WAY BEYOND A BAD JOKE
REPUBLICAN PARTY “PATRIOTS” FAIL AMERICA
It is time to take a break from the non-stop American media obsession with the detritus of America’s Presidential election. In the present political environment, children being murdered in Aleppo, Syria, black men being murdered by police officers in Everyplace, USA, and even a massive hurricane have taken a backseat to such things as Trump’s lewd behavior, the past and present dress size of a 1996 Miss Universe contestant, and Trump Foundation shenanigans.
It is time to get really serious about the choice American voters have to make in a few weeks. And it is way past time that the mainstream media and the nuthouse media start putting the country they say they love ahead of their bottom line and their narrow self-interest. They all know it and now it has to be the consistent message – Donald Trump is unqualified for the position he seeks and his election puts all of us in peril. Being prepared for any job should be a prerequisite; being prepared to be President of the United States in an unstable and unforgiving world cannot be open to question.
As if to underline this proposition, there is in the mix a former Republican governor of New Mexico who is now the Libertarian Party candidate for President who is polling around 10% of the vote in some places. As of a few weeks ago this clown seemed to think that Aleppo was akin to a dog food, as of a week ago he couldn’t name a significant living world leader, and as of today does not think that climate change is anything that the government should worry about. [ http://www.nhregister.com/article/NH/20161001/NEWS/161009979 ] For some reason, this guy is attractive to some young voters who don’t think that Hillary will make them happy enough or aren’t informed enough themselves to even recognize that Trump is so woefully uninformed that he could really threaten their good times.
I am a lifelong believer in public protest when issues merit targeted exposure, but protest voting is another thing. It is not public, and it isn’t much of a protest. Throwing one’s vote away in protest is a bit like leaving a few fries on the tray in protest at McDonald’s. No one will notice, everyone else is eating theirs, and McDonald’s continues to push calorie laden fast food. Sometimes, voting with your heart feels good, but this time voting with your head is really important.
In this Presidential election, I share with other progressives deep concerns about foreign policy choices that Hillary Clinton will make if elected, and I am not completely convinced that she will fully embrace the progressive policy initiatives outlined in the Democratic Party platform. [ https://www.demconvention.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/07/Democratic-Party-Platform-7.21.16-no-lines.pdf ] But, and this is really critical, I have no doubt that she is extremely intelligent, articulate, compassionate, and educated about the fundamentals of the issues she will confront on the first day of her Presidency.
And, this is even more critical, there is no evidence at all that Donald Trump is in any way prepared to protect US interests abroad, to govern domestically, or to promote the public healing that will be required from the first to the last day of his Presidency. Further, and perhaps most damning, there is no evidence to suggest that Trump will make any effort to master the fundamentals necessary to provide a steady hand at the helm of a troubled and extremely dangerous America.
Regrettably, many Republican Party “leaders” continue to be so driven by Obama and Clinton hatred and partisan interests that they still remain silent in the face of this real threat. Their intra-party battles have coughed up a candidate who they all should have known from the outset was an inspiration to racists, was anathema to any concept of gender equality, and was woefully unprepared in any way to govern. It seemed like a good joke at the start, but right now no one should be laughing.
The still silent collection of Republican lowlife leadership should for once really serve the country they were elected to serve and say they cherish. Even now, after Trump’s exposure as a serial misogynist with a deep-seated and dangerous pathology, minions of Republican “leaders” still cannot say “enough” and move their political party to the moral high ground they so often bleat about occupying.
Perhaps no millennial, no Latino, and no black American wants to be told what to do by an aging, left-wing, white guy. But here goes anyway in the hope that someone will read this and act on what they have read.
The Republican Party is led by a morally bankrupt collection of profiteering white folks who have somehow convinced a significant segment of downtrodden America that the best way to improve their schools, their healthcare, their infrastructure, and their lives is to let rich guys get richer and then voluntarily share with the rest of us. Every country club in the land has tables full of these guys laughing at the rest of us.
It might have been easier to swallow that a nice rich guy like Mitt Romney would actually get around to the sharing part, but there is not one iota of evidence to suggest that Donald Trump will voluntarily share anything with anybody unless he profits from the exchange. Trump’s me-first and me-always identity should disgust each and every one of us and unite divided people of all cultures, racial and ethnic backgrounds and religions to call out Trump and his merry band of the rich and the racist. This is a culture war that we all should be able to agree is worth fighting.
I have a limited time left to roam this world. I have had a very good journey that many young people are just beginning. Sane and stable American leadership in my lifetime has gotten it wrong more often than it should have and continues to do so today, but there should be no doubt that a sane and stable American leadership will always be a part of getting it right both at home and abroad.
So, register yourself to vote, urge your friends and family to register, vote on Election Day, and make sure that others vote as well. If this election is lost to Trump and his ilk, it will be because not enough people were sane enough and stable enough to recognize the peril and do something about it.
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