There is no question that we, the people, have spoken. All three branches of government have been won by populist conservatives. The executive, legislative and judicial branch will be led by populists for a minimum of two years and in the case of the judiciary, a generation. I’ve long believed Thomas Jefferson’s, “We elect the government we deserve”. That is the sad and wonderful but undeniable fact about our democracy.
I remain puzzled that contrived outrage has become a winning political strategy. The party of my youth came to national prominence recently by making loud noises, harvesting the seeds of discontent. Moderates like me could not understand that most voters responded to grievance with: “It’s about time someone expressed my anger”.
Civil discourse has been replaced by something like a reality TV show, taking intractable issues such as immigration, climate and public health into “for or against” positions. I once worried aloud about each day’s episode of “Political Survivor”. In doing so, I unwittingly helped partisan outrage become the top seller of news, ads and clicks.
This year alone, $14.7 billion was spent on election media. I fought what I thought was a “righteous battle”, but I lost badly. There is no branch to provide checks and balances.
So, the show must go on. Social and traditional media will be drenched over the next four years with a new outrage each day from both extremes. Talking heads will expound endlessly on the news that heaven or hell is upon us. It sells. For me, it’s exhausting.
So, my new strategy? Don’t get mad, get busy. Stop getting angry when someone tells this fiscally moderate conservative/ socially moderate liberal (me) that I’m “woke”. Fearing that I’ll be labeled a socialist is absurd to me. I despise extremes of any kind.
But I’ve never been able to stop a bad habit. I must start new habits to replace bad ones. First, I commit to reading and listening to better, more neutral and therefore more even news sources. Second, I will find better ways to listen to and speak with the “aggrieved”.
My most important action will be, starting January 20 th , (get it?), I will dedicate my time and treasure to likely victims of a populist, reality show government.
1. I’ve made a list of those at risk from the consensus government.
2. I will choose one or more I feel good about serving.
3. I will donate time to positive actions on their behalf.
It could be no more than volunteering a few hours in an immigrant center or doing a research paper about information literacy. By doing this, I’ll be declining new invitations to fear and anxiety.
Here is a forever, not an alternative, fact: the antidote for fear and outrage is love and action, right here in my hometown.
I hope you will join me in yours.
Peace.
Tim McCarthy
“If you wake up, get up. If you get up, do something”.
---Sal LeCesse
Editor’s note: Thanks to son, Kevin, for turning me on to this obscure band. This song represents their style well, funky and fun and is nicely aligned to this month’s message.
Favorite lyrics:
“I'm through worryin'
I'm through cryin'
and I know I know I know
that it's gonna be alright
nobody could tell me
I had to find out for myself
I had to live, learn, get burned, do it again
whole lotta shoulda coulda woulda won't help me now
it won't help me now
Believe it or not, what you want and what you need is what you get!”
Editor’s note: No, it’s not a book, it is an 8-minute TED talk. Dr. Hervey is an Australian PhD in government and public policy with a history as a “political economist”. Like the
emerging group of fact-based writers such as the Rosling family (“Factfullness” and www.gapminder.org), Hervey’s goal seems to be information literacy. Maybe supporting these folks will become another of my “don’t get mad, get busy” strategies for 2025.
During the days ad agencies were transforming from commission-based to fee-based compensation, we asked the chairman of our ad agency how he calculated the fees we would present to our big client the next morning. He said, “I stood in front of a full-length mirror and go to the highest number I can without laughing.”