Never Again

Politicians lie to us daily. I think it’s a requirement of the job. Hillary and Bill were famous for it, Barack admitted to lying as well. So, why do I loathe trump?

Lies have been told by us and to us since time immemorable. Some lies are those that protect the person hearing the lie; the proverbial ‘No, Honey. Those pants do not make you look fat at all.’ Some call these “white lies” or “social lies”, meant to smooth interaction with others rather than pummel someone with the blunt truth.

Then there are the lies that are self serving; the ‘no officer, I’m sure I wasn’t speeding’. These are lies that are easily seen through because we expect to be lied to in this way. We expect to have someone attempt to protect himself in the best story available. Invariably, we get that speeding ticket anyway, and we pay it because we know we were speeding.

Then there are the lies that injures others.

When trump came down that pompous escalator to announce his candidacy for president, he began his political career with lies and doubled down at every opportunity. I felt the man was completely ill prepared for the task, that he put his trust in people who were monstrously untrustworthy, and I was positive he would do a poor job. No surprise, he quickly showed himself to be pernicious, incompetent, a sociopathic narcissist, far less intelligent than he would have us believe, and he hero-worshipped dictators. As his very inadequacy found him out the powers behind the throne failed to rein him in.

Nonetheless, he was the president of the country. No matter how poorly done, he was our president, and that carried a two-way responsibility that I hated yet had little choice but to accept. As our president, he was charged with and accepted the duty to lead everyone, even me. Repeatedly he lied to me. Repeatedly he told me to trust him. And, as president, as the one who ultimately is the one in charge, I trusted the office. Then, I found that I couldn’t go to work because I didn’t have a mask; I couldn’t see my elderly family because I couldn’t risk their very life; I couldn’t see my friends because I could transmit a virus that could jeopardize their life and their loved one’s lives. A virus he told me was not an issue, would be a couple people, would go away like a fluff of cottonwood in the breeze.

In the end, it really doesn’t matter what you think about that virus, because he knew it to be deadly. He knew, and he accepted my family’s potential loss of life as a convenience. He knew and denied reality knowing it put us at risk. He lied and convinced others to lie and made the truth tellers a pariah.

We don’t have to agree in this country to find a common ground. Policy difference is a good thing. It frees the opportunity for debate and challenge, hopefully arriving at an idea that is the best it can be, able to survive challenge and investigation. But there must be a reality we can share. Never again will I allow myself to be led by someone who would see my death and the death of everyone I know as the inconsiderate cost of being thought powerful. Never Again.

Hugs. Randy