By Jeff Davidson,
I’m flying back from Europe. The trip will take seven and a half hours. About an hour and a half after takeoff, the flight attendants announce that they will be dimming the cabin lights and suggest that everyone lower their window shade so that all passengers can have a four-hour rest period or at least quiet time.
Every passenger seated at a window capitulates, except for one. He is about 55 years old with glasses, slightly out of shape, and is reading a book. Fellow passengers ask him to lower the shade, but he will not. They point out that he has an overhead light that is more than adequate. He contends that the overhead light cannot compete with the daylight that streams into his window.
More Than an Annoyance
If you’ve ever been in a plane on a sunny day where one single window is open, you know that the light streaming through is hard to ignore if you’re in its path. I happen to be in its path. Out of the corner of my left eye, this bright beacon impairs everything that I do. If I’m trying to read, watch a movie, listen to music, or even close my eyes, this light is so intense in an otherwise darkened airplane, that I cannot ignore it.
I ask one of the flight attendants to re-request that the man close his window shade. She capitulates. He does not. When I tell her that it is quite irritating, she suggests I put on eye shades. I don’t want to put on eye shades. I asked her why she cannot simply tell the man to lower the shade. She says that it is merely a suggestion, and she has no power to enforce this notion.
In a plane with more than 200 passengers, it is easy to understand that without complete unity in terms of lowering the window shades, then, for those in the light path, the flight is less than desirable.
While the unity needed on a plane ride in order to have the cabin be dark is, of course, minor and fleeting, there are other types of unity that make a big difference: within political parties, in impacting public discourse, and, potentially for the fate of a nation.
Not a Great Debate
When I arrive home, I watch the Republican debates. I see that Chris Christie is on record stating that the 2020 election was fair and above board. Despite voluminous evidence to the contrary, documentation, eyewitnesses, computer analyses, ballot reviews, etc. Governor Christie provides the ammunition needed by Democrats to condemn all other Republicans who might or might not agree with his assertions.
Christie is the turncoat, preventing the GOP from having a unified front. The 2020 election was far from fair and above board. Whether or not you believe that Biden got 81 million votes, clearly, significant fraudulent, illegal activity occurred.
Bad apples like Christie don’t understand the impact that they have, on not only today’s GOP, but on future elections. I’m not suggesting that all Republicans and all Conservatives agree lockstep on every issue of the recent past. Indeed, to do so would be too much like the Leftists, who march in lockstep on almost everything.
It is, however, of great value if men and women who have stayed current with political events have some notion that the 2020 presidential election was far from ideal. Contrary to the claims of Biden, Schumer, and all the rest, it was not the fairest election that we’ve ever had, far from it.
Supplying Ammunition
Chris Christie and others like him provide an unending supply of gun powder for the Left. Once you proclaim that the 2020 election was fair and above board, you open up a Pandora’s box of all the issues the Left can throw at the Right. Indeed, Christie and others like him are unknowing political patsies, who end up serving in traitorous ways to their own party, while supporting the fanaticism of the opposition.
At a minimum, the 2024 Republican presidential candidates ought to reasonably agree on some issues so that they cannot be picked apart by the Left. In the 2020 Democrat debates, every single candidate supported providing voluminous benefits for illegal aliens. Somebody should have resisted, but no: In lockstep, they presented a unified front, leaving no room to pick apart one candidate versus another, at least on that issue.
Obviously, with all the Democrat presidential candidates fully breaking the law on a massive scale – supporting sanctuary cities and states composed of illegal aliens who have flooded our borders and are now receiving a basket of goods – Republicans ought to use that fact as heavy cannon fodder against the entire DNC, as well as all of its candidates.
By the way, the Republican candidate who does this the best is Donald Trump.
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Jeff Davidson is “The Work-Life Balance Expert®” and the premier thought leader on work-life balance, integration, and harmony. Jeff speaks to organizations that seek to enhance their overall productivity by improving the effectiveness of their people. He is the author of Breathing Space, Simpler Living, Dial it Down, and Everyday Project Management.