Grievance— a real or imagined wrong or other cause for complaint or protest, especially unfair treatment.
I spent the last two weeks either on a church retreat or out with conservative friends on a trip. Either one could seem like being behind enemy lines these days. I learned a great deal from both. It might even have something to do with what we face as a nation. However, I have to get to an area of commitment that I got to when I was on the week long retreat.
The dictionary conversion as “the process of changing or causing something to change from one form to another.” Usually that takes on the form of a religious transformation, but it doesn’t have to be. In fact, people that are already religious can experience a powerful conversion experience. The transformative experience I am talking about is a conversion from grievance to gratitude.
If we look at the state of our politics we would note that those we oppose (I am assuming most people that read this think like me) are stuck in a grievance state. Explaining that one is easy. Any time we find ourselves saying that something is not fair we find ourselves in grievance state. It can be powerful and next to impossible to turn away from.
It starts with things that really are unfair. High prices in the grocery store and on prescription drugs is very unfair. Wages that stagnate is very unfair. Higher education prices are definitely unfair. However, the folks that want to take advantage of that mindset want to do two things. First, they have no interest in solving those problems. After all, if they solve them then there is nothing to hold a grievance about.
The second thing they do is invent issues for people to hold a grievance about. Suddenly the crime rate is out of control. Immigrants are rushing across the border and committing crimes at an alarming rate. The LGTBQ+ community is growing and they are coming after you or your grandchildren. Suddenly trans girls are flooding into girls sports. Children are saying their are furries and demanding litter boxes in bathrooms. Drag queens are reading books to children and turning them gay.
I think you get the idea. In order for grievance to work I need to do two things. First, I have to keep filling your mind with more things to get pissed off about. You need a daily barrage of grievance to keep you pissed off. I can’t stop because if I stop then you are going to start asking questions. Those questions will usually surround what my plan is to solve these burning issues.
Here is where we get to a problem. It isn’t to say that they have no solutions. The 2025 Project is certainly full of solutions to the problems. The problem is that a small minority of the country is actually on board with these solutions. What they don’t want to tell you is that most of the country is actually progressive on these so-called problems. So, we have distract you from solutions and that means more grievance.
The second thing we need to do is make sure you believe the other side is completely incapable of solving those same problems. So, we ignore facts like all of the success that the Biden administration has achieved and we reinforce the belief that he is a doodling old man incapable of doing anything. Furthermore, they have done this so successfully that they have people believing that this is true and that Biden should step aside.
Gratitude is the polar opposite. It essentially is the understanding that all that we have and all that we are is a gift. From here we could go in different directions. I choose to see God as the source of this while others will see something else. In this particular discussion it is immaterial. If I have been given a gift then I will be more likely to share it.
This particularly impacts the very wealthy. Listen long enough to them and they will spin yarns about bootstraps and rugged individualism. Those are all bullshit. The skills and opportunities we got came from somewhere or someone else. Someone gave us those opportunities. Someone helped us with those skills. Others provided emotional and financial support throughout that time.
When I am able to see that then I am in a mental place to pay it forward. I’m not threatened by other people’s success. I am not butthurt over others getting a hand up when they need it. This includes the folks that get their student loans forgiven. This includes the folks that might be down on their luck economically or a recent immigrant trying to create a better life for their family.
What I learned on the second part of our vacation is how much of a hold this line of thinking has on some people. You can’t convince them that their facts are wrong. You can’t convince them that things are better than they were four years ago. It seems insane to think that things are worse, but this is where we are. We have to do better in convincing those that might be inclined to oppose Trump that Biden is capable. You have to flood the airwaves with his record. You have to flood the airwaves with how bad things were four years ago.
Hey Scott! I enjoy reading your articles; they are well written and well thought out! See you in a few weeks!