There is a good article in the Federalist that captures the thoughts of many of us relative to the the upcoming election, politics in the USA and around the world and our inability to have much control over any of it. The article gets some things right:
As my 88-year-old neighbor, a lifelong Republican, put it: “Well, I’m not voting for Hitler.” She paused. “But I could never, ever bring myself to vote for Clinton.” She threw her hands up: “What to do!”
This is a big problem. Many politically minded people are feeling unrepresented, exhausted, and out of options. Unfortunately, this disillusionment likely will continue beyond November.
This is exactly how I feel about the current situation. The article also says some things about the centralization of national government and the decentralization of virtually everything else in the country that resonates with me. All this feels like something new is happening. That or something old and bad, but on a much bigger scale and it leaves me feeling disoriented–not knowing what I should do about it. The article gives the good advice to get involved locally over those things you are able to influence. At the same time it gets some stuff monumentally wrong:
The breakdown of Washington can be seen in the failure to adequately address: Worker displacement from globalization and technological change; providing a sound primary education and affordable secondary education; an entitlement system that can adapt to changing demographics; a safety net that helps the poor rise up the ladder of economic independence; a regulatory architecture that thwarts cronyism. And so on and on.
In that, I think the problem is that many, probably most government bureaucrats believe it is within the purview of national government to address these things when they are actually the source of the problem, particularly when they meddle in the affairs of family by taking away educational choice and try to take away the mandate of state governments to manage the bulk of the rest of these problems. Nevertheless, I liked the sentiment of the article and plan to continue to follow the advice to stay away from the main stream media and try to do more in my own personal community (local, church, family and friends).