By Jeremy D. Wells
Carter County Times
It’s been a wild week. Honestly, it’s been a wild couple of weeks.
An assassination attempt on a presidential candidate. A furry hacktivist leaking tons of Disney data. (Look it up. But don’t look up what the group’s name means. Just… trust me on this one.) Then, just before I sat down to do some work on this week’s paper, I check my notifications to see that President Joe Biden is withdrawing from the presidential race.
The party will now pick someone at their convention that none of their constituents voted for in the primary. Some folks are even suggesting our own governor Andy Beshear could help carry a potential Kamala Harris run to victory.
It’s a strange time in America.
I’ve found myself recently thinking of the period immediately after September 11. Those moments when we all came together in shock, and grief, and a desire for genuine connection that I sometimes worry we just aren’t capable of today.
Sure, we eventually went back to our partisan bickering. An entire conspiracy theory subculture was born out of the tragedy that thrives to this day.
But before all that, for just a day or two, we weren’t Democrats and Republicans. We weren’t liberals and conservatives. Red State and Blue State. We were all Americans.
More than that, we were all human, united in our shock and our sadness and our need to console and to be consoled. And other humans all around the world mourned and grieved and felt that horror alongside us.
I find myself missing that connection.
I find myself missing politicians like John McCain, who could say with all sincerity to a scared and anxious supporter – who’d been fed conspiracy theories and vitriol – that he didn’t believe Barack Obama hated this country. He believed he was simply another man, a good man, with a different idea of how to achieve what we all want (or at least what we all should want) – the best opportunities and quality of life for the people of this nation.
It seems like too many people just can’t do that anymore. They’ve been fed too much poison, by too many politicians, who are more interested in using fear and the demonization of the opponent to win than they are in making the sort of real progress that would benefit everyone – liberal and conservative, gay and straight, religious and secular, men and women, young and old, immigrants and native born.
Things like sound infrastructure. Good jobs. Livable wages. Affordable medicine. Sustainable growth. And (whether you consider yourself a tree hugger or not) clean, drinkable water and clear, breathable air.
Instead of idiot culture wars, I want politicians who focus on progress for all.
But that takes more work than poking a stick in the stink and stirring until you’ve got everyone mad. So, while I’ve seen unity before, I find myself growing more and more cynical and pessimistic.
Still, I try to hold onto some hope. Stranger things have happened. Some of them just in the past week.
Contact the writer at editor@cartercountytimes.com
