My daughter in Ohio is having a hard time with the results of this election

[markodochartaigh]

43. I understand your frustration.

Having grown up gay in Amarillo Texas a half century ago.

Generally people judge society based on their own personal experience. If they are in a privileged group, generally the majority, they don't think past their own personal lived experience to see the lived experiences of people in disfavored groups. I think that this is due a lack of empathy. We tend to say that someone is a "good person" based on how they treat their family, friends, and boss. I think that we should say that someone is a "good person" based on how they treat the homeless, the immigrant, the mentally ill, even those in prison.

I think that if the US is to get past our current predicament there must be two awakenings. Both of these awakenings involve pain. First, I think that a lot of people who pay little attention to the political process and its effect on what happens in society need to wake up. I think that only the personal economic pain of a collapsing economy will wake them up and get them out to vote. I think that the other awakening is for people on the left to realize that many of them have been seeing the world through rose colored glasses. They have been seeing US society through the privilege of their own experience.