In this walk‑and‑talk video, Rob Greenlee strolls through a Connecticut park in the fall while reflecting on the approaching U.S. presidential election and the deepening political uncertainty in America. He shares his personal background—growing up in liberal Washington State, moving to Connecticut, and spending most of his adult life as a Democrat who once caucused for Bernie Sanders—while noting his recent shift toward more traditional, conservative‑leaning values. Greenlee examines the stark partisan divide, the heightened focus on race and gender issues, and the erosion of a shared civic foundation, questioning why politics now permeates every aspect of life. He distinguishes between a democracy and the United States’ actual form as a democratic republic, warning that conflating the two can obscure nuanced governance. Anticipating post‑election unrest, he expresses concern that both parties might incite instability, yet urges viewers to act responsibly by voting early or in person, emphasizing that voting is the primary means for citizens to influence the direction of the country. He concludes by encouraging comments, promising more walk‑talks, and reinforcing the importance of civic participation.
Chapters
Well, hello, welcome back to another video, um, my Talk Walks series, and just wanted to take you up to a very beautiful park in central Connecticut on a fall afternoon and just wanted to talk about a few things and give you some beautiful views of a New England fall. We're only a few days away from the very controversial and unusual presidential election cycle. I know that there's been a lot of buildup around this. Let me extend up so you can see at a higher level this area. And it's a beautiful blue sunny day, and it's in the 60s today, so I feel fortunate. Now granted, living in New England, these falls are kind of a short-lived experience before we get into the full winter cycle. It's actually a dog park. Let me flip this around and talk a bit about what I'm seeing and what might be on your mind in this current presidential cycle. I live in one of the few states that is considered to be a Democratic state or a state that leans more on the liberal side. I've, I've never really lived in a state that wasn't a liberal-leaning state. I grew up in Washington State in the Seattle and Bellevue area. That has historically been a very Democrat-centric liberal state. I moved to Connecticut not because of ideology or party, It was a choice I made at the time. This was back in 2019, 2020 timeframe. Actually, I think it was a little later than that, but, but back in those days, I didn't really think about politics, right? I didn't think about that maybe there's some impact from being in a certain state, right? Being, living in a state that's seen differently than other states. Let's contrast that with Texas or more the central or the middle of the country states, which tends to be very conservative, right? So you have this kind of political divide and tension. I think when you live your whole life in one of these states At least when I grew up, I was born in the early '60s, those kind of issues weren't really top of mind. I didn't really even think about that I lived in a Democrat-dominant state. I'm not sure that most anybody else did either. It's really kind of an interesting time that we're in where there's so many elements of people's perception around division and how that is really having an impact on people's emotions and how they think of themselves. I've been challenged as I think about these issues and what it means to be a Democrat, what it means to be a Republican or a Trump. I do wonder if politics is coming into all of our lives. Why is everything top of mind around politics, right? Everything is being associated with politics these days. It really makes you ponder why that's happening now. I've been doing a lot of research and trying to understand as much as I can why this is happening, and also diving into each of the political parties, the Democrats and the Republicans. In most of my life, I didn't really think about this stuff. I thought about it every time we had to choose a new president. I've been through the election cycle many times. I've never felt So much division, angst, fear, and anxiety about one side winning over the other. So much inflamed language and accusing each other of having evil intent, not really having a more unified thought process about what it means to be an American and what to have some national pride and honor and having values that have been with us my whole life. And why is it changing? Why is there so much focus on race? Why is there so much focus on gender? Why is there so much focus on these elements that are clearly dividing us based on moral and ethics and kind of perceptions that people have about differences. It doesn't feel quite right that we are focusing so much on those issues now. I'm just not understanding where this is coming from to some degree, even though I've really dived into it. I've really listened to what the Democrats have to say, listened to what the Republicans have to say, and that even includes Donald Trump. And listening to what he has to say, understanding his background, understanding at a deeper level, not just sound bites that the media might play. And that's also the case on Kamala Harris and the Democrats too. I think as a voter Now more than ever, we all need to really spend a little bit of time and take responsibility for being a voter, about being an American, and about being patriotic to our own country and trying to do what's right. I think a lot of people are