Thread by @EmporersNewC

What happens after the election, I do not know.

But I do know that since the last election I have watched something that was once a dream for many lead to bewildering frustration, and corroding bitterness.

I have observed the hope in people’s eyes, once alight by promises that could not be delivered, dwindle in the shadows of the wall of reality.

And I have seen the people of this nation become ever increasingly hostile as that dream turned into a frustrated nightmare.

As I have watched, I have also heard the rumbling of discontent, the deafening sound of a thunder disenfranchised masses.

We are a nation divided.

I know of no enemy that has caused as much damage as we inflict on ourselves today.

Or no war in our history that has ever been so corrupting of our conscious, and as destructive of our moral standing in the world.

It is the time when charlatans come forward with sweet words, catchy slogans, and deceptive rhetoric to challenge our moral fibre.

Seeking to put us in the position where we must ask what kind of a nation we are, and what direction we want to move in.

We can continue in this direction towards greater discontent and greater polarisation.

Or we can make an effort to understand and to comprehend each other.

The people of this country do not want to hate and despise one another.

No more than they want to destroy their nation’s future for ideological purity.

Yet our body politic continues to drive us towards a more divided country, a more hateful country, a poorer country, and a weaker country.

What we need is not division, nor discontent, nor ideological purity, but to be able to work together again.

In his book ‘A Study of History’, the British historian Arnold J. Toynbee studied the rise of twenty six civilisations, nearly all of which experienced decline and extinction.

It was not from an external force that these societies were cast into the scrap heap of destruction, but a failure to react inventively to the internal decay caused by their self-created conflicts.

Do we believe this country so special that it will not struggle, as others have done, in the face of its own moral bankruptcy?

People may have hoped, they may have wished, that the solution to our current problem would emerge from our representatives, but those who have waited for those things continue to do so.

I know of no other time when, as a people, we needed to slice through the slogans and realise that our political traditions cannot contain our ongoing crisis.

And that if we want this country to act carefully, considerately, and morally, then we must break from our long held habits to only elect those individuals who we trust to hold true to those principles.

As the internet has brought those with poisoned souls and malevolent purpose closer together then so must those who seek a revolution of values, in a country where youth has a future and old age a security.

We must all unite if we are to build a nation of inclusion, and compassion, with a sense of justice toward those who suffer.

We must reject those liars who would weaken our security, put barriers on our trade, and diminish our reputation in the world for their own selfish political ambitions.

Their bright and wonderful vision of a better future decays with each new realisation of the snake oil ignorance they sold.

We must take responsible for our destiny, because it is us who are ultimately responsible for the direction we now take.

I can’t tell people what party to vote for, who they should put faith in, what principles they should hold, what they should hold dear, or what they should decry.

It’s not my place.

But I can remind them that in the voting booth, when they hold that pencil in their hands, they hold our future.

Because regardless of our ability to face this challenge as one, it will still be together that we decide who we are as nation and who we will become.

And if the people really want to change the future that this country is committed to, then they will.

What happens after the election, I do not know, but make sure you register to vote, and hopefully we can decide together.

/End