Jeremy C Kester

This last election I didn’t vote. That’s right, I decided that my vote was best expressed through the action of non-action. I was never an “anyone but Trump” person, nor was I ever a MAGA fan. To this day I will not vote for a person who owns/owned a casino, as Trump has (not sure if he still does, but he continues to embody the brash, predatory tycoon who would). The alternatives these last two elections haven’t exactly been great either. I won’t say that they were worse than Trump, but it’s like choosing to be in hospice care vs being dead. Sure, the first option is more alive than the first… but not by much.

I acknowledge that there are many people who will immediately dismiss me as I say that. To say that Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden are only slightly better than Trump would set people alight. (Or that I would dare say Trump is worse.) I understand that. I might be akin to being a Trump voter through some eyes, as not supporting a side makes me an enemy of the cause. In other words, it reeks of the statement, “if you are not for us, then you are against us.” I hate those fucking absolutions.

To be clear, I had a favorite in the primaries who wasn’t Trump. Wasn’t Biden or Harris or Warren or Sanders either. In many ways, though a few of the candidates more closely aligned with my political leanings or particular causes, I looked for one singular trait in the field and found it only in two candidates, one of which I believed was by far the best person to do something that no one has done in quite a long time as President… be a leader. That person? Tulsi Gabbard.

Unfortunately, because Tulsi has integrity, it meant that she didn’t have a damn chance in the election. And now I believe we’re going to slowly come to the realization that we missed a good goddamn chance to elect the United States’ version of Marcus Aurelius to public office.

I am sure my friend is rolling his eyes about now. I’ve been on the Tusli train soon after her appearances on shows such as The Joe Rogan Experience. I can’t seem to get off that train even as it stalled out. I continued to show my disappointment when the media appeared to block and malign the campaigns of not only Tulsi, but also Andrew Yang. It was similar to me being a snotty brat who was throwing a tantrum because my parents told me to go to bed and I didn’t want to acknowledge that it was time. I can’t seem to accept the fact that yet again the American people got duped (my assertion) or that voters only wanted things to get back to some kind of normal.

And I get it. Biden is a better choice to keep the country at least continuing to limp forward in as similar a condition as possible as before the demagogue took hold. Probably the best choice. He was a known quantity after Trump — a safe bet in a manner of speaking. I can’t really begrudge people for that thought. It’s the desperate try to get back to normal. But I don’t want normal. I also didn’t want Trump. And thankfully at least he’s gone, so maybe things will calm down?

Or maybe not.

Tulsi was one of the latest guests once again on the JRE podcast. Naturally, I listened. The more I hear her, the more I believe she is someone I would follow. She speaks of exactly the things I want to see pushed in our government: leadership, integrity, honesty. She speaks about truly bringing people together, not just speaking in hyperbole, but actually finding the humanity and respecting that humanity in everyone, no matter where on the political spectrum one falls on. She calls it “Aloha”, a term she holds dear as a Hawaiian.

I believe that everyone should at least give her a listen. If not for anything but to listen to an example of what I feel we should be looking for in our leaders.

I am not expecting much on this post. Eventually it’ll disappear into the thousands of posts I expect to have in the coming years. It’ll disappear behind political posts with far more eloquence and greater thought than this one. This is a just the ramblings of a guy who sits, disappointed that we couldn’t have had a far better person sitting in the White House right now. I’m a guy who is bummed that my team didn’t even make the playoffs and is butt-hurt because my team looked the best on paper yet didn’t pull through (even though the Phillies rarely look the best even on paper). Listening to this latest interview reminds me of the opportunity we missed, all because we can’t stand each other right now and we think it best to just get back to our lives as they were…