Tomorrow the so-called "mid-term elections" take place, here in the USA. It's a pretty big deal, although moreso for some than for others.
While the outcome remains to be seen, one thing is for certain: politics tends to bring out the worst in people. Neighbors turn on each other and families squabble to the point of not talking to each other for weeks or even months.
One of the things I have noticed over the years is the pervasive emergence of extremism, almost as if the world requires people to become a little more extreme with each elections cycle, at least if they want to be heard.
The tone of it reminds me of why I ended up abandoning Facebook about ten years ago and just happened to — more or less by accident — stumble upon Hive. Or, rather, Hive's predecessor.
I'm currently experiencing a somewhat similar level of disgust, although we have had a full decade of social media getting more strident and polarized, replete with hundreds of new podcasters all pronouncing themselves experts on both politics and the outcome of this election.
What most makes me sit back and shake my head these days is the fact that I came to the USA as a Danish national in 1981, and the USA I came to seems like such a different beast from what we have today.
I'm sure there are those who would disagree and insist that it has always been the same way and we just have a new set of faces to worry about.
Be that as it may, I just can't remember politics being quite such a clown show in the past but then again maybe my memory is just short!
I do have a certain feeling of dis-ease, however. There's a small part of me that worries that whenever I put in a claim on Medicare — which is a government program — it sets off some flag somewhere that puts me at risk for a visit from some masked secret immigration police goons wanting to kick me out of the country... even though I've been legitimately paying into the system for 41 years.
Meanwhile, the talking heads declare that this is allegedly all done in the name of "protecting freedom." to which all I can say is that it's an interpretation of "Freedom" that is incredibly far from anything I've ever heard of!
I grew up in what is generally referred to as a "high trust level country," which is a somewhat alien concept to most people in the USA. At least it seems to be — anytime I have tried to explain it, I get blank stares at the idea that anybody would actually trust the police, the armed forces, the government, the bank or anybody else including your neighbor and your cousin.
I'm not ashamed to admit that I find such a level of distrust more than a little disturbing.
I have no idea where we'll be when the dust settles over the coming week, but it is a little bit scary.
There's much wisdom advising us to "not worry about things outside our control," so I'm going to do my best to heed that advice...
Thanks for stopping by, and have a great remainder of your week!
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2026.11.03 00:13 PST
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