Thursday, December 19, 2019

Special: On Trump's Impeachment

I don't know anything about whatever Trump did in Ukraine. Apparently he, um, pressured the Ukranian government into doing an investigation? And then "Obstructed" the senate when they were trying to investigate?

Whatever. The point of the matter is that public opinion isn't, as far as I know, against Trump because of what he did. They're against him by principle. This is what makes Trump's impeachment different from Nixon's and Clinton's. In both those cases, there was a scandal and people hated an originally (at least somewhat) likable president because of what he did. In this case, no one even cares emotionally about some random Ukranian investigation--even if the media says it's an abuse of power. Instead, they hate Trump for being Trump. He represents their knee-jerk reaction to having their values interrogated.

In order to avoid a possible wave of hate for simply supporting one side of an argument over another, I'm going to say here that I don't care who's president! As long as they maintain the American Dream of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, I don't care who it is. I just want to live my life being able to get a burger at Burger King, work towards my personal goals, and not be deprived of basic necessities like what's happening in Venezuela.

I just read "The Grace of Kings" by Ken Liu. It was good, a pretty cool story.

But there was one scene that really got to me. One of the courtiers that wanted a bid for power brought a deer into the throne room and called it a horse. Anyone who said it was a deer was killed. Anyone who called it a horse was spared. And, from that point on, the deer was a horse.

A good analogy of what's happening nowadays. People are calling "deer" "horses." I won't say what I'm describing in fear of (admittedly ironic) retribution, but I just want to make it plain that losing everything because of an opinion you hold is stupid and Orwellian.

Let's make an example. If there is a green square, and someone tells you it is yellow, they are expressing an opinion. You can disagree with them, and point out everything that proves it is green, but in a true world with free speech you cannot punish that person for believing that a green square is yellow.

That is the basis of America's First Amendment. It doesn't matter if they're wrong. As long as it doesn't cause harm to an individual (and that harm has to be decided upon by a jury), anyone can believe anything.

If you believe you have been wronged by someone's words, sue them. That is what the court system is for. Simply punishing someone for holding an opinion different from yours and the mainstream's, even if it is wrong, is a corruption of the American ideal.

Thus, we get to Trump. Trump's very existence seems to be hated by a good portion of the American people. Why? I don't understand! Everything he does is scrutinized like no other president before him!

I think the fall of the Soviet Union and the death of Osama Bin Laden has had the opposite of a "silver lining." We have no one left to hate. We have no enemy to bring us together. And so we create one. We create a conflict because, for some reason, us humans have to have an enemy we are facing up against. It seems to me like there will always be a bad guy whom the public hates and tries to defeat, no matter if they really exist.

Whatever. I'm making the disclaimer here that I really, really don't want to ignite a stupid petty argument where people spit out party lines on either side. While I lean to the right in my proclivities, I am only on the side of Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness. For myself and for everyone. Anything that defeats that purpose is, to me, the bad guy.

Take that how you will.

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