The Debate: The Debate was pointless. I suppose for those who’ve somehow managed to avoid the headlines for the past year this could be considered a quick summary of “our story so far”, but nothing new came from it. They spent the bulk of their time attacking one another’s character, and when they did actually provide any thoughts on the issues they spouted platitudes and high-level goals. Both want to defeat ISIS. Both want to repair the damaged relationships between police and the communities they serve. Both want to create jobs. And not one of them gave much detail on how they would do any of that.
Hillary and Trump and Businesses and Taxes: Hearing two rich people argue over taxes as a high-level moral issue is sad. If Trump has done anything illegal to avoid paying taxes then that should disqualify him. In the mean time, he runs a for-profit company who, regardless of what he does, is paying income tax, sales tax, property tax, payroll tax, and probably some sort of tax under Obamacare. Directly or indirectly, he is putting a lot of money into government coffers. If he’s not paying any personal tax it’s because the tax laws allow it. To complain about it is like complaining about Hillary’s motorcade driving right at the speed limit, not slower. If it’s legal, it’s legal.
Hillary (and most of her family) gets the bulk of her money through her non-profit foundation. Non-profits are set up to avoid paying many of the taxes a for-profit company pays. She’s evidently making quite a bit of money from this non-profit, and from what I’ve heard, she pays a high percentage in personal taxes on that money. So what we seem to have (and I doubt it’s true that Trump has paid no taxes for the past twenty years, but even if so, it’s either legal or he’s broken the law) is one candidate that pays a lot of local, state and federal taxes through their business, but may be trying to pay as little as legally possible on his own income, while the other candidate seeks to avoid paying taxes through their business, while paying their personal taxes without a lot of maneuvering.
None of this says anything about either one of them. All it really says is that our tax code may be screwed up. But if we don’t like rich people avoiding taxes we can’t really blame them. Avoiding taxes happens at all levels of income. I have a financial advisor and an accountant that help me avoid paying more taxes than I legally have to. So we can deduce from all of this that both Trump and Hillary avoid taxes in their own way.
The “Other people do it” defense is no excuse: I’ve even caught myself in this one–or rather my wife did. I hear from every side of politics that we’re fed up with the way things are. We want to improve our political discourse. We want honest, accountable politicians. And yet what’s the first thing we do when someone on “our side” does something distasteful? We look to excuse them by looking for all the times when “the other side” did something similar.
And we’re surprised that this is the state of politics in our country? We keep drawing the line lower and lower, and yet are puzzled when people keep coming right up to the line instead of backing farther away from it. It’s a rare person who will refuse to do something that other people are doing and getting away with–and gaining an advantage from. If we really want to improve things we need to be willing to hold our own accountable and continually draw the line higher and higher.
Until then, pulling out the “Yes, but they did it” excuse is really just an admission that “I’m just as bad as they are and I have no moral authority on this matter–if any.”
Words are permeable and open to interpretation: All this stupid back-and-forth taking words out of context is dangerous, and taints everyone who tries it. Everyone knows–or should know–that language is an imprecise vehicle for communicating complex information. It’s also the best thing we’ve got. And let’s face it, unless we want everyone to start talking like a lawyer, we should learn to cut each other some slack. Stop rushing to interpret someone’s words in the worst possible light.
Stop taking every little point as “The Definitive Statement” on the subject. Did Hillary really mean it when she called everyone in America racist? Did Trump really say he was smart for cheating on his taxes? No, and no. For Hillary to spell out exactly who she feels is racist, and how much, would take the entire time allotted for the debate–and still open herself up to misinterpretation. Trump did not admit to cheating on his taxes, only paying as little as possible. And as any businessman will tell you, it’s smart business to find ways to legally pay as little taxes as possible, because every other business is doing the same thing. On top of that, the government is regularly extending tax cuts as incentives to encourage certain things, so they are in the business of encouraging people to pay lower taxes, are they not? Is it not smart to take advantage of what the government incentivizes?
We need to stop yelling “GOTCHA!” every time someone oversimplifies a point or stumbles over their tongue–and let’s face it, both candidates uttered phrases throughout the night that were truly cringe-worthy examples of brains not working perfectly. I saw plenty of people who thought they were so smart for catching Trump in making up the word “braggadocious”. Well, by the strict standard we impose on anyone who communicates publicly these days, every one of those people are now unfit for office. And we wonder why better people don’t run for office. Who in their right mind wants to have to think carefully for five minutes before opening their mouth, afraid of saying something too simply or without acknowledging all the possible ways it could be misinterpreted or misrepresented? (And five minutes would never be enough time!)
This one point alone convinces me that America is getting the candidates we deserve.
Politics is more important than sports: Politics in America has become an extension of our devotion to sports. We pick a team, and we love ’em when they’re winning, and defend ’em when they lose. We also criticize the other team as a matter of course, because no matter how bad our team plays, the other team is always undeserving of any success. Meanwhile we’re up in the stands waving our signs, shaking our foam fingers, and painting our faces, completely convinced that it’s our displays of devotion making all the difference down there on the field.
Have you ever seen a sign in the audience that makes a clear, compelling case for a team’s superiority? “Go Broncos!” Uh yeah, that’ll do it. “Go Vikings, cut the Cheese!” Ooh, sophisticated debate! “Manning is The Man!” Except when he loses, then he’s The Goat.
By the same token, I’ve yet to see anyone change their political opinions over a meme-pic, and rarely from an article from an unabashedly partisan content source (I’d say news source, but so little is actual news these days, while commentary is continually passed off as news). The only times I’ve seen anyone modify their position even a little is when people have taken the time to politely communicate their perspective and context. We change minds by making connections, by communicating, not by cheerleading and banner-waving.
Politics, whether we like it or not, is important–much more so than sports. And yet we can’t seem to break out of treating our politics like we do our sports. We are not forced into backing only one team. There is no virtue in “backing our team” even when they screw up, nor is there nobility in hating the other team regardless of any merit they display. If anything, this entire “team” mentality is increasingly part of the problem. Both sides have found their “wedge issues” by which they hope to keep as many people on their side of the line as possible. They regularly make sure we know that “you can’t support X, because they believe in Wedge Issue Y, and if they’re in office they’ll end all life on earth if they can!”
If we must treat politics like sports, let’s make it more like Fantasy Football, where we draft players based on their own individual stats rather than the team they play on in real life. We need to look at who is more thoughtful and wise in their approach to governance rather than how loyal they are to the team. We might then be able to lure better candidates into politics–people who are willing to hear all sides and look for the best path forward instead of pleasing the “team’s owners.”
In the mean time, could we stop treating social media like every day is Game Day?
Okay, that’ll do for now. </rant>
So, people actually thought that Trump made up the word “braggadocious”. I’ve known that word since I was 12.
That’s because you were a swashbuckler with lots of braggadocio.
Well, as long as I wsn’t burdened by an over abundance of procociasity … 😉