Wishing for a country that doesn't get so excited

I read an intriguing commentary this week that argued for more "indifference" in American politics, and I found it compelling. In case you wanted to read that post, it's here.

Instead of everything being overwhelmingly important, possibly cataclysmic, the point was that the more people paid attention to the daily political news, the more their self-confidence and polarization grows. The headline was "the darkside of active citizenship," and the post argues that the polarized fringes are driving most of the harsh rhetoric and active demonization of opposing views. After all, if you are convinced that your position is not only right but also the only possible choice, those not agreeing with you are "wrong" or "misinformed" or just plain "evil."

It seems that Donald Trump, for instance, has a clear strategy of pouring as much outrageous material into the national news that we may have reached the point where there is literally nothing he could do to diminish his cult's support for him. "I could shoot someone in broad daylight on 5th Avenue and my supporters wouldn't care" once seemed hyperbolic. Now it's a simple statement of truth.

When we have reached this level of "strong man worship," where the most unChristian actions and statements are twisted into positives by supposedly religious people... well, it may be time to consider whether millions of otherwise normal Americans are now and always were hypocrites, or whether the Cult of Trump has simply warped our society in ways that we never saw coming.

An entire political party has been overtaken by this cult, which mostly means lots of garden variety politicians have decided that their voters are in the cult and there are no options to remain viable. That is a logical position for them to take. It's tough to take on the mob... the same people who just a decade ago were strident in calling for more morality among politicians. 

But here's the good news, if there is any: most Americans really ARE indifferent to the daily political outrages and provocations. They simply aren't paying attention. This seems impossible to those who read the news each day, but it is clear in several surveys that most online political discussion is generated by the most left wing and most right wing Americans. They represent about 30 percent of our nation. 

That leaves 70 percent in the middle who only engage with the politics occasionally and who mostly just want to live their lives in peace. 

Is that 70 percent of America willfully ignorant? 

The good news, then, is that there is a good chance that the majority of voters will opt for candidates that they believe are most likely to bring peace. Only fanatics wish for chaos.

There are such fanatics, of course. 

As a grandparent and parent and quite well-to-do retiree, chaos is not on my wish list.