Thanks for your perspective. For what it's worth, I totally agree with you on Hillary Clinton with regards to her various statements and book since she lost the election. You lost, lady! Get over it!
Yeah, part of it was for reasons outside of her control. But there were plenty that were in her control that mattered, such as to not just assume that she had all of Obama's votes and actually do some of the legwork on her own. I wouldn't mind if she came out with a book reflecting on her election defeat a decade from now, but less than a year later? It just seems like sour grapes, especially when it continues all the finger pointing which doesn't involve any pointing at herself. I feel like time will change her views on the subject quite a bit. At least I hope so, for her sake.
I also agree with your perspective on information and needing to look at multiple sources on both sides. The talking heads like Sean Hannity on Fox News are joke, but the Fox News website is actually a good source of information. But when when did outfits like the New York Times and the Washington Post become nothing but spewers of complete falsehoods and outfits named things like Red State Watcher and Right Wing News become blindly trusted sources of information for people? I have acquaintances and relatives in my Facebook news feed sharing things from groups called Anti-Liberal Zone, Deplorables, and RT (yes, RT, as in the Russian propaganda outfit formerly known as Russia Today). But if you try to counter with something from a reputable news source with actual journalistic standards...? Oh, didn't you know? That's fake news. To be fair, I also see liberals in my feed sharing things from News & Guts and Axios but do have to say that, while having a clear, strong anti-Trump slant, these are nowhere near as bad as the drivel from those right-wing outfits I mentioned.
As far as the wider discussion, I know you don't want to debate. But I did want to say a piece about your statement about hope for the country as a whole: I wish I shared your optimism. I truly do.
I've always held strong beliefs that politicians use social and moral issues as a wool over our eyes and get our focus fixed to give them space to do other things while people aren't paying attention. Things like changes to laws, policies, and regulations that favor the oligarchy over the masses or massive, extremely profitable companies over citizens. Republicans are waving the nationalist flag now and getting a lot of support from the patriot types and stirring up arguments between racists and anti-racists and ultranationalists and more pragmatic types, but at the same time they are paving the way for the ultra-wealthy to become even more so. I wish people would focus on the things that are actually important.
Some NFL player that people don't know in a city they've probably never been to is kneeling during the national anthem somehow gets people all bent out of shape, but rumblings about the government getting rid of the CFPB, reversing regulations put in place that reign in Wall Street in order to help prevent another Great Recession, large tax cuts for the very wealthy with a pittance handed out to everyone else (or even a tax increase in some cases)...? Supply-side economics has already been tried and its trickle-down effects were seen to be minimal. Trump and the Republicans want to get rid of the estate tax, which is a clear sign that rich people want to hoard wealth, not allow it to trickle down.
Expansion of policies favoring private prisons, creating a financial incentive to put people in jail. Policies harming education, resulting in a more poorly educated populace and all of the problems that come along with that. Policies and laws allowing companies to collect and sell personal information without consent. Policies turning our police into a military occupying force and eliminating any rights at or near the border (which includes international airports). Increases in government surveillance. Elimination of the right to be able to form a class in a lawsuit in order to hold companies accountable for gross negligence or malfeasance.
Where's the outrage over these things? Instead we see blind *support*, because people aren't even looking and support their chosen leader(s) no matter what.
While the wool pulling isn't a totally new phenomenon, I feel like we are seeing more polarization and much more fierce blind support (or blind disapproval). Extreme polarization has already done damage in Congress in terms of getting sensible bipartisan legislation passed that contains compromises for both sides, and the polarization is only going to get worse. See the election of extreme right Roy Moore over Luther Strange and rumblings that a "Tea Party of the left" sort of movement is going to result in much more leftist candidates making it out of Democrat primaries. This polarization has already had a huge impact on bipartisanship and it's only going to get worse as more Congressional seats change hands.
The "solution" to Congressional gridlock at partisanship - for both parties - has been to use all kinds of procedural tricks in order to try get things passed. Such as using the reconciliation process for laws that this process was never designed for in order to avoid a Senate fillibuster. Now there is talk about the Senate removing the fillibuster, which is basically the last thing standing in our government that forces some degree of bipartisan compromise. Don't we want bipartisanship? When did that become bad? Sure, bipartisanship means that we might lose some things we want when our party is in power, but it also means that we don't get things we absolutely hate when our party isn't.
I don't agree with you at all about Donald Trump, as I'm sure is clear. I think the guy is a total buffoon, a terrible leader, and extremely damaging to the fabric of this country. But that's beside the point. He's just a symptom of a bigger problem in this country.
This article is a bit alarmist, but it makes some really good points. I know it's Vox, but I hope you take the time to read it in any case. After all, you said yourself that you need both left and right vision.
Sorry to hear that you're having a rough patch. I hope everything improves for you and your family. And again, thanks for your perspective.
