For Whom the Vote Tolls? This Election Depends On ‘Feelings, nothing more than feelings’
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Will the upcoming Presidential Election be a contest between candidates and issues?? No, it will be more visceral than that. ?I see it more as a contest of feelings about how we want our lives to be, more joyful or with less discontent?
Some will vote for feelings they wish they had more of in their lives.? Others are against feelings they’re sick and tired of and want forever eradicated. ???
While some will vote for Republican Vs. Democrat, Kamala Vs. Trump, large blocks will vote for something in short supply today, feelings of joy, or for feelings they’d like expunged, yet unfortunately abound, that gnawing discontent.
Sure, the candidates have charm and charisma. ?Kamala with ever widening smile and buoyant energy. Trump with his whole cast of facial expressions and slingshot rhetoric.
Yet today each carries a flag.? Kamala’s emblazoned triumphantly with the word JOY; Trump’s with his defiant rallying cry of DISCONTENT that he alone can erase.
These will be the two rallying flags waving from their respective encampments intended to spur voters on to do what in their hearts and minds is the right thing to do.?
The candidates are intuitively aware it’s those feelings on which many of us in the electorate will be voting this November more than the candidates themselves.
Many voters will see smiling Kamala joyfully waltzing with Walz toward inclusiveness, toward a woman having control over her body, paid leave and financial help with down payment on a home. That’s the feelings flag she waves.
And on the other side they’ll see a no-nonsense, cut the crap Trump trumpeting his troops to charge the leftist before their largesse bankrupts the country.?
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In Trump voters see a charming Don Quixote together with his grizzly tiger Sancho Panza sidekick JD vowing to end chaos at our border, out-of-control spending causing rampant inflation and restoring our economy to a level America can be proud of and the world will envy once again as that city on a hill.? Trump calls “Comrade Kamala . . . an economy wrecker and a country destroyer.”
Yet, what it really comes down to is not denigrating epithets but how we voters feel which will determine for whom we vote, whether you’re homesick for less-violence in schools and turmoil on streets, whether you support unions, a higher minimum wage, lower prices for milk and eggs or less costly medicine.?
Yes, it’s for those feelings of joy or discontent many will be voting, especially the discontent plaguing people who’ve lost their jobs, who want to ban books, who dislike transsexuals and are against banning automatic rifles as Americans have the right to bear arms and perhaps use them if necessary, against evildoers. ?
Many will be voting for that joy they believe will come from a more equitable and inclusive future regardless of age and sexual identity, or for less discontent emanating from seeing fewer immigrants and drug peddlers, less fentanyl on the streets and more gas and oil independence making fuel more available and at lower cost and to hell with that bugaboo climate change.
Bottom line: voters today want to leave the polls feeling joyful or less discontented than when they entered.?
This electorate more than ever before wants to feel they voted not for just candidates, but to express something much more important, how they feel now or want to feel tomorrow! ??
So, look for this presidential election to be less Kamala Vs. Trump and more about Feelings, nothing more than feelings . . . as Albert and Ella Fitzgerald would sing.
And may the best feelings win!
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?Tom Madden is not a politician, but a career publicist who considers the United States his forever client and the city on a hill he’ll promote till the cows come home.? He believes what distinguishes our country is our freedom to vote for whomever we want to serve as our leaders operating within our Constitution. ?He writes a weekly blog at www.maddenmischief.com and is the author of six books, his latest Planetary Lifeguard, Blowing the Whistle at Climate Change and he is the CEO of TransMedia Group , a PR firm with feelings for its clients.?
Elections in the United States aren’t just domestic affairs—they ripple across the world, impacting international trade, supply chains, and economic policies. As we head into the next presidential election, it’s important to understand how the outcome can shape global markets and, more specifically, the flow of goods and services. See an excellent analysis here: https://youtu.be/Hvs_ZwWIa24
Bachelor of Arts - BA at The Open University
2 个月GUT FEELING. The flag of America is at half mast no one can deny it & whether it falls or raises & flies proudly again will depend on who wins. So vote wisely. The founding fathers were wise men & wrote the constitutions with great thought & deliberation to protect the people of America incl free speech, a free press, religious freedom, & the right to a jury trial like an individual the right to keep & bear arms including personal handguns in the home for self-defence. The government may not fine, jail, or punish people or orgs based on what they say or write. Are these intact, or being eroded or attacked? Feelings are an emotional state. Joy is fine but don't last & life is hard, life is real & it is unforgiving. Is the economy vibrant? Is freedom of speech intact? Are you, your family, friends & neighbours safe? Is your county under attack by replacement migration? You need to be tough & a realist. So vote wisely. A zombie is like a rabbit with little thought. A gut feeling is a base feeling, & somehow the human condition knows right from wrong. Are you smiling all the time... joyous or just mad? Maybe it's your intuition that is all you have left that will save the country from oblivion. It's only a gut feeling.