The more I learn about Mark Zuckerberg, the more I like him. Last Sunday, while I was driving home to San Diego from Los Angeles, I decided to listen to Zuckerberg on Facebook live, filmed in his backyard while he was cooking some BBQ for friends. He was talking about everything from Artificial Intelligence (he thinks it’s good) to global health issues and immigration. It was very cool. The rumor is that Zuckerberg is interested in politics and would like to run for president someday. I don’t know if this is true, it seems like he could actually do more for humanity doing what he is currently doing, but it made me think. Wouldn’t it be nice to have a person lead our country who is a smart, compassionate, visionary leader – who makes decisions based on data and facts, and who is above the pettiness of partisan politics? I realize that despite his obvious flaws, some people voted for Donald Trump because they thought they were getting some version of that, but the divisions in our country have never been deeper and the pettiness has never been greater. Political parties and blind partisanship are slowly eroding the fabric of our country. It seems like the only people who can get elected these days are those who can demonize their opponents the most. Like most people, I have great friends who are liberal, and I also have great friends who are conservative – and with some very small exceptions, they are not that different from each other. Our political system is at a breaking point – and something has to give. Hopefully, the net outcome of this historically divisive period in our history will be that a new political apparatus will emerge – perhaps one without political parties. If so, it might be worth the pain and disappointment we are experiencing right now.
Never in U.S. history have we had two older or less popular candidates running for president of the United States than we do today. We repeatedly hear the question, “How can these two candidates be the best our country has to offer?”.
if you are primarily fearful of living in a society that is racist and discriminatory, you should be very concerned with what is happening with the political far left. If your primary fear is moving our society towards socialism and communism, then you should be mostly fearful of the political far right. That statement may seem counterintuitive, but it is absolutely true.
People on the political right believe that people on the extreme left are the biggest problems in our nation. People on the political left think that people on the extreme right pose the biggest threat. This is one occasion when both sides are correct.