Little difference between candidates

 (My Eastern New Mexico News column for November 11, 2020)

I was wrong. I was sure Donald Trump would win easily, in spite of years of political and personal attacks from his various opponents.

I knew there was "Anyone but Trump" sentiment out there, but I just couldn't imagine anyone but a few people on the fringe would actually vote for Joe Biden.

The last time I was this surprised at people taking a candidate seriously was when I discovered that people were actually considering Bill Clinton a credible choice back in 1992. Some of them were even excited about him! You could have heard my jaw hit the floor when I discovered this.

In spite of the polls leading up to this election, I still couldn't believe anyone imagined Biden was less bad than Trump.

Yet, almost exactly half of the voters apparently saw things differently.

After December 14, when the Electoral College votes, someone I don't like will end up as president. Half of the people will say the election was fraudulent; half of the people will say the voters have spoken.

No matter who ends up being sworn in as president on January 20-- Trump, Biden, or Harris-- I was wrong because I thought Trump would win easily and the result would be obvious. That didn't happen.

You might be surprised-- or not-- when I admit it doesn't make much difference to me either way.

There will still be people claiming the imaginary authority to control my life. This control will be the same no matter who holds the office, differing only in minor details.

The political left and the political right work together to destroy liberty a little at a time. First from one angle, then they switch places and nibble away from a slightly different direction. This isn't going to change until they are stopped, and it probably won't be stopped at the ballot box.

Liberty, or anyone who understands and respects it, is never on the ballot.

I need to prepare for slightly different attacks on my liberty under a Joe Biden/Kamala Harris administration than under four more years of Donald Trump. It's the difference between preparing for a hurricane instead of a blizzard. It's probably good that Biden has already indicated which of our natural human rights he intends to declare war on. It gives everyone a chance to prepare in case he's the one who recites the oath of office. A little prior warning is always welcome.

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"How can I fail today?"

That may seem a defeatist way to think, but it actually spurs me to action.

I've never succeeded. At anything. I could either let that fact paralyze me; make me think "What's the point of even trying?" and just stay in bed (I was there 20 years ago for a few months-- don't want to do that again), or I can let it motivate me to try something else. Recently I decided to embrace the second way with enthusiasm.

Every day I get up and ask myself what I can fail at today, and then I do something. Something I assume will fail. But at least I've done something. 

Maybe I also learned from it-- learned what doesn't work-- but I've learned. And maybe, someday, one of those somethings will fail to fail.

This keeps me trying new things. It gives me boldness to not worry that it will fail-- I assume it will. This is freedom. The more failures I can accumulate, the more chance something will eventually succeed. No matter what facet of life I'm dabbling in. If not, maybe I can be the champion of failing. Is there an award for that?

Even if everything continues to fail, at least I didn't just lie in a corner and rot. I stayed busy. Kept trying. That's got to count for something, right?

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