Watching US politics is like watching Evel Knievel attempt a stunt, you know there is a crash coming. Actually, that is an exaggeration that paints Knievel in a bad light, as out of 168 jumps, he only crashed on 19 of the attempts. When it comes to US politics these days, it is a near certainty.
Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people.
Eleanor Roosevelt
As I was saying to 
The conversation shouldn't be about Trump or Harris, it should be about the government and what is required of it to take the country forward. The face of the government is irrelevant, whereas the policies the government creates and affect people in the country, are very relevant. Any democratic government is not bad or good, but rather a representation of the understanding, behaviors and beliefs of the people. But again, in a world where the desires of the individual are the most important thing to a voter, what kind of government is built?
In the final analysis, a democratic government represents the sum total of the courage and the integrity of its individuals. It cannot be better than they are.
Eleanor Roosevelt
It cannot be better than they are.
That is something I have believed in a long time before hearing the quote. But, I also believe a government can be worse than the people it governs. And in such systems, to maintain power, the government will undermine the courage and integrity of its citizens to bring them down to their level, to condition them to be unable to rise up against the power that controls them.
I believe that democracy is based on the ability to make democracy serve the good of the majority of the people. If it can’t do that, then it should not survive.
Eleanor Roosevelt
"Should not" survive, not cannot survive. There is a difference. In another time in history, the politicians of today would not survive. But, in this strange culture we have created and keep perpetuating as we focus on celebrity rather than strategy, the worst of our behaviors have increased odds to rise to the surface, to take control, to be our face, even if we believe ourselves to be something altogether different. Belief is not reality.
Are you a good person?
When will our consciences grow so tender that we will act to prevent human misery rather than avenge it?
Eleanor Roosevelt
How do you stack up to the groups of people you despise in your country? I am not talking about the worst of them, I am talking about the best of them. If you are comparing yourself to the worst, what does that tell about your standards? The average mind looks a genius next to that of an idiot, but a fool next to that of a true genius.
No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.
Eleanor Roosevelt
So much of the decisions people made is about revenge over someone or group due to some perceived slight, whether real or imagined. It is about getting back at, scoring a point over, teaching a lesson to - instead of understanding how to be better, and then being it. If we are the sum of our behaviors, and we haven't spent time reflecting on our own thoughts, words and actions, what does that tell about our judgement? Are we qualified and justified? Anyone can have an opinion, that doesn't make it valuable. Except, in the world we have created, it is. An opinion. Any opinion. No matter if it is nonsensical or harmful, could find a platform and garner an audience, so as to influence them into thinking similarly, speaking similarly, acting similarly.
Like sheep.
Our obligation to the world is, primarily, an obligation to our own future.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Our own future is irrelevant, because we have misunderstood teachings that have been taught for thousands of years, that life is in the now. We have made an error in our evaluation and have taken it to mean that we should only do what makes us happy now, or avoids unhappiness now. When in actual fact, what it means is that we live in a stream of nows, and if we want future nows to be better than present nows, we have to act now.
- Ideas
- Events
- People
Which do you consume. Which do you think about. Which do you discuss. Which do you act upon.
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]