Our future lies before us. Our future lies before us but we have come upon a crossroad. Is it crossroad or crossroads?…. Our destination depends upon our immediate choice of direction, and as unthinkable as one of these choices may seem to many of us, many others are thinking exactly the same thing about our choice. So here we stand, at what is once again the most important election in our lifetime, and for both groups of people, we are making our choice of direction solely upon where the other road leads. That should be breathtaking to everyone, but it’s not, and that truth should be breathtaking as well, but it’s not either. So here’s what I challenge everyone to do. Examine your choice of direction. Think beyond your immediate decision. Consider what comes next. Think about who else is traveling the road you have chosen. If you will promise to do that, I will as well. I’ll do it right here and right now, for both of us. It’s going to get ugly in a hurry, no matter which choice you make, and if you can’t see that, you haven’t done any of the things I asked you to earlier. Shame on you. Let’s start with what I’m going to call….

The Right.

This is my group. We love capitalism. We love free markets and pulling ourselves up by our bootstraps. Small federal government and states rights. We want to know who’s coming into our country and what they will do once they get here. We want to be left alone. Let me say that one more time…. We want to be left alone. We don’t like being forced to pay for other people’s shit. We love law and order. We are fact driven and God fearing. We are not good at pretending, and that puts us at odds with the other side. Most of us understand that men and women are not the same, not mentally or emotionally or physically. We see that as a wonderful thing. There are other things that define us, but let me end with this…. We think the other side is half crazy but they should be left alone as well, as long as they do the same for us.

Here’s the nasty truth about all these lofty ideas….

The people who we vote for aren’t for any of these things. Sure, depending on the state, this one or that one may be for some of the things we want, but when they all get together, very little of what we voted for ever really materializes. The argument is always the same. We don’t have enough votes. Never mind that we have control of all three branches of government…. We don’t have the votes. All this has brought me to the conclusion that the real reason that they won’t do the things that we want is because they don’t want to. I promise you that I am more angry with the Republican Party than most democrats voters are. It is time everyone on my side admits that our government is corrupted on not just the other side of the aisle, but also our side as well. As far as our voters though, we are rigid but passive. Many of us are religious and don’t understand why that is painted in a negative light in literature, and entertainment. We are worried that pretty much everything is celebrated now except Christianity. We are fed up with the lies and propaganda.

Capitalism is a horrible system when you get right down to it. People are sleeping on the streets and going hungry every day. The rich are getting richer. The poor are everywhere. The middle class is struggling to hold ground against inflation.Show me with examples of a better system and I’ll look at it. No other system gives every person a chance to become better than they were. No other system even bothers trying. Every other system has the poor and needy, but you know what most other systems don’t have? A middle class.

The Left.

Many of you hate capitalism. Most of your voters have very strong opinions on a handful of issues they know very little about. You guys spend a lot more time feeling than you do thinking, and it shows. It shows in your day to day lives and it explains why your political party addresses issues like they do. You want a strong federal government that can take from others and give to you. You have no intention of leaving those who think like me alone. You don’t think we are crazy. You believe that my side is part of a cult. You think pretending is not only perfectly normal but must be encouraged and demands acceptance. Your religion is science. Men and women are interchangeable when the narrative requires it and completely different when the narrative changes, as it frequently does. I’m certain that liberals would frame this differently but remember, you put feelings over facts, so get over it. I do believe most of you are good people though. You stand at the same crossroads as I do, so please tell me where your direction leads. You can’t see it but you have communist among you. And socialist, and they are working together to change your party. They already have. They have no intention of becoming more like you but certainly you will become more like them. Eventually this will split your party, but not before massive civil unrest and chaos. It is time for soul searching. The opposite of Orange Man isn’t peace and harmony, and utopia, any more than a fish thinking that it can eat from a baited hook is an end to hunger. It is actually an end to hunger, but at what cost?

So it’s time to close this rant with something positive and optimistic, but unfortunately my mind isn’t wired that way. Most Americans have far more in common than what divides us. We live and work together, and together would find common ground where we could and continue to disagree where we must, but we are pitted against one another by others. By people who we trust, that benefits from division. So regardless of our individual decision at the crossroads, we will end up where the majority takes us, so take a moment now, because soon we will look back on this time with great fondness, and wish for another chance.

ws