I want to start blogging again

 I think I’m going to start blogging again. For me, not really for anyone else. Though I don’t know. That’s probably not true. I like when people read and engage with what I write. But I also find writing out my thoughts very therapeutic. Cathartic. The possibility of an audience is part of that–it’s a huge relief to feel like what I’ve been thinking is echoed in the minds of others. It makes me feel un-alone. But I don’t want to be the kind of person driven by the validation of others. 


I also don’t want to pick fights–as much as I love a good fight. I’m tired of it. And I’m tired of the dance we all do on social media, pretending that we’re not fighting. We are fighting big time. It’s an election year. It’s what we do. 


NOW IS NOT THE MOST DIVIDED THE COUNTRY HAS EVER BEEN. 


I just have to say that because it’s at this point in the discussion about the state of online discourse, especially American online discourse, when I’m supposed to complain about how divided we are. But America literally had a civil war. It could definitely be worse. Even so, it’s pretty bad. In my last blog post, I gave this definition (roughly. I’m not looking it up): A controversy is an issue where neither side can imagine a rational person supporting the other side. And we have lots of controversies today. In fact, it seems like there are forces that want to make everything into a controversy. 


But I still have a little hope. 


Here’s something: The Democratic National Convention (roll your eyes, imagined conservative reader). A lot of people today wish we could shake the two party system. And I kind of agree. But from the bits of the convention that I heard, it all kind of sounded like the Democratic party is what, in my opinion, makes multi-party systems great: Coalition government. In a multi-party system, no single party has the ability to control the government (usually) so multiple parties, though opposed to each other in many ways, have to come together and form a coalition. They have to make compromises. They have to work together if they’re going to get anything done. And what I see in the Democratic party right now is something like that. I’ve lamented that it seems like the Republicans are so unified–and therefore strong–while the Democrats always seem to be at each other's throats–and therefore get less done. And that may be true, but during the DNC, we saw various factions of the party come together and agree to get along. And Kamala Harris seems like a strong coalition leader. 


I’m sure if I was a republican I might have seen some of that in the RNC as well, but from my viewpoint, the Republican party seems to have just two factions: Always Trumpers and Former Never Trumpers. And I guess if that’s where the factions split, congratulations. At the very top of the ticket we have just that, an always Trumper (Trump) and a former never Trumper (Vance). Bingo: coalition government. 


Before the DNC, I had this fantasy of the GOP splitting up if they lose this election, maybe into the MAGA party and the New Republican Party. I still think it would be cool, and it would give the democratic party permission to divide as well. Of course no one will divide if they think the other party won’t, that would be election suicide. But if Trump loses, I think a part of the Republican party (and conservatives more generally) will realize sticking to Trumpism is election suicide anyway. Then the Democrats can split–I’m guessing into a Biden/Harris-esque faction and a Bernie/AOC-like faction. 


But anyway. The divided-yet-unified Democratic Party of the DNC is giving me a bit of hope right now. 


I don’t intend every post to be about U.S. politics, but here we are. Key takeaways: 


I’m going to start blogging again, but I might be less loud about it. 

I see some good in the messy political landscape we find ourselves in. 


Until nexttime. 

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