Strange Manifesto

 Remember in Avengers: Infinity War when Dr. Strange was on Titan zen’d out of his mind, literally, watching the millions (AND MILLIONS (The Rock reference)) of endgame scenarios play out? Aware of the situation they were in but oblivious to what was happening in that moment, Strange found the single path to victory amidst overwhelming odds.

That path to victory required monumental sacrifice and patience. With all the variables in play, hard choices had to be made… knowing most wouldn’t understand why.

Hi. I’m Dr. Strange.

I’ve seen the future because I’ve seen the past.

There IS a way out of the American 2020 Experience, but it’s going to cost things people don’t want to give and come slower than people will want to allow.

People with beliefs across the board must release what they hold so dearly… their hatred.

This Strange Manifesto will touch on so many connected-yet-not-always-apparently-related ideals that it may not make sense. I’ll try to connect the thoughts as seamlessly as possible, but it may turn into a pinball bouncing around, hitting bumpers and knobs. But trust me… I’ve seen it. I’m right. And if you think I’m not… you can’t prove a negative anyway. So either way, you’re wrong.

As we find ourselves in the most important election season of our lives, until next time, we must understand the actual problems we’re facing.

Covid is an issue, not the problem. An oncoming financial tsunami will be a massive issue, but is not the overriding problem. Moving to a socialist America and away from truth, justice, and the formerly-American way is certainly an issue but not the problem.

Trump is also not the problem. Neither is Biden.

You. Me. Us.

We’re the problem.

Everything else is a symptom to the problems we’ve caused. As Biden pointed out to Trump in their debate, it is what it is because we are who we are. And much how Covid creates all sorts of symptoms that must be treated because they CAUSE problems, we must get to the root. Treating symptoms helps us feel better but we won’t GET better until the problem is fixed.

We won’t be looking for Trump to MAGA because it would never lose its greatness in the first place. We won’t be looking for Biden to bring civility back to the White House because it would have never left.

I heard a quote in college and I bring it up from time to time. It may be the most powerful nugget of wisdom I hold onto…

What one generation tolerates, the next embraces. (John Wesley)

2020 didn’t just happen. 2020 is the lovechild of every year prior. 2020 is here b/c Elvis rocked his swingin’ hips in the ‘50s pushing us into free love and social unrest in the ‘60s so we’d get high through the ‘70s to forget it all only to enjoy the lap of luxury in the excess of the ‘80s giving us technological

advancements that would be great but open Pandora’s Box (the internet) in the ‘90s which gave us all a social media outlet in the ‘00s so that we can all troll each other in the ‘10s.

And now we’re here. And don’t expect 2021 to be better because it’s going to have a fresh sheen of 2020 all over it.

As Billy Joel said… we didn’t start the fire. It was always burnin’ since the world’s been turning. Each thing we tolerate leads to something we use to abhor. Sometimes progress is good. Sometimes it’s not.

For any progressives out there, you need to understand non-progressives are not evil. We just see that what’s past is prologue. History has consistently shown there never is enough. We aren’t afraid of ‘progress’. We’re afraid that your version of progress will lead us down a slippery slope our government has shown no ability to control. They’ve only shown the ability to corrupt it.

We aren’t against everyone having access to healthcare. We’re against a government telling they need to be the ones doing it. You believe it’s a right. We believe it’s labor and services and you aren’t entitled to our labor and services. We aren’t against government programs (to an extent). We’re against a government who has repeatedly shown they’ll mess up and waste the money we give them.

We aren’t heartless. We’re cautious. And we consider you foolish for not being so. And history is on our side in the argument, not yours. We live in a world, not of wishes and hopes, but where reality exists.

We want good things for people. We just want to not have to pay for it ourselves when we’re having a hard enough time under THESE conditions affording life. We want to know our hard work pays off for us more than it does you.

And this argument is why many (myself included) are scared of Biden.

Conservatives disagree with his politics because we disagree with his party. But we the biggest fear for conservatives who don’t want Trump (I’ve already discussed my reasons there in other posts) is we think Biden is a puppet to his party.

Most of us think he’s a fairly decent man, if not a little sniffing-hair creepy. But he’s a puppet to a party we completely reject so even if he actually WAS moderate, his party wouldn’t let him be. He’s Annabelle. A benign doll haunted by demons controlling his every move.

Heck, the progressive side of his party is already starting to put pressure on him. (Google ‘Progressives unveil 2021 agenda to pressure Biden’). He’s going to have to appeal to some of their wishes, regardless of how moderate he might be. So, even acquiescing just a little pushes us further than most Americans, even Democrats, want to go.

That tolerance will push the next generation to embrace that mess. We’re 20-30 years from not really BEING America anymore. That’s not hyperbole. That’s our historical future.

