Integrity is For Suckers

One presidential nominee tells a federal court that she is not to be blamed for compromising national security by using a secret email server in her home for classified material, but it is the fault of her her aides for not telling her it was a bad idea.  The other nominee blames everyone for his tanking poll numbers but his own chronic diarrhea of the mouth that erupts daily.

OH what a fun choice we voters face in November! Our presidential prospects look dim indeed but what does this say about we the people that we ended up with such miserable candidates in the first place?  That the choice for leader of the free world has come down to a systemically corrupt, pathological liar, megalomaniac on the one hand and a possibly insane, pathological liar, megalomaniac on the other?

Sure, there are plenty of people that loath both Trump and Clinton and who voted for someone else in the primaries.  Many of them will hold their noses and pull the lever for an entirely unacceptable presidential candidate only because the other choice is more unacceptable and quite possibly dangerous for the the nation. This is called surrendering to reality and is understandable.

How did it even get to this point though?  A healthy American immune system running on integrity and truth would have coughed up these degenerates early in the primary process. Instead, both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump managed to win over millions upon millions of rabid highly enthusiastic, saucer eyed supporters who propelled them to the primary finish line way ahead of their competition.

So what happened?  Enter the entitlement mentality our country marinates in. It breeds resentment and justifies crappy behaviour because the normal rules of engagement don’t apply to its sufferers.  Don’t you know integrity is for suckers? Better to point fingers and shift blame, rather than take personal responsibility for your actions.

I am not saying all Trump/Clinton primary supporters suffer from an entitlement mentality, but I do believe it has played a significant role over the years in shifting the political  landscape.  Politics ain’t beanbag as the saying goes, never has been, but the vitriol against those that disagree, the vilification and demonizing, has reached such  noxious levels, it’s only natural that we ended up with such flawed and selfish candidates.

This stems right from the individual you know, where fulfilling personal needs becomes paramount over integrity and righteousness.   We all have a few people in our lives whose moral compass is a bit off in this area, but I feel like things are getting worse.

A friend tells me it’s not her fault the man she is sleeping with happens to be married because she deserves to be happy . Uh huh.  A work colleague won’t share useful information with other team members because ya gotta do what ya gotta do to stand out.  Right.  A now ex boyfriend claims damages from a recent fender bender to fix dents he actually caused himself several years ago.  Don’t you know how much those companies like to screw little guys like me?   Besides, they’ll never find out. Hmmmm.

Most of us are guilty of feeling entitled at some point and using it as an excuse to do dumb things.  I certainly have, more times than I care to admit. There used to be a common understanding though, that acting this way was wrong and brought shame that prevented most people from making  a habit out of it.

Not so much anymore.  People seem to wear entitlement as a badge of honor and will use it to justify treating others in the most horrible of ways.

Which brings us back to national politics.  People are understandably upset at the state of the country, but too many have fallen for the demagoguery of their anointed candidate. “Those other people are the cause of your misery, elect me and I will punish them so you can feel better.”

This swung the door wide open for an already balkanized electorate to make poor choices based on emotion, not logic.  Thus Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton won their respective primaries and come November one of them will be elected President of the United States.

Lucky us.