My Bones Tell Me: It’s A Horse & Pony Show

I was watching a 60 Minutes video tonight and they were talking about the divide in the US, primarily the political divide. It seems like it’s worse now than it’s ever been before. They said that according to statistics, 7-8% of the extreme left and 7-8% of the extreme right hold the majority of the political opinion. That the majority moderate portion of the country is “too afraid” to voice an opinion either way. I guess that’s what it’s like being a middle child?

I often talk to my great-aunt about politics. Fortunately, she and I agree on a lot of the issues. I imagine it would be awkward if we didn’t. Either way, we have a lot to say about the opposing side, even quite a bit to say about the side that we politically align with. One thing that I don’t seem to understand is no matter how eloquently you debate someone about their political ideas, it usually won’t sway anyone to change their opinion.

The reason I bring this up is because the political discourse online is probably at an all-time high, despite the efforts the social media platforms have taken to quell the outrage. My great-aunt talks to me often about how she has back-and-forth debates with relatives and friends online about politicians and various political issues. It makes me wonder what the point of it all is. If you’re not going to sway the opinions of others, and they don’t have a chance at swaying your opinion, what is the point of even discussing anything anyway?! I don’t know if that makes me a defeatist or not.

Part of me even wonders how much sway the voters have. Like I said to my great-aunt the other day, “It’s just a horse & pony show.” Sometimes I imagine everybody coming together and voting for the Green Party just to see how much power the voters actually have. I bet the DNC and the RNC would still have the final say. It makes me wonder just how we got into this mess. All I know for sure is that it started a long time ago.

Thinking back on my post yesterday about conspiracies, my friend and I were discussing just the other night about how all of the presidents can trace their heritage back to royal families. While I won’t go out and fact-check this, it should be taken with a grain of salt. But, the theory stands that they’re all related to some large family that controls the majority of the powerful nations on the planet. I don’t know how true that is, but I will say one thing. Someone, or some group of someone is in control and it isn’t anyone in any particular political party. I can feel that in my bones.