Because Trump ain’t winning folks. I know, I know. Some of you are smiling and others think I’m an absolute idiot. But, I’ve seen the future by seeing the past. You can disagree with me now. You won’t later.

I’m not going to argue for/against either candidate. I’m kinda out of that business at this point. I’m just going to point out facts so you’re making informed decisions.

And if somehow I read these tea leaves wrong, I’ll admit it. Don’t worry. But I won’t have to.

Trump won in 2016 by realizing there was a huge middle ground of people who felt politically disenfranchised. Liberals are going to be liberate. Conservatives are going to er, conservate. But that huge middle section who don’t affiliate… who just want this country to be something they can be proud of again is looking for someone.

Trump tapped into that and convinced enough people in the right places, even by not winning the populace, that they should give him a shot. And they did.

And he turned that chance into a narcistic world tour.

People are hunting, looking, crying out for someone to be a responsible-enough adult leader and he’s steadfastly refused. The first debate he had (maybe only?) with Biden was a greatest hits album reinforcing everything people are on the fence about when considering him.

Trump, because I know you read my stuff, just be a semi-adult. We kinda like your policies enough to at least consider you, but you’re doing everything you possibly can to remind us why we don’t like you in the first place. Your ego trumps (giggle, I got jokes) the good we think you MIGHT be able to do. Let that sink in.

People may be tired of the establishment (Biden’s 47 years in Washington), but it’s taken four years of idiocracy to make us sick of you.

Trump won the middle/forgotten section of American by asking them to give him a chance. He asked them what they had to lose and then went out and showed them. He’s lost enough people who gave him a chance.

I’ve had conversations with people and remember back to 2017 when I said I don’t think he’d win re-election. The math doesn’t work. And there’s no Cambridge Analytica to save him this time. (If you’re not familiar with that, there’s a cool Netflix special about it).

And all those conversations were obviously before the train wreck things have turned into.

He got lucky winning in the exact places he needed to to win the right amount of votes in the right districts in the right states. It was a weapons-grade surgical analytics attack to which he no longer has access. And there’s no Hillary email scandal to save his hide now, either.

Is there a scenario he wins? Well, as Dr. Strange, I DID see one. He suppressed voting to a level in the right places and then the Supreme Court ruled in his favor. But, I honestly don’t expect it to even get to that point.

Just like Covid, we don’t know the long term damage Trump will have on our country. I can tell you he was a knee-jerk reaction to the distaste conservatives and moderates had for Obama. And knee-jerk reactions increase in response to each other. The backlash to Trump, whenever it comes, it going to be severe. And damaging.

When my daughter’s school went virtual last March, a big gripe amongst parents (and even students) was there was no direction or much work assigned. Regardless of why, that was a result of the quick Covid-related school adjustments. This year, as most schools started virtually? The biggest gripe wasn’t

the pain-in-the-butt access to Canvas or Google Classroom or whatever. It was the huge, heavy, unrealistic workloads being assigned. They WAY overcorrected. I told my daughter to expect it. (And to expect them to figure it out and re-calibrate). That’s exactly what happened.

And that’s exactly what’s going to happen here. The knee-jerk reaction to Trump is going to be a major American problem. And what sucks about that even more? It’s going to galvanize his supporters for him even more when he’s gone, whenever that happens.

You like your 401(k)? Trump has done a good job with that. Awesome. Hope you’ve already retired because once the Democrats get in power, it’s likely to drop significantly. And that reaction is going to cement what people already like about Trump.

Our economy was rocking before Covid. Regardless of who you blame and why, it’s come crashing down. When someone else gets in power, even ignoring Covid, they will need to maintain something that has never happened before to save face. It’s highly unlikely under the best of circumstances. So, when it DOES come crashing, Trump will look like the genius he says he is.

Trump is a corporate businessman. His scope is limited.

There’s no way around that. He did well building our economy. (You can argue whether the ends justify the means, but that’s separate). But his entire philosophy is short-term gain. Do what it takes to increase as much as possible NOW. Tomorrow will worry about tomorrow. His political strategy mirrors his financial strategy. My financial advice? Talk to an adviser on how to mitigate against a guaranteed financial regression. And watch out for the people worshipping the Trump-god who ‘got’ us there in the first place.

Enough about that guy though… I’ve got so much more.

Remember when I said we are the problem and Trump is the symptom? Well, he’s our creation. Our monster. And anything in response to him is too. Want to fix the problem? We need to fix our perspective and habits.

We are a social justice, social media, socially stunted world more interested in trolling people and confirmation bias than actually researching things to form our own opinions. If it’s said on a meme or a TikTok or an Instagram post, then that’s good enough. We are our thoughts and we’re letting other people determine and shape our thoughts.

We are sheep. No one likes to admit it, but it’s true. Again, look up Cambridge Analytica.

