The Radical Difference
By Ron Signore
Sitting here on Friday, August 23rd 2024, I am in a place to reflect the past week viewing the Democratic National Convention. For one, I would argue that my support for Kamala Harris and Tim Walz rivals the peak support I carried for Barack Obama and Joe Biden. Outside of those tangents, I have never been so excited or supportive of politicians. Thinking back to my senior year at Purdue, there was an energy behind Barack Obama that caught me. His charisma and intelligence combined with the dynamic perception of who he was as a husband and father was admirable. I also admit, being from Illinois and seeing his rise through his career also played a part.
These past 10 years have brought a whirlwind of emotion around support. It made me realize that my support capabilities have an interesting spectrum. On the one hand, while I support the efforts of a politician, I will not defend them blindly. If I disagree with a position or agenda for policy, or they just flat out do something despicable, I will cast stones without concern of my historic or future support. It is called free thinking, and the right would be wise to invest in that concept. I did not always agree with Joe Biden. I supported Joe Biden. I thought he did a great job in his 12 year vice presidency and presidency. I think he is a good man. But not every single thing he did or didn’t do will not reserve my criticisms. I was never fully behind Hillary to where you would call me an enthusiastic supporter, but I did support her as the Democratic candidate. John Kerry was the candidate in my first election being able to vote, and in similar fashion, my enthusiasm for him was more aligned to a disapproval of George W Bush.
I even sat through portions of the Republican National Convention. I was reluctant, there is so much I despise in what the GOP has become, but I wanted to know what their points of view may be expressed as. I am bias. I know it. I went in thinking about how much I hate that man, his running mate, and all his minions who have put us in the position we are in as a country. But, as much as I hate to admit it, Agent Orange Turd is still relevant until the day we finally get the reality that he isn’t. His relevancy is tied to the danger he and his minions present to the future of our country. Even “10” years ago, dreading the possibility of him winning the Presidency, it was similar to my dreading Romney, McCain, or Bush winning in their respective elections. It was about the differences in ideology in policy, or with Bush specifically, an opposition to everything related to 9/11 and the results of his foreign policy driven actions beyond an immediate revenge. To be clear, I felt a response to 9/11 in holding those accountable was right. It was the outer part of the web which led to invasions or violence that inflicted harm on undeserving innocent people.
Watching the RNC was by all accounts dreadful. Continual lie after lie. Complete falsehoods driven by narcissistic, victim played, conspiracy dwelling MAGAts. It wasn’t even so much just that. It was dull. It was boring. It was a similar feeling to the same old political event BS we all imagine. It was disgraceful how they played the aftermath of the assassination attempt wearing ear bandages, and worse, the way in which they “paid respect” to the firefighter who lost his life from the errant bullet.
I knew damn well I was interested in seeing some of the speakers this past week at the Democratic National Convention. There has been continual momentum from the left that since the spark of Kamala being endorsed by Joe Biden, has found new sparks seemingly every day. None more, in my opinion, than bringing on Tim Walz as her running mate. Not to skip too far ahead, but at this specific moment concluding the DNC, my opinion was that Tim Walz was the best choice. I found myself making comments when they showed Ben Shapiro, Mark Kelly, Gavin Newsome, Gretchen Whitmer, and JD Pritzker that I wouldn’t have been upset if they had been the choice. And I still feel that way. However, with the dynamic between Walz and Harris, Walz personality, charisma, energy, and charming family values, I have gone from the stages of “good choice,” to, “I like this guy,” to “this was the best possible choice she could have made.”
The event as a whole was a radical difference than anything I have experienced in an event like this convention. While the RNC focused on misplaced and uninformed nonsensical victim playing garbage, the DNC addressed issues. The substance of ideological and real world content was well displayed results of actual scenarios from gun violence, a woman’s right to choose, and immigration. While I found criticisms from the right around how many times Chump’s name was used with an implication around a lack of plan, or as they so hypocritically spout, hateful rhetoric, they truly show how they can dish it but cannot take it.
