Compromise

Hate is not a good thing. You do not make a great nation with hate. But hate is better than nothing. And if you want people to reject hate, you have to give them something; you have to offer an alternative. People don’t want the same old, same old. They want a better approach. They want consensus and compromise. Those are what make a democracy run. Neither political party right now tries to offer that. Trump certainly isn’t and neither is Biden. I agree with integrity and democratic values, but again, you have to offer people something more. Why should they vote for a liberal candidate if that person is only going to offer them the same old same old? If we want a better America, we have to offer people something more than that. Hate is power. It’s not a good power; it’s not the kind of power we want, but it does offer something. A lot of people don’t have separate lives to begin with anyway. You are living at the mercy of a bad neighbor, of a mean boss. Hate is going to mean something. It’s something to fight with. It’s not a good thing, but it’s how a lot of people feel. And I try to tell people this, but I’m not sure how much they understand. Biden and Harris do not understand what it takes to defeat hate. It takes integrity and decent democratic values, but it’s going to take a lot more than that. It takes understanding of why people hate and being able to offer them something they can accept. The same old liberal ways aren’t something they’re going to find acceptable. I wouldn’t if I were a Trump supporter. They have to learn that consensus and compromise are what make a democracy work. People want a society that works again. Hate is bad and evil, but would good would that do if hate is the only thing people have going for them? We have to offer people something. It’s hard to be a victim of hate, but it’s harder when you don’t have anything but hate to keep you going, and too many people do. We have to teach people. In today’s world, compromising and seeing the other person as a human being is becoming increasingly difficult to do. We have to relearn those skills all over again. Nobody is going to accept the same old same old, something that hasn’t worked. They’re going to want something new, something that does work. And the only way to get them to accept that is to show that it can work by giving them the skills they need to practice it. We should be teaching people how to compromise. It does no good to push against hate if you don’t have anything better to offer. Integrity and compassion are good things, but we have to show people that they can work. We have to show people that democracy and consensus and seeing the other person as a human being can work. And we have not done that. A country of hate is not something we find very attractive to live in. We need to offer something better than hate. I am fortunate in that I found a better way than hate. And that’s why I turned out the way I did. But we’re not doing that. Overall, Trump and hate are better than nothing. They’re not good things, but they’re better than nothing. We have to address the roots of hate. We have to first understand why people hate before we can take action to solve those issues.