….. in the upcoming election?
A Citizen Tom blog post titled, What if Hillary Clinton Won the election in 2016, resulted in 116 comments to date. Reading through the comments, I wondered if it is wise to ask a “what if” question about what happened in the past, and what could happen in the future.
Purpose of This Post
To explain why voters should understand the consequences of their votes rather than judge the candidates.
However, before I provide this information. believe we need to consider the wisdom of King Solomon and modern psychology beliefs about people who look back into the past or portend to know the future.
King Solomon
Ecclesiastes 7:10
Do not say, “Why were the old days better than these?”
For it is not wise to ask such questions.
Since no one knows the future, who can tell someone else what is to come? (Ecclesiastes 8:7 NIV)
The Genius Of Asking ‘What If?’ Questions
“What if?” questions force us to imagine or create, often calling forth strong emotions.(Source HERE)
How to Think Like a Wise Person
- Aim to understand, rather than judge. By default, many of us operate like jurors, passing judgment on the actions of others so that we can sort them into categories of good and bad. Wise people resist this impulse, operating more like detectives whose goal is to explain other people’s behaviors. As psychologist Ellen Langer is fond of saying, “Behavior makes sense from the actors’ perspective, or else they wouldn’t do it.” Over time, this emphasis on understanding rather than evaluating yields an advantage in predicting others’ actions, enabling wise people to offer better advice to others and make better choices themselves.(Source HERE)
What’s My Point?
Two Chicago Tribune editorials give advice and reasons why voters should vote Republican in this election, “even if you loathe President Trump, and This Election and Jobs.” (Source Links Below)
Sadly though, many voters will go into the booths this election and vote for various reasons or judgments based on passions or emotions. Some will vote because of job affiliations, ethnic name recognition on signs or TV paid advertisements which are ad hominem accusations against opponents.
In this election, should we instead “think wise” and consider the possibilities of the outcome of what we “wish for” and the “what ifs” consequences if your candidate wins the election for reasons explained in the answer to the following question.
What does the phrase “be careful what you wish for, it might just come true” mean?
Justin Schwartz, , Lawyer, ex-law professor and -philosophy professor, the refugee from BigLaw, independent scholar, idiosyncratic…
“ It’s a variation on the old Yiddish curse, May you get what you wish for. The idea is graphically illustrated in WW Jacob’s famous short horror story, The Monkey’s Paw, in which a family whose son has been killed in a work accident wishes for him to come home, and deeply regrets it when he does, because they have failed to specify what condition, alive or dead.
It’s also a theme in various stories about compacts with the devil, who grant your wish, but not exactly the way you want it, because you failed to specify all the conditions. Thus, in the remake of Bedazzled, the main character wishes to be rich and have a beautiful wife. And he wakes up as a powerful narco-traffic ante in Latin America whose rivals are trying to kill him and married to a beautiful woman who hates him.
The idea is that you may not have thought through the consequences of having your wish come true, which may be not so good as you thought.” ( Source HERE)
In My Opinion
We need to understand what the candidates stand for and their proposals of how they will govern on specific issues of interest to you and your communities. Also the consequences of their winning rather than voting for them based on advertisements, style, ethnicity, love or hatred, etc. etc.
You Decide
Do you understand what your candidate proposes to do if elected,
Are you going to vote on understanding or judging the issues?
Are you making judgments based on issues or personalities?
Have you thought through the consequences of having your wish come true, which may be not so good as you thought?
Regards and good will blogging.
Source Links
Citizen Tom
WHAT IF HILLARY CLINTON HAD WON THE ELECTION IN 2016?
Chicago Tribune
Cogitating
https://rudymartinka.com/2018/08/01/king-solomon-cogitating-the-economics-and-wisdom-of-derangement/
Rudy u Martinka 
Ohhh.. Rudy.
You mean to suggest that if we decide to vote against the most demeaning, de-moralizing, un-Christian-like, abysmally poor president in modern American history.. we might get someone worse???
Just consider this paragraph I lifted from your Tribune link…
“The president’s brand of political hardball upsets many in the GOP, even unbalancing more than a few. “Trump Derangement Syndrome” is real. The president has, however, surrounded himself with superb Cabinet members, especially on matters of national security.”
Honestly… the President has no brand of “political hardball”. It’s plain out sheer bias-motivated political ignorance… and those cabinet members are equally drawn from various levels of the business world and they have NO reason being even remotely qualified for their political positions if for nothing else than being “yes men” simply waiting for Trump to change his mind and show them the door.
And it’s pretty darn obvious that Trump’s behavior is affecting far more than just a few GOP folks.
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Doug,
I believe you may not understand or missing the point of my post.
That is for voters to employ understanding, instead of judging what they personally don’t like about the candidates.
President Trump is not running in the upcoming election.
What you need to understand and discern in this coming election is what might be the best for you and your community, and what the candidates propose that will be best for our nation.
The Chicago Tribune believes supporting Trump’s policy of creating jobs with living wages is their advice.
I am not certain some candidates want to support the Chicago Tribune’s advice because they prefer to judge Trump based on their personal likes or dislikes of his accomplishment in the first two years.
In other words, is impeaching him based on understanding or judgement? What do they propose to do that would bring about more jobs and livable wages, etc., etc.?
Read the Source Link in my post to understand what psychologist explain “How to Think Like a Wise Person.
Then consider what the lawyer said. “The idea is that you may not have thought through the consequences of having your wish come true, which may be not so good as you thought.”
Then ask your candidate what is he proposing that is going to be better and how will he accomplish his goal if you vote to support him to be your representative in Washington DC or California.
PS California has a State Debt that exceeds a trillion dollars. Illinois only exceeds 100 billion dollars. When you moved to California, it appears whatever you wished for turned out worse when it comes to foolish governing based on State Debts.
Perhaps red vs.blue states governing styles of governing, perhaps?
You Decide
Are you going to make a wise or foolish choice in the coming elections,.
Will you first try to understand the issues rather than judge the issues.
Regards and good will blogging.
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Don’t judge me because I now live in CA, old buddy. Trust me.. this is another world and I don’t see myself aligned with the politics of this state at all. That said… perhaps you are addressing a voter’s wisdom for the upcoming mid term.. but a lot of folks will be voting locally against Trump, the extended version. Actually.. I will be one of them. They say all politics is local.. well, until they are not. In this case a lot of folks like me are voting to remove the majority in at least one house of Congress is not lucky to get both on this round. Sometime it’s “wise” to forgo the “local” for a couple years, in favor of a grander course correction.
But… you never know. My person lost the last election on a surprise.. it could very well happen again.
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Doug,
i understand you live in California, that is not judging you. Who really winds up winning or losing in the next election, time will tell.
If the Dems win the House or Senate, it reduces the risk of not knowing who is going to lose, everyone, in my opinion.
Regards and good will blogging.
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