After having sat through three football (all kinds!) weekends of election commercials now, it's pretty clear to me which of the two major parties is the lesser evil. This time, anyway.
- The underlying meme of Jackass-sponsored (or coordinated-but-not-really-no-that-would-violate-election-finance-law PAC-sponsored) commercials is either about how Joe Voter can/will directly benefit, or about how The Other Side will actively hurt Joe Voter. When not attack ads based on personalities and distortions, that is.
- The underlying meme of Heffalump-sponsored (or coordinated-but-not-really-no-that-would-violate-election-finance-law PAC-sponsored) commercials is to ignore the Heffalumps' own accomplishments and instead focus on the pain the Heffalumps will inflict on the Other. When not attack ads based on personalities and distortions, that is.
Political commercials of any kind are bad enough; if they were for commercial ventures, they're so far beyond mere "puffery" that they're outright false advertising and unfair trade practices. But that underlying Heffalump meme is nothing more, and nothing less, than cultivating schadenfreude as an electoral method. Joe Voter is (supposed to be) swayed by the pain to be inflicted on The Other, regardless of whether there are actually any objective benefits to Joe Voter. <SARCASM> Increased suffering of refugees and other immigrants? Great! Who cares that the vast majority of their jobs are those that Joe Voter doesn't want? Increased suffering of sexual deviants? Even better! That'll help keep Ward and June in charge. Increased suffering of women with unwanted pregnancies? Not just better, but demanded by the original public meaning of "citizen" (which excluded women)! Plus, they're all ne'er-do-wells improperly competing for good jobs with white christian nationalist men anyway, they need to stay in the damned kitchen and raise the damned kids. </SARCASM>
Now before you think I've gone all partisan on you, this is a judgment of the moment. And the Jackasses, however much lesser an evil they are at present, still have a heart of darkness epitomized by (in alphabetical order) Madigan, McClain (not that one), Menendez, and Myers… and that's just (part of) the letter M, (part of) the corruption, entirely ignoring the — well — thoroughly post hoc rationalized and institutionalized ignorance. But it's a lesser evil than a party led by a convicted felon and sex offender, whose backup can't tell the difference between a fact and a rumor, with its own cohort of corruption (and problems with cows).
One might say that America deserves better; but in a representative democracy, there's an undercurrent that the electorate deserves exactly what it elects (which has an aftertaste of schadenfreude in itself). True dilemmas do exist. It remains important after "resolving" them, though, to do two things:
- Take appropriate, effective steps to avoid being put in that position again; and
- Remember that when choosing the lesser evil, one is still choosing evil — and that requires continued vigilence thereafter.