Lessons from the Election Season

A presidential election year is like a hard winter - shared suffering. We are all inconvenienced, the chill is felt equally, but instead of being up to our waists in clean white snow, we are up to our necks in something of a much darker texture and smell. Mercifully, it all ends Tuesday.

I made a conscious effort this election season to avoid writing about the topic of presidential politics. Now more than ever, the subject is just too polarizing. Besides, this gig doesn't pay enough (pro bono) to offend my regular readers (all five of you). Oh sure, I took swipes at both Republicans and Democrats in July, but that was due to extreme lunacy on both sides of this aisle.

But, just because I haven't written about the Presidential election of 2012, doesn't mean I don't have opinions. These opinions, however, aren't what they used to be. In my younger days, these political preferences were more rabidly partisan and one-sided. Time, it seems, has either made me wiser or wearier. I'm guessing the latter. Nonetheless, I have compiled for your consideration (and my exorcism) a brief list of lessons I have learned this election year.

1. Lies - Question: How can you tell if a Presidential candidate is lying to you? Answer: His lips are moving. Granted, that's a stretch, but it illustrates the point that the American public has been carpet-bombed with so much information (both true and false) from the major parties that even informed voters find it nearly impossible to discern fact from fiction. This, I believe is a purposeful political strategy. Repeatedly lie until enough people start to believe the lie and question the truth. Hey, if a candidate can consistently and convincingly lie to us it makes their "honest" moments sound that much more sincere. Bonus.

2. Differences - For all the rhetoric the candidates have been screeching this Fall about the fundamental choice the electorate has been given - I don't believe the differences between the candidates amount to a hill of beans (a great expression borrowed from my ancestors). Their positions on the economy, taxation, defense spending, foreign policy, social programs and a slew of other issues are not black and white, but nuanced shades of gray. More a difference of slight percentages than polar opposites. Carefully crafted attack ads suggest one or the other major party is for the dismantling of civil liberties or the denial of 2nd Amendment rights. Hogwash, all of it. A better question is, how is a country with a diverse population of 300 million people represented nationally by only two political parties?

3. Disconnected - Modern Presidential candidates - whether their upbringing was humble or privileged - have almost nothing in common with the American people. Yes, they have been prepared by their handlers to know how much a gallon of milk costs us or what a utility bill might be during the home heating season, but their insulation and distance from voters makes a real and emotional connection impossible. So, it is left to the image makers, using focus groups, fear and private polling, to carefully craft one.

4. Extremism - The overwhelming majority of Americans are fairly similar politically. Oh sure, we might lean left or right of center on a variety of social and fiscal issues, but these leanings are generally marginal.  Strangely, frustratingly, it is often the fringe elements of each major political party that have barked the loudest in recent years. And through the skillful manipulation of mass media, the reigns of leadership are occasionally hijacked, thus making "bipartisanship" and "compromise" dirty words. Along the way, civil discourse and statesmanship have been placed on life support. The real losers? Us, of course.

So, what's the result of these lessons I've learned from the 2012 election season? Don't worry, be happy. Care less about more, care more about less. I haven't dismissed the Presidential campaign; I just haven't taken it too seriously. I've paid attention and will vote. But the important things and people in my life won't fundamentally change simply because the same person (or a different one) will be our next President. Potentially slight fluctuations? Sure. But if I had become so emotionally invested in this campaign to lose my sense of reason and believe everything I heard, I would have offered myself some simple advice . . .

Get a life.