More Representative Than You Think

This year's Presidential election is unlike any most of us have ever seen.  A couple of fairly polarizing candidates who seem to bring out the worst (or at least most opinionated) versions of all of us (and 1 guy hardly anyone knows).  Some love Clinton, many hate Trump, but most of all I hear folks asking, "With all the people we have in America, these two are the best we've got?"  Well, I actually think Clinton and Trump (and Johnson) are far more representative of today's America than all of us are willing to admit.

The Social Media Effect
Imagine for a moment we took every post on Facebook over the past 4 years and averaged them out into a single profile of the typical post.  I believe it would be equal parts:

1. Boasting about our beautiful, intelligent, and incredibly above average children.
2. Bragging about the nice things in life we have.
3. Versions of our life that are slight to extreme positive exaggerations as compared to the lives we are actually living.
4. A variety of polite "Us vs. Them" posts innocently trying to convince "the other side" why what we believe is correct.
5. A serious of less than polite "Why the thems are not good people" in an effort to show everyone we have the solution to the world's most complex problems.

Now take a minute and read those 5 items again and think about whether that reminds you of anyone.

Anyone at all?

Still thinking?

Let me help.  What if I were to give you a few hints about each of the items above:

1. Eric, Ivanka, Donald Jr.
2. Planes, hotels, and high powered friends.
3. Worth billions of dollars (maybe), genius on his taxes (maybe), knows more than career US Military Generals.
4. Not all illegal aliens are bad, just the criminals.
5. Keep every Muslim out until we can figure out who is good and who is bad.

Got a little easier huh?  Of course I'm talking about Donald Trump.  I know most of us don't like to admit it, but our Facebook lives are generally full of the same type of rhetoric that comes out of the mouth of The Donald himself.  Now maybe ours is more politically correct.  Or maybe it's not as verbally harsh.  Or maybe it's not as brash, but it's hard to ignore the fact we tend to think, act, and verbalize in a far more similar way to Trump than we probably realize.  Maybe Hillary was right and we are a basket of deplorables.  

But wait, there's more.  If you think Facebook is bad, spend a few minutes on Twitter and the Trump similarities are even clearer.  Twitter created a brand new "Troll Nation" where people of all walks of life take great pleasure in publicly, yet anonymously, verbally abusing celebrities, politicians, and even friends.  We have even created sub-tweeting so we can be passive aggressive about calling out others without ever having to mention them by name.

Sound even more like Trump now?  But wait, there's more.

Hillary, the 30 Year Old (Politician) Spoiled Brat

We all know those parents whose kids can do no wrong.  From the time they were born until they leave the house, every mistake, wrongdoing, fight, bad grade, or general misconduct always comes with some sort of excuse.  What starts out "cute" as a baby turns into aggravating as a toddler, annoying as a teenager, and irresponsible as an adult.  Yet all along the parent continually makes excuses for the behavior.  Something along the lines of, "Well I know he/she isn't perfect, but he/she is not as bad as that baby/toddler/teenager/adult over there".  And no matter what their behavior is, they are still continually rewarded for doing their best, just showing up, trying real hard, or simply having good intentions.  

Enter HRC.  It seems no matter what she does there's always an excuse to show why her suspect behavior is really not all that bad.  Or if it is kind of bad, well at least overall she's not as bad as that evil Donald kid.  If collectively America was Hillary's parent, we've essentially raised a 30 year old politician who believes nothing she does is wrong, everything is justified, and by now she's entitled to the job she deserves.  The Hillary the Republicans dislike is essentially the political version of the kid they've probably raised.  

Gary "Participation Trophy" Johnson

Somewhere along the way we decided as a Nation that earning something was far less important than making our kids feel welcome and encouraged.  We decided to stop keeping score in youth athletic events.  We decided everyone should get a trophy at the end of the year no matter how well the team performed.  We decided to give out snacks after every game even if the kids were unmanageable monsters during the game.  We stopped using red ink to grade papers because it might be too harsh for the students.  We basically told our youth "Just show up and you'll be rewarded.  Hard work doesn't matter.  Your performance doesn't matter.  Your behavior doesn't matter."

Gary Johnson, and the Libertarian Party, are upset because he's being left out.  They believe he should be part of the process (namely the debates) essentially because "he showed up".  However, I'd like to know how he's earned the right to demand inclusion.  Where was he, or the Libertarian Party, over the past 4 years while the Democrats and Republicans were front and center?  Now I know some of you will say, "But wait, Gary Johnson is a career politician.  He was a Governor for goodness sakes!  He's earned his right!"  Kind of.  Sort of.  Maybe.  Not really, and here's why:

1. He was a Governor from 1994-2002.  Hardly recent.  Oh, and he was a Republican Governor, not a Libertarian.
2. He ran for President in 2012...wait for it...wait for it...as Republican.
3. When he didn't get anywhere near the nomination as a Republican, he switched over to the Libertarian Party...and promptly and massively lost in the General Election.
4. Did he then stay politically involved to help the country?  No, he went off to run a pot dispensary only to emerge a few months before the next General Election to give us priceless tidbits like Allepo, inability to name a global leader, and proclamations like "I won't smoke pot while running for President."

Now maybe I'm wrong, but that sounds a bit like the very child who doesn't deserve it, but who demands the Participation Trophy just because he showed up.

Conclusion

So if tens of millions of us are on social media acting like Trump.  And we are parenting tens of millions of kids who act like Hillary.  And we are coaching tens of millions of kids who want to be entitled like Gary Johnson, then can you explain to me again how these candidates aren't representative of the Nation we've become?  Just a thought.