But the vibe this week was that of a giant uplifting party. The energy as a result of the music, speakers, crowd excitement, and HOPE was reminiscent of the Obama candidacy. However, the “hope” differs. With Obama, the hope was for a United America progressing to the reality that an African American leader would signify a reality of acceptancy, inclusion, and steps towards equality. Because the right lost their minds with us electing a black president, twice mind you, it has shaped the difference of the scope for hope moving forward. Hope is now a reality of having to save our country from itself in causes led by the prime leadership of Chump. The regression of American standards of progress are on the line. Our hope is tied to democratically fighting to keep rights and keep this country as the land of the free to pursue life, liberty, and happiness in everyone’s American Dream.
While the message to fight and win was stern, it carried a motivational tone and backbone like that of a football coach amping their team up to win. It takes all 11 players on the field to do their part to succeed in football- basically any team sport. That is what this is. America is the team, MAGA is the opponent. Harris and Walz executed the strategy well in what they believe America can and should be. Every speaker was impactful in a similar light. With that in mind, I am still blown away by Adam Kinzinger’s speech. The concept of his words were some of the most American and Patriotic words I have heard in politics. It was a uniting message. While his ideology may still align with a traditional Republican, his efforts showed to be in the betterment of America. He aimed to de-vilify the perception of the left that gets slammed by the current right thinktank as enemies of our country. He really emphasized the concept that we may all think differently on different topics, its better to respect and work together as opposed to creating a more divided faction of citizens versus the rest.
Kinzinger is a result of the primary foundations in using cruelty as a tactic. Living in the real world, he decided not to kiss the ring and choose facts to listen to morality in his efforts to better this country. Same as Liz Cheney, who both paid the price career-wise in the Republican Party for not showing the unabridged blind loyalty Chump demands. But cruelty is a strong force with the right. With Cheney and Kinzinger, they are in the game. They are grown ups and can fight the grown-up battle in their arena of work. They are not defenseless children, where even in the mafia, there is a code that families are off limits. The right took no such path this week, and I am physically nauseous over it.
Several people on the right, including Ann Coulter, decided that code was to be ignored. Tim Walz’s son, Gus, is neurodivergent. MY son is neurodivergent. So, this hit realty close to my heart beyond the norm. During Walz’s speech on Wednesday night, the cameras showed something very moving. They panned to Gus overcome with joy and pride for his father. Emotional regulation is extremely difficult with many neurodivergences, and while observing, I could tell right off the bat that was what was being expressed. However, it shouldn’t have taken someone familiar, or an expert to identify. However, I really did not attempt to look it up and confirm, since to me, it doesn’t matter if he had neurodivergence or not. Because this is a regular part of my life, I really didn’t think anything of it. In fact, I just felt a sense of happiness that a child could love their father that much. That they could be that proud. Something each of us with children should strive for, and all we can really hope for. Yet, I woke up Thursday morning to view criticisms of Gus.
First of all, it doesn’t matter one bit if he is neurodivergent or not. While Gus is a young adult, for all intents and purposes, he is someone’s child. How dare anyone criticize the joy displayed by a son or daughter! Be an adult. Even if you, sickly mind you, think something critical of a child, stop saying the quiet part out loud, and work on fixing yourself. If you attack children physically or mentally, or even refuse to defend children that could be in harms way, you are a horrible human being. You are sick. You are a piece of garbage. For Ann Coulter, she was already all of those things, but this was a new low as far as I am concerned. Then to go back track and say she essentially didn’t know he was neurodivergent is both unacceptable and incomprehensible.
It just outlined the cruelty the right has exposed themselves of continuously. They have no respect for anything that isn’t in their own image as normal. That goes to their views on anything that isn’t white, straight, or Christian. Led by big mouth Orange Turd, insults and bullying are part of the rhetoric. Their classless characterization’s of people, whether specific people or general stereotyping, does nothing but show how far behind they are in what America is. Even someone like me defending Gus will likely lead to attacks of being a snowflake I bet. That misogynistic, narcissistic ego driven rhetoric is what they want our country to decide the strong from the weak. They want to keep attacking like we are not strong enough to fight back. That woke, and empathy are signs of weakness that will lead to the implosion of our country.
The fight is on. And when we fight, we win. We look to the future, and we are never going back!
Vote Blue!
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