Due to the extremely unusual (and important) nature of the upcoming presidential election, its candidates, the people, and the media, I keep having a strong desire to write blogs over all kinds of possible topics. (Yes, I know I should be dissertating!) I’ve started blogs addressing problems with various candidates running for the Democratic and Republican nominations, but these don’t really go anywhere for two reasons:
Knowing what exactly is going on is unusually difficult right now. Even more than usual, politics are extremely illogical. It seems more like a sick comedy than the seriousness we expect, at least in our utopian visions, of the possible leader of the United States.
Additionally, everything I could possibly say with perhaps one exception (article is already written, but I am waiting a few days to publish it) at this historical moment has basically already been said again and again by others with an active blog and/or social media presence. Problems facing our nation and the concerns manifested in all of the candidates has been said again and again, as have their strengths. With very few exceptions, I have devoted my attention to writing articles that offer especially unique, personal interpretations and analysis.
So instead of doing a blog about an important political issue, I decided to write one about why writing a blog about such issues is so difficult right now. And, actually, I’m not sure why it is particularly challenging. I know that I see essentially the same points-of-view for and against Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders, and Donald Trump, for example, again and again. The same basic points about the crisis our nation is in and the importance of selecting the right President, again and again. Articles also discuss how we should focus attention on Congress or the Supreme Court more than the President, again and again.
Our nation is in something like a rut, perhaps?
Another blog certainly isn’t needed expressing hope or sorrow or anger.
Writing original, insightful articles is further made difficult by that GOP debate, after GOP debate nothing new is ever said. It’s essentially the same debate again and again. Everyday politics in the United States too have become too everyday and too boring, per se, too predictable, and too detached from the actual hopes and fears.
All of this makes it hard to have original, insightful, and potentially beneficial contributions to contemporary political discourses, as important as these are.
Thoughts?
Andrew Joseph Pegoda
Dr. Andrew Joseph Pegoda 