It has been quite a while since my last post. Many months, in fact. Although my posts to this site are not something for which people ‘wait,’ or in which they are particularly interested, I shall still apologize for my negligence. I have not been particularly lazy, I have just been engaged in other affairs; my golf handicap is now in the single digits. Thank you. I sensed an audible “Wow, that’s pretty good” from a few of you who know what that means.
Anyway, let’s move on to the heart of the matter. My father and I don’t agree on much, politically. That is no secret. However, we have found a strange kinship in our agreement about this presidential election cycle. I believe he put it quite aptly when he said “It is as if you took every eligible voter in the United States, completely vetted each of them to determine their fitness to be president of the United States, and put them all on a list from 1 to 250,000,000, with, of course the most qualified being at the top of the list. You then took that list, turned it upside down, and the two names that now appear at the top, you took and placed them before the world as the two ‘major party’ candidates for president of the United States.”
He’s right. It’s completely pathetic. Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump are two of the most despicable characters ever to to emerge as figures of leadership in the history of this country.
Donald Trump…what can you say? The moment, sometime in 2015 when I heard he was running for president I said: “So what, I guess this guy thinks he is going to waltz into the White House and be CEO of the United States?” Apparently he does, and if he, by some strange precursor of the apocalypse, becomes president, then the halls of the White House will become one big locker room where the boys can get together, get his business partner, Putin, on speaker phone, and talk about grabbin’ em by the pussy all night until they’re too drunk to walk.
Unfortunately, although that may sound appetizing to the NASCAR dads whose support he has locked up, that is not the type of person we want as our head of state. It really isn’t. This is because the type of person who does such things and holds the attitudes towards women and anyone who is not a white male in general which he does belongs in a locker room, not the White House. Call him “coach” all you want, just don’t ever allow him to be called “Mr. President.”
As John Nichols in his article, “Predator and Strongman,” which appears in the latest issue of The Nation rightly noted: “Donald Trump is a son of privilege with regal aspirations, a well dressed grifter who has taken advantage of every loophole to avoid paying taxes, avoid paying contractors, avoid his responsibilities as an employer, and avoid accountability for his abuse of women.”
Fortunately, the institutions of this country and the system of checks and balances that have functioned somewhat well since the ratification of the constitution may be just strong enough to withstand a Trump presidency. Then again, they may not be, and if this is the case, then our beloved republic, this great American experiment, will not survive.
This what I fear most from a Donald Trump presidency; the destruction of the republic. Of course, I also fear the fate of minority communities in our country, but it is the fall of the republic that has me most worried. This is not to say that I am not somewhat twistedly drawn to the daily ‘white knuckled thrill ride’ that a Trump presidency would entail, but I am willing to temper this dark love of chaos bordering on absolute mayhem for the sake of the republic…you’re welcome.
Hillary Clinton…What can you say? Hillary Clinton will probably be the next president of the United States, but only because she is running against Donald Trump. Were she running against a human being, she wouldn’t stand a chance, but she landed the illiterate orange monkey boy with the quick temper and small…hands who suffers from the worst grouping of mental illnesses imaginable.
I watched a short documentary on Ms. Clinton recently and someone that knew her when she was in college told the story of when she was falling in love with Bill and explained that she was going to go back to Arkansas with him because someday he was going to be president of the United States. I sincerely believe that what she really meant was that someday he will be president of the United States…which will provide a perfect platform for me to then become president of the United States.
To want to be president of the United States is not a bad thing and it does not make you a bad person. Hillary Clinton is not a bad person in the manner that Donald Trump is a bad person. Donal Trump is just a straight up bad person. Hillary Clinton has spent her life in politics and has worked very hard for various groups of underprivileged and marginalized people. For this I applaud her. Hillary Clinton is a bad person in that she represents the final downturn in the corruption of the American political system.
Debbie Wassermann-Shultz, chairwoman of the Democratic National Committee, admitted to this corruption, confirming that the primary process had been manipulated to award the nomination to Ms. Clinton. This admission came mere days before the Democratic National Convention. She then said that she, as a self-imposed punishment, would resign her position at the DNC at the close of the convention. I am certain that she will be rewarded richly by President Clinton with a juicy executive branch appointment next January.
Hillary Clinton has been planning her ascension to the White House since she was in college and has been ramping up the organizational and financial necessities in order to do so ever since January 20, 2001; the day she, Bill, and Chelsea ended their residency at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue and boarded Marine One for their trip out of town.
She thought she had everything she needed in 2008, but ran up against a cool, young, handsome black guy with an ass-kicking name, Barak Obama. Now, in 2016, she is it; she has the organization, the money, and she has, for some time now, had the Democratic National Committee in her pocket. Most importantly, however, she has silenced anyone within the democratic party machine who could seriously stand in her way.
