I wrote a piece last week that offered a little calming encouragement to my fellow Christians who feel particularly anxious during this election season. I'd like to do something similar for those who may not be believers but who are, well, normal people.
You aren't alone. There are, in fact, many of us like you who are counting the days until Nov 5 is in the rear-view mirror.
It's not that we don't care about the outcome of the elections. We do.
It's not that we are indifferent about our future, and the country we will be handing off to our children. We are not.
It's not that we don't agree there are a great number of pressing issues that need addressing. We do.
We just also realize a few things that our excitable, overwrought, and high-strung countrymen seem to forget every two to four years:
That all those things we care about are not best dealt with through national elections and the bureaucratic state.
That whether this was actually, "the most important election of our lifetime" won't be known until future generations look back at us in the history books. And chances are it won't be.
That the individuals leading our two political parties and commanding the top of their presidential tickets are cartoonish characters who, once elected, will be little more than a hood ornament for the administrative state.
We're tired of the random campaign-fundraising texts that spam our phones. We're annoyed by the endless stream of political attack ads that interrupt our Sunday-afternoon football games. We're exhausted at having to "talk politics" with our kids because their favorite singer on Instagram decided to share his or her candidate endorsement.
There are many of us.
And yes, we think people that say things like this are crazy:
You aren't weird; that's weird. You aren't abnormal; that's abnormal.
Set aside what you may or may not know about Kamala Harris's method of career advancement, and whether or not that's "class." Disregard the uneasiness most sane people feel when she smiles and giggles at the most inopportune, even inappropriate times. It's simply absurd to think of, or treat any politician in that kind of fangirling, stalker-esque way.
No, it's not limited to one side of our political universe. Overemotional investment in pandering puppets is as common on the Right as it is the Left.
There's nothing wrong with you if you think that kind of hero-worship is absurd. It is absurd, and there's something wrong with people whose priorities are so misplaced they have time to immerse themselves politically to the point that they form such unhealthy bonds with glorified actors.
I've made a startlingly sad observation scrolling through my newsfeed and muting accounts that can't seem to talk about anything other than one contest (and one contest only) in the upcoming federal elections. It has now become a common insult for Trump sycophants to taunt dedicated Harris supporters, and for Harris sycophants to taunt dedicated Trump supporters, by telling them to "go touch some grass."
Unofficially, I'd estimate that nine times out of ten the person who hurls that insult likely has a social media history that demonstrates they too could benefit from that advice.
So if you've found yourself feeling, but being afraid to say publicly, "Man, I just can't get too excited or worked up about two really unimpressive people spending millions and millions of dollars in an attempt to live in a mansion I'm paying for, and tell me what I can and can't do," you're not alone.
If you're thinking, "These elections seem to start the moment the previous one ends, and there's just a lot more to life than that constant cycle of outrage," just know you're a lot closer to finding stability and peace than the political fanatics that try so hard to shame you for not being like them.
Obsess over God. Immerse yourself in your church, your family, and your friends. Know your values and your preferences, vote accordingly, and then get back to living life.
That is what's normal, and don't let anyone guilt you into thinking otherwise.
