Author: irkedmoderate

“Look at the Clinton Foundation.”

“Bill was getting $500,000 speaking fees while Hillary was Secretary of State.”

“She deleted all of those emails.”

“The FBI was clearly trying to help Hillary.”

“The FBI has no other to get that FISA warrant except for the dossier Clinton paid for.”

“The Clintons are crooked.”

“Yeah, Trump’s horrible, but look at who the alternative was.”

– Americans Trying to Justify the Unjustifiable with False Equivalence.

I have an important announcement to make: Hillary Clinton is not the President. That’s obvious, right? Yet, the gravity of that reality is not apparent to some (particularly to those that watch a lot of conservative pundits rant about uranium and the Clinton Foundation).

In this alternate reality, Hillary Clinton’s transgressions – many as they are – still matter. They don’t. Hillary is not the President. Hillary’s sins do not affect the daily operation of the government or the American people. Hillary lost and Hillary’s past behaviors cannot and must not be used to justify our current President’s nonsense.

To rely on arguments and statements similar to those quoted above is to engage in a great logical fallacy: false equivalence. Put simply, false equivalence “is a logical fallacy in which two opposing arguments appear to be logically equivalent when in fact they are not.”

False equivalence was used throughout the 2016 presidential election to justify then-candidate Donald Trump’s absurd behavior, because Hillary was “just as bad.” This fallacy may have been excusable in the heat of an election, but it is no longer forgivable.

For one example, Hillary’s uranium-related funny business (involving a debunked report that Hillary engaged in a “quid pro quo” deal giving Russia ownership of one-fifth of U.S. uranium deposits in exchange for $145 million in donations to the Clinton Foundation), cannot be equated to the President’s real conflicts of interest.

To be clear, if the uranium reports are true, Hillary should face justice. But, meanwhile, a key distinction cannot be overlooked: Hillary’s alleged corruption ten years ago cannot overshadow President Trump’s real conflicts of interest now. These conflicts of interest are so real that the head of the Office of Government Ethics resigned early.

Then again, it seems that Mrs. Clinton is debating a renewed presidential run. If that is indeed the case, Americans should brace for political warfare that will make 2016 look like a contest conducted under Marquess of Queensberry Rules.

“Americans fill the world with art and music. They push the bounds of science and discovery. And they forever remind us of what we should never forget: The people dreamed this country. The people built this county. And it is the people who are making America great again.

As long as we are proud of who we are, and what we are fighting for, there is nothing we cannot achieve.

As long as we have confidence in our values, faith in our citizens, and trust in our God, we will not fail.

Our families will thrive.

Our people will prosper.

And our nation will forever be safe and strong and proud and might and free.”

– State of the Union Address, January 30, 2018

The President offered soaring, if not (mildly) populist, rhetoric in his first State of the Union Address. While I am not exactly an outspoken fan of the President, there is much to learn from the President’s speechwriter’s artful use of Pathos. The State of the Union painted stark imagery, all of which evoked a vibrant picture of the American spirit.  Alas, Americans are “safe” and “strong” and “proud” and “mighty” and “free.”

We all must remember that American ideals are not bequeathed from the Oval Office.  The President’s words should taken at face value for what they are: a reflection of American exceptionalism that was already embedded in our population’s psyche. Lately, however, many Americans have not felt “safe” or “strong.”  Safety from terrorism is not equivalent to safety from poverty, or being one of the select few to benefit from our nation’s “strong” economic run. (At least until this week’s correction.)

I am left wondering whether the President’s words reflect an effort to gain a greater sense of purpose in his office. Perhaps, the President is seeking to restore dignity to an institution that many argue the President has tarnished. Or, maybe the President is growing into his new role as the leader of the free world. Or, more likely than not, he is telling Americans what they want to hear – not unlike any other politician.

Undoubtedly, America is “mighty.” So long as our institutions remain “strong” and “proud” – our independent agencies, our press, and our federal law enforcement – we may even continue to be “free.”

“The tyranny of a prince in an oligarchy is not so dangerous to the public welfare as the apathy of a citizen in a democracy.” – Charles de Montesquieu

America is bitterly divided across partisan lines. Yet, paradoxically, the greatest threat facing our country is not partisanship. There is a faceless evil that afflicts Americans across the partisan divide.

The faceless evil is apathy. We would be well-advised by pundits and politicians to fear apathy’s long-term repercussions. Apathy shapes elections and civic attitudes. Apathy causes a disengaged electorate. Apathy makes us settle for less. Apathy among the rationale body politic permits partisans to take seize influence without challenge.

Apathy is faceless. It carries no banners and its deafening silence will never shout calls to action. Apathy will not rake and rattle its sabers in public spheres. We cannot ignore apathy or counter-protest it. We must exorcise apathy from the deepest crevasses of our civil souls.

Apathy is evil. Apathy feasts on cynicism. Many Americans devote their lives to battling against apathy. Yet, apathy beseages the politically-engaged few; the cannon fodder on the front lines of the war for the spirit of our citizenry.

We must resist apathy’s siren call at every turn. We must remain engaged. We imperil the greatest treasures of our democratic institution of self-governance when we do not break free from apathy with purpose and steadfastness.

Engage those friends with whom you disagree. Call upon your politicians to change course when they propose policies that are disagreeable to our ideals. Peacefully assemble. Publish your views on a website. (You can even do it anonymously.) Vote.

Only when we collectively shed our apathy can we truly be positioned to steady the reins of our republic. Otherwise, hucksters and demagogues of all political affiliations will continue to careen our county down a path of discord and strife.

“Populists (and ‘national socialists’) look at the supposedly secret deals that run the world ‘behind the scenes.’ Child’s play. Except that childishness is sinister in adults.” – Christopher Hitchens

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I’m a millennial. That means that I am inherently lazy, vapid, and uninformed. At worst, that’s how our generation is portrayed. At best, the description is a cruel reality – a manifestation of well-deserved political insecurity. (I am none of those things.)

Our 2008 enfranchisement first threatened the status quo by allowing our generation to seize political capital as gatekeepers to the mysteries of the Internet. Now, we find ourselves unwitting spectators to a quadrennial circus act that has misappropriated our soapbox –  twisting and mangling discourse into 140-character indictments that were previously reserved for our narcissistic quips.

Many Americans are struggling. Our generation is uniquely positioned to learn of human suffering in real time. But, the very globalism that allows this exposure has made us deaf to domestic economic unrest. We are objectively educated, but emotionally unemployed. We chastise blue collar workers who have lost their careers as bitter rubes. We are a pop culture bourgeoisie unlike any other: ordaining the Baby Boomers’ economic resentments as improper, but lamenting about our earning potential that is voluntarily encumbered by student loan debt.

What result?

Neither right-wing nor left-wing populism is  desireable  for our country.  So, what is an Irked Moderate to do? Teeter on a soapbox outside of the tents and call upon the promotors of this year’s Political Circus to pack up, leave town, and come back with better acts.