in politics. I’ve always made it a point to vote in presidential elections, and once I got a little older I realized the importance of mid-terms, especially when you consider how few people actually turn out to vote in those elections. The people governing our cities and states are just as important as those in the federal government, even if we do not constantly see them in the press, but when things seem to be going mostly right, it doesn’t feel necessary to spend as much time keeping myself in the loop.

The last nine years? Jesus Fucking Christ am I over all this bullshit! The Democrats pissed me off in 2016, when it seemed like they had a few cracks showing in leadership—I firmly believe that’s why Trump won his first term. They’ve scrambled to have a cohesive voice ever since, and have capitulated far too many times instead of standing up for the institution that is our government, and the people that are the constituents they are paid to represent. Weak leadership on both sides of the aisle does nothing to move us forward, and allowing politicians to hold leadership positions for decades has led to octogenarians governing a population with a median age of 39.1 years, as of 2024. Why have we been allowing this to happen?

So now I find myself being that annoying friend on Facebook, constantly posting political bullshit and human rights awareness in between garden updates and cat videos. We have a political system that is failing miserably because it has been allowed to age and fester in “the old days” in a desperate attempt by those in power to maintain their status quo. We have allowed our veterans to remain homeless on the street while sending billions in aid to fund Israel’s war, and now we’re sending $40 billion to stabilize Argentina’s economy and purchase their beef while citizens here go without food and farmers worry about price undercuts--my dad is a cattle farmer, this one is personal. We have families’ whose budgets are spread too thin, having to choose between which bills to pay and which ones to put off for one more month, while our President builds a golden ballroom for himself using bribes from the billionaires he’s given tax breaks in a quid-pro-quo.

It has to stop. At some point, we all need to wake up and realize this isn’t right. It is not okay to have a President that behaves the way Trump does, insulting and threatening those he doesn’t like and accepting bribes from those he thinks will kiss his ass. A man who demolished the East Wing of the White House, a building that belongs to the People of the United States, without a thought so he could build a ballroom. A man whom demands loyalty to himself over loyalty to the country he swore to serve, while using hate speech to encourage revenge on those who mock or disobey him. This is not the way of a strong leader, it is the way of a man far more concerned about his ego than his oaths and obligations.

MJ