I have never voted and have no intention of doing so in this year’s election!
The country is a mess. In the last quarter century we have come out of a war that cost our servicemen’s lives and the country a lot of money. Ultra-right wing ideology is gaining ground in this country and overseas. There’s a tyrant ruling with an iron fist over in Russia and a militaristic nationalistic potential foe over in the far East. The chance of another large scale war is a real threat. On the home front we’ve have Christian-based activists gain influence over the laws of the land, young people (and some older ones) are trying to create new gender norms, with some dressing in the other sex’s clothes and drag acts becoming a thing. In this same period we’ve had a pandemic that killed millions and an economic collapse that is still being felt. I could throw in gang violence, homelessness, and immigrants flooding into the country and changing it’s nature and culture.
Welcome to the United States of America, circa 1920s to 1930s.
I’ve been reading up a bit on it lately bc of a creative writing project I’m working on and I couldn’t help noticing similarities to now. I kind of suspect that I could look at other periods that have parallels as well.
In 1934, tennis player, Eileen Bennett caused a commotion. She wore shorts that revealed her bare knees at Wimbledon. Two years before Joan Lycett had been the first to not wear stockings and play with bare legs. Back in 1920 Suzanne Lenglen had played at Wimbledon without a corset, and in 1905 May Sutton rolled up her sleeves. In less than three decades female tennis players at Wimbledon had become so wanton, and it all started with people turning a blind eye to Ms. Sutton’s scandlous baring of her elbows. What wantonness would the 1940s onward bring!!!
Imagine if the British had seen this terrible displaying of flesh in the 1930s and decided that was what their politicians need to focus on. Not that nice Mr. Hitler over in Germany. Imagine if they had made pushing or defeating the ‘woke’ mindset the focus. That ‘woke’ mindset that let women have the vote, and wear shorts, and saw the government provide a family allowance to low income families, and prohibit selling cigarettes to children. Had their politicians made that the focus of their campaigns then would they have been able to stand up to the rise in fascism in Europe or would they have been so busy fighting over minor social changes that they could not unite.
A lot of politics now seems to be about finding something to be outraged about and trying to get people to make that what they vote for. Don’t get me wrong, I believe there are some things that matter, and people should care, but so much of it seems to be about normal social change and buzz words thrown about to scare the gullible.
As I say, I won’t be voting this year. Mainly bc I’m too young. But even if I wasn’t, I can’t find any real enthusiasm for either party and the suggestion that this is THE MOST IMPORTANT presidential election EVER ignores all the other times the country has been in a messed up state and faced a divided electorate.
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