Systems

I'm not naturally an optimist, but there is something that gnaws at my pessimistic outlook from time to time: the idea that by thinking certain negative aspects of life are simply unavoidable, we actually contribute to them being so.  Does this mean we can defeat cancer by simply thinking good thoughts? No, but good thoughts certainly don't hurt your prognosis.  There's an old saying that goes if you aim low you will usually hit your target.  Wendell Berry says it this way: "Wrong was easy, gravity helped it."
This week, as corruption trials grab the headlines and public officials and former campaign managers are exposed as essentially gangsters with pens.  As I think about how quaint the whole "drain the swamp," rhetoric sounds nowadays, I also keep thinking about the Governor of my state, Larry Hogan.  Governor Hogan seems like a freak of nature in modern politics, a Republican who isn't a jerk, or a proto-fascist, or a never Trumper, or a Trump sycophant, or an apologist for an increasingly diseased GOP.  He is rather a representative of what I would like to believe is an honest conservatism that has been largely chased into the hills by an angry mob in MAGA hats.
Maryland is a pretty blue state (even if you subtract the egregious gerrymandering). For a Republican to win the Governorship of this state, one really must seek the common ground.  Which is essentially what I believe all politicians should be thoroughly committed to doing, because the common ground is the only place we have to stand that will not crumble under us when things go awry.  As much as I miss Barack Obama, the ease with which many of his accomplishments are being undone by a veritable stooge is a testament to the reality that he did not occupy the common ground.  I think he sought it, but perhaps our racial animus would not allow him to stand firmly upon it.  My love for Obama grew over the course of his presidency because he always seemed to care about the nation and our ideals.  I am having a similar feeling about Maryland's current Governor, which tells me that this quality is not something that is confined to either the Democratic or the Republican side of the aisle.  This is encouraging to me, because it is tempting to feel as though we reward people who cheat and lie their way to the top. So here's the thing 'Merica, can we do our homework a little bit better?  Can we stop being distracted by shiny objects and bilious hate mongering?  Can we not allow people who prey upon our fear to gain our trust?
This is the way out of our political mess, but it requires a systemic change.  It is going to demand that voters stop being lazy and simply voting a single issue or along party lines.  It's going to demand that we pay attention to character (isn't it funny how that sounds like the mantra of the Clinton era GOP?).  Both parties need to produce and nurture people who have good character.  I know they're out there.  I'm not saying we must elect only Dudley Doright and Polly Pureheart, everyone has their sins, but everyone also has certain qualities.  Trump's quality is that he can sell things, I'm struggling for others at the moment, and honestly that's too little quality to occupy the office the President.
If we are going to find people with more quality and the right sorts of quality, we're going to have to learn to listen carefully.  We're going to need to tell the difference between real love of this country and patriotic sloganeering.  We're going to need to tell the difference between real care for the general welfare and a simple, brutish desire to grow and win at all costs.  We're going to have to do some difficult sorting of people and personalities, not just our politicians, but our cultural interpreters and even of our selves and our peer groups.
Do you care about the truth? Prove it, at all levels.
Do you want justice? Seek it, for everyone.
Do you value your freedom? Then you should value your neighbor's freedom as well.
I know that forceful personalities and people with charisma can be alluring, but what character lurks underneath?
The fact of the matter is that we still, as of now, have something like a democratic system of government, which means that we essentially get the government we deserve.  How do you feel about deserving this nonsense?  Are you ready to change?