putting too much trust in what others say about politics these days. Whether it be the media, each side says that the other side is wrong. Well, I think at the end of the day, there is a difference between right and wrong. But right and wrong has a filter through some level of morality, right? Or some level base belief on a certain kind of foundation. And it feels like we're losing a common foundation in this country. So as we think about the election coming up, maybe it is time to step back and reassess this contrast between what's termed progressive ideology and conservative ideology and think maybe there's elements of both. That are important. But maybe human ideology might be a better way of looking at this. I'm not sure how we get there because people in groups are taking emotions and weaponizing them against each other, and that's not helpful to a civilization like a democratic republic. Everybody talks about this country being a democracy, and I think that's a little misleading because we're not really truly a democracy. We're a democratic republic. If you're knowledgeable about our form of government, that's what we are. When you talk about democracy, if you go and look up the definition, it's actually quite different than what you might perceive it as. There's the Democrat Party and the Republican Party. They're blending those concepts together to some degree. The republic can be construed as part of the Republican Party, and the Democrat side can be construed as being a part of the Democratic Party, but it's far more nuanced than that. And I think we all have to be very careful as we think about the direction of this country. I'm increasingly leaning towards thinking about this country from the lens of more traditional thought process, and that may be a reflection of my age. I'm in my 60s, and I've seen a lot in this country over the years. I grew up in a different time, but I also want to hold on to some of the values that this country was built on, and I don't think that's a problem. As I walk around this green area, and increasingly becoming barren because we're losing all of the leaves on the trees. If I was out here just a month ago, we probably would have seen this as a lush green oasis of sorts. This is what happens in New England in the middle of winter, and a lot of people don't realize it. They just focus on the fall colors and the lusciousness of the green. Out here. It's a little bit of a contrast to my experience being from Seattle, where there's this concept of evergreen trees, which we don't really have out here. As we move into this next cycle, I think after next Tuesday, we're going to come into a period of a lot of unrest, a lot of anxiety. I think people are going to be scared and nervous about what's next. I am concerned that there are individuals in our government and in places of power that may have a different plan for us that may not be exactly what we all might want or think should happen here. I hope we don't see purposeful unrest initiated by either side if one side or the other loses the election. I hope this doesn't happen, but I'm a realist to think that we've moved down this path so far where it is very likely at this point that we may lose control of our democratic republic and things may get out of hand for some period of time. I'm hoping that this is just a temporary situation that we're going to go through. So you can see it's very green out here right now as far as the grass is concerned, but it's been very dry out here too. To wrap up the video and my thoughts, I hope all, all of you go out and vote. Make sure that you vote. I would like— it's being commonly recommended now, vote as early as you can. Get out and get your vote because you never know what's gonna happen on Tuesday that may limit your access to the ballot box. I think that level of uncertainty is probably fairly valid. So vote early if you can. If you can't, then be there. You may face lines that you have to be very patient to get through to get to the ballot box, but it's very important. No matter what side of this issue is it, the American people need to pay attention to what's going on and tell our government what we want, what the people want. This is our only chance. We have to step up to the plate and express ourselves. We all have just one vote, and that's how we want to be governed by our government. I do like the idea that the conservatives have of maybe scaling back government a little bit. So I think that approach is probably good. I think government is maybe getting a little bit too large. And given that, having an emphasis more on free speech, more conservative values. I spent most of my life as a Democrat myself. I caucused for Bernie Sanders in Seattle many years ago, back when he was close to winning the presidential election. I've been on the Democrat side for most of my life, but I am concerned about what I'm seeing on the Democratic side. I don't see the same level of democratic values over there, or democratic republic values, as I've seen in the past. And as we've seen, many well-known Democrats have shifted over to become conservatives. And it has to make you wonder, why is that happening? I'm just posing the question and encouraging you to get out and vote.. And I'll keep making these walk talks and sharing my thoughts. And, and if you have any questions or if you have a comment, I want to hear from you and what you think is going on in the comments below on my YouTube channel @RobGreenlee. Thank you so much for watching this. I'm going to head back to my car and we'll see you again soon. Thank you very much. Bye.
