"It's your fault."
That's what we're told to think about ourselves. That's what we're encouraged to think about each other.
That's how we're hardwired to think. That's what they prey upon.
That disembodied "you" is out there, undermining what you work for. Defying logic. Working against the common good.
Do you feel it? Can you see it day-to-day? God only knows you're given plenty of anecdotal evidence in a 24/7 stream. Just pick your poison based on the TV channel. It will endlessly wash across you.
Harbor no delusions, you are being used as the villainous "you" just as they are being sold to you as the same, all for the exclusive benefit of those who would profit by dividing us.
The messages that cleave us apart are finely honed by focus groups, media ratings, and even psychologists.
It is so much harder to be conscious of how much the two sides lie about themselves and to try to cut through it all to find common ground.
So many of us want to choose what is decent, fair, and just. Voters on both sides want good jobs, good schools, safe streets, and a path to prosperity.
Surely that counts for a lot, even if so many of us are ultimately so very wrong about how to make it happen.
There is a profound difference between lost souls and demons, but not according to partisans in politics and media.
The fate of our nation is up for grabs today. But it won't change today. And it won't change tomorrow.
It is a lifelong struggle - one that is built over time in a way we're not comfortable with at all in this age of short-term results.
Regardless of how the election results pan out, here is the reality - nothing will change for many days to come.
President Trump will maintain veto power over anything passed by the legislature.
Democrats won't be able to force any bills through both the House and Senate.
Social Security and Medicare spending will still dramatically outpace input from new workers. Entitlement spending will overcome all revenue sources within the lifetimes of people alive today if nothing changes.
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Cost of living is decades ahead of wage gains. The economy is facing rising interest rates, the potential for increasing inflation, and profound gaps between worker skills and employer demands.
The stock market - which, repeat after me, is not the economy - is still at high valuations and is propped up by share buybacks and money flows that can dry up overnight.
What changes today is what we collectively choose to build, not tomorrow, but for many years down the road. It will be a long and painful process. It always has been, it always will be.
What politicians empowered by us today can accomplish that truly matters won't be realized in two years, or four years, but far in the future.
We also have to make up for two years ago, and four years ago, and decades ago as well.
Today, of all days, ignore the divisions that others apply to us. Your vote today should work towards so much more than which team - red or blue - wins tomorrow.
It's never your fault, though people will say it is. It's always ours. We will bear the cumulative weight of what we do together every other first Tuesday in November for generations to come, and we bear the burden of those behind us as well.
Vote for all of us and make sure, when others try to divide us, you know why your vote was one that could make us better together in the long run.
I don't care what party whoever you vote for belongs to, if any at all.
If you vote for someone who you think will do what you think is right, that's a vote for the greater good in my book and I'll gladly call you a patriot.
Call me an idealist, but if enough of us did this every two years, good God, the places we could go.
If you can't muster that much on Election Day of all days, welp, maybe it is your fault after all.
Take care,
Adam English
Adam's editorial talents and analysis drew the attention of senior editors at Outsider Club, which he joined in mid-2012. While he has acquired years of hands-on experience in the editorial room by working side by side with ex-brokers, options floor traders, and financial advisors, he is acutely aware of the challenges faced by retail investors after starting at the ground floor in the financial publishing field. For more on Adam, check out his editor's page.