There’s a reason advertising is expensive. It works. We are being manipulated. And the only way to fight it is to acknowledge it. Take the red pill. Uncover and accept unpleasant truths. But to do that, you need to source the data you’re absorbing.

I’ve busted so many people for sharing blatantly untrue and misleading things. And heck, I fell victim to it the other day myself… after doing some research! I wasn’t paying close enough attention and even though I researched, I wasn’t looking for THE truth… just confirmation of something I suspected.

And I was still wrong.

If you think you aren’t a sheep, or aren’t vulnerable to being one, then they’ve got you fooled and that proves you are anyway.

Stop looking for confirmation bias. Look for viewpoints you don’t agree with and read those. Understand why someone might view something differently. And do so with the assumption that they aren’t a pig-headed idiot. Try to understand we all want nice things. Maybe we disagree on what that means. Or how to get there.

Yes, there are idiots out there just looking to watch the world burn. Let them be the exception. Don’t normalize idiocy. Understand your opponent. Understand why they want what they want and why they want it. Sometimes your opponent will just be an idiot. Sometimes they won’t share your beliefs. But, you won’t fully understand what you think until you fully understand what they do. Expose yourself to opposite viewpoints so you can identify half-truths. Question facts. Look up info for yourself. It takes all of 15 seconds. Make sure you know what you’re talking about. As Pence said in the VP debate, you’re entitled to your own opinions but not your own facts.

Understand the context behind those facts. Heck, reach out to someone you think might have a perspective similar to yours. And someone opposite.

If your issue is faith-based (let’s use abortion), then understand you can’t expect someone who doesn’t hold your faith to understand your argument against it. That probably doesn’t make them a blood-thirsty-baby-killer. It makes you realize they’re looking at the topic without a lens you have.

Doesn’t mean you have to come to agreement, but it does help having conversations that don’t devolve into name-calling fits where you lose all faith in humanity.

And for the love of all that is good and holy (and I’m speaking to myself here too), stop celebrating when someone gets trolled publicly. We’re so interested in the one-line zinger that when it happens, it overshadows anything of substance. Just know… those zingers are curated. Orchestrated. Planned.

You’re a sheep and they know it.

2020 has happened because we’ve surrendered the ability to think for ourselves anymore. We let others do the thinking for us and we’ll believe, share, or like anything we tend to agree with. Truth is largely irrelevant anymore.

THAT is the problem. WE are the problem.

Also understand that political problems rarely require binary solutions. There’s no, “If we do this and not that, we’ll be ok…”

Fixing healthcare isn’t about having universal healthcare or not. It’s not about limiting Rx costs or not. It’s not about limiting insurance increases or not. Fixing healthcare requires about 1,000 different interests that are layered to be peeled back in the right order at the right speed by the right people at the right time for the right reasons.

Fixing our education system is the same. It’s not about vouchers or teacher’s pay. It’s not about saying everyone should have equal access. It’s about changing what public education looks like so it works for those who don’t. These problems require us to rebuild foundations and acknowledge how we do something now worked in a different era so let’s rethink what works in THIS one.

One thing I’ve always been fascinated by is how we end up with the belief systems we have. Why do most liberals want gun control, free healthcare, bigger government, are against the death penalty, open borders, support higher taxes, support same-sex marriage, and I could go on. And most conservatives have the absolute opposite views almost across the board. It fascinates me how if you believe one piece on either side, you’re likely to support most, if not all that side’s beliefs naturally. The fact there is little crossover is interesting.

Or it’s a product of political parties training us for so many years to believe what they want us to. I don’t know.

But, having beliefs that straddle the political demarcation lines is fairly rare. We may have a few small things, but it’s interesting to me how and why that works. I’ve got other thoughts there, but I’ll save that.

But, regardless of what the cause there is… make sure to research opposing viewpoints and think for yourself. By parroting party discussion points and plagiarizing their lines in discussions, you’re immediately going to be ignored. At least by me. We’ll still be friends if you can conduct yourself civilly. I’m cool with people disagreeing. But if you’re using the same words and ideas someone else on TV uses hoping no one notices so you can sound smart?

I notice. And you don’t.

I have other things I can say. I’ll save them for specific conversations I know will likely happen. But this Strange Manifesto isn’t about Trump. Or Biden. Or Harris. Or Pence. Or the fly on his head.

It’s about identifying the problem and how to fix it. It’s about you. And me. And us.

It requires sacrifice, patience, and humility. And remember… Dr. Strange said that’d be the case.

These things certainly are not the American Way anymore.

Thanos was asked what it cost for him to get all six infinity stones. His answer?

“Everything.”

His was willing to allow others to pay the price for his ambitions. (There might be a Trump or Hillary joke in there…) That’s what made him evil. But are you willing to pay the price for yours? History says no.

So does the future. I have seen it.