Through corrupt dealing and outright intimidation by the Clinton political machine of any who seriously opposed her, she finds herself on the doorstep of history. All she needs to do is give the secret knock, and the boys club is shattered forever. Barak Obama shattered the white boys club and Hillary Clinton can finish the job. Such a statement may sound like I support Ms. Clinton, but that is only 1/4 right. I fully support what Ms. Clinton represents in this sense, but not her, and I shall cast my vote for her with the most reluctant stroke of a Sharpie you can imagine. If we voted in Oklahoma with the cards Florida used at least until 2000, I would be begging for my chads to hang!
One of the main issues that make this presidential election cycle such a disgusting affair to watch is that both candidates are most concerned with them being president. Everything else pales, or disappears completely.
Ms. Clinton did not expect Bernie Sanders’ message to resonate so strongly with the voters, and when confronted with the authentic words of an authentic progressive, what did Ms. Clinton do? She echoed his progressive credentials, claiming them as her own. She knows and we know that Hillary Clinton is not a progressive democrat, and now we also know that she will say anything to be elected president.
Donald Trump did not expect the truth about what an absolute monkey and animal unfit to be president of the United States he is to be laid bare before the electorate, and when confronted with his blatant disregard for anybody other than himself for his entire life, what did Donald Trump do? He claimed that it further proved his status as a good businessman. My question is; “In how many lawsuits must one be labeled ‘Defendant’ and how many times must one declare bankruptcy before the mystique of being a ‘good businessman’ fades away.
Through all of this one truth remains: No matter where we go, here we are. The saddest part of this truth is that no one put us here but ourselves. I always wondered where the “don’t talk politics” society would lead us, and it is here at the edge of this abyss. If Americans relished the discussion of politics and matters important to the nation and humanity as a whole in their daily lives, then I am certain that we would not be in the predicament in which we now find ourselves.
First and foremost, public policy would be the result of intellectual consideration based upon research and not the superstition based knee-jerk reaction born of fear, bigotry, and hatred it has become. Second, and perhaps more importantly, our politicians would know that they must have more on their resumé than ‘faith in God’, or “because I have a very good brain” to run for office with any chance of success.
So what can we do? I have two radical solutions.
First, we do away with the electoral college. If the people are to chose their representative in the White House, then let them do so. We have seen in recent history what the electoral college can do in declaring the will of the people null and void when they have pens in their hands.
In the presidential election of 2000 Al Gore won a majority of the popular vote among Americans. Yet, in Florida, through criminally fraudulent manipulation of the system, Jeb Bush’s Secretary of State, Kathleen Harris, disenfranchised tens of thousands of voters from blocs that generally vote democratic. Through this criminal enterprise and the refusal of the conservatives on the United States Supreme Court to protect the integrity of the system, George W. Bush was able to garner the electoral votes of Florida, putting him over the base-line limit needed to secure the presidency.
Those men and women who wrote his name and that of his vice presidential candidate Darth Cheney on their ballots defied the will of the majority of the American electorate, and completed the crime of installing a man in the White House who did not carry the day at the ballot box. The electoral college must go quickly into the landfill of history.
However, having said that, I must admit that the electoral college was put in place specifically for purposes of preventing a person like Donald Trump from occupying the White House. Mr. Trump’s economic and social welfare policies are not the question, his blatant disregard for the democratic principles of our republic are.
When you declare that you will order our armed forces and clandestine services to torture enemy combatants for any information they may possess and kill their families as retribution for what they are suspected of doing, then you need to know that the electoral college is there to prevent you from ever becoming president of this country, regardless of the tally of the vote.
I must pause for one quick side note to the conservatives. If your cause is aided when voter turnout is low, then there is something wrong with the principles for which you stand. Also, if the ‘media’ as you call them, and the vast majority of ‘intellectuals’ as you have labeled them disagree with you, then maybe, just maybe, you are wrong. Mike-Hillbilly Jackass-Huckabee wants us to believe that people who never finished high school because they couldn’t stay off of beer and meth are the smart ones, but I, personally, am not fooled.
Second, we must do away with the two-party system in favor of a proportional representation system. In order to have the courage to do this we have to face the fact that the republican and democratic parties truly represent the political views of a small and ever shrinking percentage of Americans. Soon, it will be only those tied to their machines by favors done and favors received; a small and corrupt cabal of benefactors and beneficiaries who are never invited to the really cool parties.
In a proportional representation system, the number of viable parties would grow, the percentage of the electorate actually participating in the process would grow, and those men and women in positions of official leadership would hold office with an actual mandate, instead of being the ‘lesser of two evils’ candidate. I ask you; what more could anyone want out of their electoral system?
The progressives would have their candidates see as much air time and be able to participate in debates as do the republicans and democrats of today, and the white nationalist parties would enjoy the same benefits. I don’t care how repulsive your ideas are, we should have a political system that allows them to be heard by as many people as possible. This might even put an end to the ‘don’t talk politics’ society we have created.
Whatever your feelings on the debacle of November 8, 2016, I urge you to reflect on the truly pathetic depth to which our political system has sunk in order to be confronted with the two choices we have before us. It will always be true that no matter where we go, here we are, but we have the right and the ability to decide what and where ‘here’ is. If we don’t begin to exercise that right soon, it will be gone. In fact, it is slipping away as you read this.
Practice Peace and Love to all,
Niemand