Not everything these days is worthy of our thanks
On Thanksgiving, we should all pause to reflect on what we’re grateful for. But that’s four days from now. Today, I’m pausing to reflect on things I’m not grateful for:
The Electoral College
Let’s imagine this alternative history: In 1787, the Founding Fathers overcome regional disputes and establish a simple system that awards the presidency to the winner of the popular vote.
Though the nation has its struggles and its share of bad chief executives in the ensuing years, it arrives at the 21st century with an intact democracy.
Then some experts try to sell us on a different system with this argument:
“Your popular-vote method means big states like California and Texas get lots of attention, while undecided voters in the suburbs of Milwaukee and Philadelphia never get a visit from a candidate. So lets switch to an Electoral College.
“We guarantee you that every four years, it will reward the presidency either to the winner of the popular vote, the loser of the popular vote, or neither one in the case of an Electoral College tie.
To which Americans reply: “Are you crazy?”
Social media
Let’s take that simple question politicians like to pose — Are you better off than you were four years ago? — and repurpose it to assess social media.
Are you better off than you were before it was possible to turn on your
computer and deluge yourself with:
h Political rants from “friends” you actually haven’t seen since elementary school.
h Russian disinformation posing as legitimate news.
h Conspiracy theories passed along by family members with whom you will be expected to make nice at any number of future events.
h Vitriolic political debate incited by the posting of a news story, an informed opinion, a sappy poem, a cat video, a weather report or a happy birthday message.
Answer: No.
Instant gratification
You no doubt have heard of the psychology experiment that suggests that children with the self-control to resist a marshmallow grow up to be more successful adults.
Well, when it comes to the coronavirus, we’re flunking the marshmallow test. We can’t resist the Sturgis Motorcycle Rally, the off-campus beer pong blowout, the holiday gathering that packs 40 people into a poorly ventilated split-level.
“COVID fatigue” is said to be making us less willing to pass up some of life’s immediate pleasures in the interests of beating back a surging contagion.
What could go wrong? We’re finding out.
Alternative realities
Right now, we have competing versions of reality — let’s call them Trumpist and Bidenesque. They have their own news sources, their own versions of history and their own views on science. It’s exhausting.
But the good news is that Wednesday still follows Tuesday, and the sun still rises in the east in both versions. For that, at least, we can be grateful.
Joe Blundo is a columnist for The Dispatch. joe.blundo@gmail.com @joeblundo