Election of 2020

You Hold The Power To Change The World

It makes me very optimistic

Love is the force that guides us. That’s what we are all looking for. As humans it’s necessary to have a loving connection with others. When we go for too long without feeling love, we do things to change our situation so that we can feel love once again. — Chris Hedges

These are my predictions for a better future based upon my current observations. I’m usually right, not because of anything special, but because it seems most people I run into are optimistic these days. So read on and feel a little happier. There is some work required on your part to make sure that we achieve happier days. The great thing is that we can achieve them!

I’m optimistic about the future. I can feel change is coming. The pendulum is swinging back towards justice and away from anarchy and chaos. It’s the justice in the sense of people doing things that are loving and right rather than things are designed to further their own self interested.

I see the changes happening now. Even though we are months into a pandemic with widespread economic impacts, most people I have observed are friendlier these days than they were in the past. My observations show that we are able to pull together as humans. While outliers get attention, most people I see these days are wearing masks. They are also saying “hi” to each other. Everyone is less rushed than in days past.

I’ve noticed a change in my perceptions. The anxiety I had coming up to the election before now is alleviating. There seems to be more things to be optimistic about. I see people being nice to each other. Since the pandemic has happened people seem to be nicer and friendlier. Even if it’s not reflected in some of the news reports.

The news about Trump’s fundraising suffering the more he injects fear into his campaign is a good sign. Usually, people who raise lots of money have more support. Reports of lower campaign contributions make me think people are putting their money behind candidates that aren’t trying to divide people and stoke fear.

Fear is a hard emotion to sustain over a long period of time. As we see around the world, authoritarian leaders aren’t doing too well during the time of the virus. Belarus is one example where people are rising up as their leader is exposed as incompetent… The political game of creating chaos or blaming others and then “solving” the manufactured problems does not work when there is a real problem. A real problem will let true leaders shine, while incompetent flail.

News of drug companies signing pledges to follow science, rather than politics is heartening. I am glad to hear that big drug companies are seeking safety as their goal rather than a quick rollout of a vaccine for profit or to please politicians.

It makes me more trusting of a vaccine since I know that there’s no deadline to roll something out with the companies taking the pledge to make science and safety their goals. The reassurance makes me more likely to get a vaccine knowing it has undergone rigorous testing. I’m in favor of proven and tested vaccines. This makes me feel a lot more confident. A well-tested vaccine will be a blessing.

I’ve noticed a change in my perceptions. The anxiety I had coming up to the election before now is alleviating. There seems to be more things to be optimistic about. — Chris Hedges

Love is the force that guides us. That’s what we are all looking for. As humans, it’s necessary to have a loving connection with others. When we go for too long without feeling love, we do things to change our situation so that we can feel love once again.

My overall message is to feel hope. Know that love is going to win soon. Fear is too hard to maintain. Prolonged fear is unnatural. We’re not supposed to feel fear for long periods of time.

Fear may win some battles. But his history has shown, leaders who use fear and division soon lose power. Especially in places where people have known freedom.

Things aren’t perfect. We must continue to do our best to make our society more egalitarian. We must fix the wrongs of the past and make them right. We must have a mechanism to address structural issues that cause inequality. We need to fix our economy so that it benefits everybody, not just the 1%.

We must do things to ensure the economic security of the middle class. We need to make sure that young people have a sense of a great future. We need to enter parody with the rest of the developed world and fund health care for all, free education, including college for our society, and encouragement of scientific studies, arts and other pursuits that help us as humans to reach our greatest potential.

My overall message is to feel hope. Know that love is going to win soon. Fear is too hard to maintain. Prolonged fear is unnatural. We’re not supposed to feel fear for long periods of time. — Chris Hedges

We have to change our society away from maximizing profits at the expense of everything else. Our society went from having a large middle class even up to the mid-2000s, to have a continually shrinking middle class. The 1% is controlling a supermajority of the wealth in the country. Most regular people are close to financial collapse after losing a couple of paychecks. Increasing Wall Street profits these days means cutting jobs to increase “human capital efficiency.” That’s Wall Street speak for cutting employees and making whoever is leftover fearful. The remaining employees usually take benefit and salary cuts they also end up working a lot more because they’re doing the work of three or four people.

The demographics show that we are due for a change. There are more young people who are looking for a change daily. The older people will be falling out of power soon. Being from Generation X myself I am sure that we will work well with Millennials and Gen Z’ers (and all others wanting change) to help reform our society. Kamala Harris is a Generation X member and could be president one of these days.

Your mission is to follow the news. Make sure that you are up to date on the issues. Look at them from all the sides. Learn how to spot propaganda. Learn how to see where you are being persuaded to support causes that might not be in your best interests. Look to see who is behind certain messages.

One advantage I think that I have is growing up in a red state is I can spot all of the messages because I’ve been exposed to most of my political life. I have also been “red” myself in the past. Now I consider myself “blue.” But, if the blue side ever went out of whack, I would find another political party to support.

There’s no shame in changing your support for or against candidates based upon what they are doing. That is the only way to protect our politics from becoming egocentric or corrupt. Corruption can happen on all sides. There is no monopoly on either political party being corrupt or not corrupt. It is human nature for people in power to overreach.

When greed is glorified, corruption is more likely to occur in the party that is glorifying wealth acquisition at the expense of everybody else.

It is important to look at your local candidates every election season. These people are your future national leaders. The person that you elect to your local governments, state and local, make a huge difference in your life.

They control your state laws. They control your town’s ordinances. People on the school board control your kid’s education. They have the most contact with you on a day-to-day basis.

Make sure that you look closely at local leaders. The people you elect to those positions will move their way upward into other positions. If you can select great people at the lower levels they will learn how to serve their constituencies well. Your lives will be better for having competent, empathetic, and public-service oriented people as your government officials.

It is a beautiful thing that as an American you have a lot of power in your vote. Make sure that you do not give it away by feeling to use your vote this November. If you can vote early, go ahead and do that.

You can decide to make America a better place by voting for candidates who will support health care, education, a fair economy, and egalitarianism. you can vote for people who will take your interests into consideration, instead of the wealthy corporations’ desires to increase their profits at your expense.

These are awesome and exciting times. You get to make a big change in not only America but in the whole way the world operates. You can make a difference between the way things are going now and a better life for the future. The power is in your ballot. Go forth and vote.

Chris Hedges, BA (journalism / political science), J.D., is an editor of The Bad Influence, Red Curtain Erotica and The Sacred Sensual.