So, the reason I initially joined the UU is because I was getting tired of constant political media's cynicism.

I am a Progressive and vote every election and I doubt that will ever change, but I have had some tough feelings regarding politics. I feel I was almost forced from a young age to pay attention to politics more than a person should because my family insisted on always playing "SNL" or various political pundits around me (though maybe that is normal, IDK). I used to very much emphasize Christianity also as part of my personality but I eventually became frustrated with my overly-evangelical church the LCMS (I know being from a Progressive but also LCMS family is a strange combination). I think I tried to fill the hole that left in me yearning for community with the political movement of Communism, which though I am not exactly Capitalism's #1 fan, this at the very least wasn't a healthy reason to join them. I eventually however began actively avoiding politics when I started noticing contradictions. For instance, take the fact that many online communist activists (not all) will say that "The world is always getting worse" when Marx had the largely optimistic view that the world is getting better, or fantasizing about a glorious and Bloody Communist Revolutionary War when again Marx viewed a generally peaceful transition of power. In the past I had sorta thought that we were correct because we were the good guys, but I ended up realizing people aren't that simple. I used to watch News daily because I felt I had to know what was going on, but after a while I realized pundits are actually the worst activists. Turns out the best activists are those who AREN'T miserable and fearful 24/7, who would've guessed? While I admit it is a little ironic that I quote Nietzche in a post complaining about cynicism (something which he was known for) I do think it is relevant that he said something about how Daily News Media makes you focus on small irrelevant details always scared of some event that never ends up happening, and makes you stupider in the long run and it takes your focus away from the larger historical cultural shifts or perhaps even more importantly takes away focus from the family and friends around you.

This frustration of contradictions in Media continues to happen during this election. For instance, it frustrates me that before the election if I said to someone "OK so Trump has a 50/50 chance of winning, so whats our Plan B if he wins" cuz to me not having a plan B seemed irrational, yet they would always just say "There is no Plan B because if Trump wins the world ends". Now they talk much more softly about Trump and don't want to talk about all the things they said he would do. This drives me crazy as I don't know whether to believe the first thing they said (the overly cynical view) or the last (the overly positive view). It reminds me of how Evangelical Christians will make a highly exxagerated image of hell and the endtimes not because the Bible actually teaches it, but because its a useful recruiting tactics and to them the anxiety it causes people is a necessary evil. Or the fact that many of those communist pundits mentioned above said that Harris was a worse candidate than Biden & Clinton, when they got upset at Biden said she was a great candidate and was basically guaranteed to win, and then went back to saying she is a terrible candidate after she lost. Or that depending on the month Biden having dementia was either a matter of fact liberals won't address, or a Conservative lie. All while smugly saying how "Oh if only people listened to ME none of this would have happened" never admitting that they were wrong.

Now, I must confess a way in which I was wrong. I was very big on a political prediction system called "Allan Lichtman's 13 keys" and was extraordinarily confident in saying Harris would win. Well, wouldn't you know it, for the first time ever this election Lichtman's keys were wrong. Now I feel like my family will never believe anything I say ever again, and frankly I am having an existential crisis right now of my own, wondering if anything I ever believed ever was true, if my life and the work I have done has had any point at all, as though the foundations of my knowledge were built on sand that just broke down. Though again I feel like when I would say "I'd rather not talk about politics" right now they wouldn't respect my wishes and that probably did not help, I don't know how but I'm going to have to explain to them that they really do need to stop talking about politics to me, not that the issues aren't important but I feel like it is truly draining my enjoyment of life away.

Despite my self-doubts, I would like to believe that America will survive. The reason I post this here is because the UU and the climate activists (a.k.a. the people who are actually doing work instead of just talking about how miserable things are) are the most optimistic about the future. And even if America were to become a dictatorship that's certainly unfortunate for its citizens, but we Americans tend to forget despite our power (which largely comes from being taken seriously by other countries) we are just 1% of the world population. What I enjoyed about the UU is that it kept those Progressive ideals but removed the needless cynicism always present among pundits. It is important to remember that literally every period of history people thought that they lived in the worst of times and the world was coming to an end. And even if worst comes to worst and the world truly ends, then at least let me spend my last moments happy and not constantly scrolling clickbait videos about how "The World is Ending".

Anyway, forgive me if this was long and overly personal, I am having trouble wrestling with my own thoughts if you can't tell and this sub just seemed saner than most, but please feel more than free to tell me where I'm wrong.