For those of us watching the 2024 election cycle ramp up with its cast of characters, speculation, and propaganda, do you ever find yourself humming the chorus of the Stealers Wheel song, “Clowns to the left of me. Jokers to the right. Here I am, stuck in the middle with you” ?

How do Americans stay sane in the midst of massive hits of misinformation and misuse of power by nearly all parties involved? How does the average citizen wanting to defend and sustain democracy keep a level head and make responsible choices? How do we circumvent confirmation bias? Democracy loyalists should demand of themselves the same fact checking of information and news sources that we want from citizens with opposing views. If we do not, we are no better than those who promote lies and misinformation.

There is an adage or allegory about placing a frog in a pot with lukewarm water and gradually increasing the heat under it. In the story, the amphibian adjusts to the rise in temperature and before it realizes, it will be too weak to jump out of the pot and will be boiled. We are in a situation now when citizens have seen and heard such incredulous actions and behavior from politicians that we are no longer shocked at anything said or done. People with common sense long ago began tuning out our Republican candidate for president and his motley crew. The number of lies told daily that can be easily fact-checked is disgraceful for any person of moral fiber, but we can’t turn a blind-eye to the behavior.

There aren’t two sides to a lie. At the heart of every relationship is trust. If you’ve ever had your heart broken, you’re painfully aware, all it takes is one deception or lie to break trust. No matter the length of a bond, a lie defecates on a relationship. A seed of doubt is planted that taints any future dealings, statements or declarations. Let us be careful about giving politicians a pass when blatant lies are told. We don’t put up with fabrications in other situations in our personal lives, when it comes to our democracy, gaslighting is something the American people must not accept.

We have entered treacherous territory; numbed by the behavior and actions of those working to dismantle our democracy. Our republic is in jeopardy and one day if we aren’t careful, we will wake up with our civil liberties banished, along with Medicare and social security that people have earned after working all their lives.

I just don’t understand how people can hand off their rights and support power and money hungry politicians who have no concern for them. There are far more underprivileged people in our country than wealthy CEOs, politicians and billionaires. If the middle- and lower-class voters joined together, they would be easily defeated, and we could maintain our rights and programs. Instead, Americans have allowed them to implement the divide-and-conquer approach and it has been very successful. The working poor among the Republicans, Democrats and Independents are fighting each other, rather than those with whom they should be addressing their anger. Why can’t some voters see what is happening? Have they been acclimated to lies and oblivious to danger just like the frogs? There comes a time when people must direct their anger at the proper source of their unhappiness and it’s not the average citizen, breaking their backs to support the rich, who makes the laws. If people are upset about those who could be working, but are getting a handout, then let’s work together to do something about it. But what about the wealthy getting rich off the middle class and the legislators assisting them while removing citizens’ rights? Are we seriously going to continue to vote against our own best interests?

It’s important now that we work in our local communities because slowly but surely, at the state level, rights are being stripped.

I believe there are more people than we realize who are angry about the Republican actions at the state levels. They have certainly angered women voters in 2024 concerning their reproductive rights. Arizona is an example of how women have come together to fight conservatives. A citizen led initiative got enough petitions to put an abortion-related amendment measure on the ballot there. They are awaiting approval. Arizo-na is considered to be a crucial swing state in 2024.

I believe there are more people than we realize who are angry about the Republican actions at the state levels. There were 12 states with abortion-related state constitutional amendment measures that are confirmed or under consideration as of July 8, 2024. This tells me that they have something in which to be concerned. They know it too. In Arkansas, they have done everything they can to make it more difficult for citizen-led initiatives to get on the ballot and that means legislators have forgotten who they work for and want to force the people to their will. They are actively obstructing democracy. They changed the state constitution to require sponsors to collect signatures from 50 of the 75 Arkansas counties, rather than the previous requirement of 15 counties and increased the number of signatures of registered voters from the required 50 counties from onehalf to three-fourths.

The Republican platform is not based on maintaining human rights, service to others, or benevolence. In fact, they have been known to label those with compassion as “snowflakes”. Believing in goodness, empathy and equity are strengths and winter may very well be coming.

What we are facing in our country as a whole is not a Republican problem. It’s not a Democrat problem. It’s an American citizens’ problem. We’re living in tumultuous times. Those of us who respect history or remember the 1960s, recall how out of the turmoil came civil rights and voting rights. We know that out of hard times great progress can rise like a phoenix, because change in our country has always come from the ground up. That’s why state level citizen-led initiatives are so unpopular with those currently in power. People had faith back then that they could make a difference. We need to have that same faith today.

Right now, we may feel stuck in the middle, but if we band together, we can wade through these clowns that are to the left and jokers to the right of us, to save democracy and improve our lives and the lives of future generations.

Pam Lowe is the editor of the Clay County Courier. Readers may contact Pam at plowe@cherryroad.com