Category Archives: Politics

Hail to the Chief

Posted on November 6, 2016 | Comments Off on Hail to the Chief

The National Election is only a couple of days away.  Normally that’s a time for hope, renewal and OK, a little bit of mud slinging.  This year is different.  The Election so far has been filled with back-stabbing, vitriol, wild accusations and some of the dirtiest partisan politics I’ve ever seen…and that’s just the news broadcasts.  The Candidates have been even worse.

Image result for mudslinging

Even so, I still hold out hope that we’ll get a President who will strengthen the economy, keep us strong and safe and not take away any more of our Civil Liberties.  Mind you, I don’t expect to get it but I do hold out hope.

To tell you the truth, for the first time in my life, I’m scared by the possible outcomes of this election.  I have voted in every Presidential election since I was 18.  There have been times when I’ve had a hard time making up my mind who to vote for but there was never a time when I was scared by my choices.  Until now.

Let’s look at the Major Candidates

Jill Stein – Green Party

My strongest objection to Jill Stein isn’t her Party or her Platform.  It’s her background…or more precisely, her lack of it.  She has only held one elected office and that was Town Meeting Representative for Lexington, Massachusetts.

She’s run for Governor, State House of Representatives and Secretary of the Commonwealth in Massachusetts but she’s only ever been elected as Town Meeting Representative.  She doesn’t have any experience in any Executive office…not even Mayor of a small town.

That lack of experience takes her out of the running for me.  She might be an absolute genius of a President God’s  and Gift to both Foreign and Domestic policy but with her current resume I don’t see how we can take that leap of faith.

Gary Johnson – Libertarian Party

Gary Johnson and his running mate, Bill Weld are both two-term Governors.  They both have the experience of holding Executive office…and they both did it in States where the majority of voters were not from their party which at the time was Republican.

Johnson finished his terms with reduced taxes and a budget surplus.  Weld did similar good things during his tenure.  Neither has had political or other scandals.  Both men are strong supporters of Civil Liberties, Religious Freedom, Internet Freedom, Abortion Rights and the Environment.

The problem is, the only way Johnson can win the Presidency is to get enough Electoral votes to keep either of the front runners from getting 270 Electoral votes.  If that happens, according to the Twelfth Amendment to the Constitution, the House of Representatives votes for President.  That actually happened in 1825 when the House elected John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson.

The other problem – at least for me – is that I don’t agree with a lot of what Johnson wants to do…or at least how he wants to do it.  For instance, he wants smaller government but wants to achieve it by closing entire departments like the Department of Education.  He wants to change the tax laws but he wants to change it to a Fair Tax system – nice on the surface but it could allow for easy tax evasion.  He wants to cut Federal spending but he wants to do it by cutting Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security.  Essentially, he’s a somewhat scary long shot.

Hillary Clinton – Democratic Party

Former First Lady, former Senator, former Secretary of State – she’s been in and around the White House for years.  She’s shown that she has what it takes to do difficult jobs.  She’s known and respected by world leaders.  And she’s a party politician just like every other one we’ve been dealing with for the last 50 plus years.

That’s really the thing that bothers me the most about her.  Yes, I know about the emails and about Bengazi and about all the other stuff, too.  And guess what?  She’s no worse (and a damn sight better) than a lot of other Presidential Candidates…and Presidents.  Look up how many emails were lost and how many US Diplomats were killed during George W. Bush’s time in office.  Look at all the scandals that occurred while Ronald Reagan was in office.  Now, can we move on, please?

My main issue with Clinton is that she’s just like every politician before her.  She’s a Party wheel horse.  She’ll push the Democratic line, get continually attacked and stone-walled by the Republicans and WOW, haven’t already had enough of that?  Let’s move on.

Donald Trump – Republican Party

I could write a tome on why I don’t like Donald Trump.  From his misogyny to his racism to his flip-flopping on issues to his out-and-out lies on what he’s said and not said.  If he wasn’t running for President, that last one would be funny.  I mean, COME ON!!!  He’ll say something in public and on tape.  It’ll make the news and be talked about all over the planet.  Then, two weeks later he’ll say he never said it.  It’s scary…because I actually think he believes it when he said he didn’t say it.

What’s scarier still is that his followers definitely believe it.  Some of them I can actually have a conversation with and they’ll defend their decision to vote Trump over Hillary with calm deliberation.  Then there are the ones that don’t bother with anything approaching rational thought and just keep repeating, “Trump will make America great again!” like it’s a Buddhist mantra and they’re seeking enlightenment.

Either way though, they all seem to gloss over the fact that he has lied repeatedly.  They step around the fact that he has encouraged his followers to commit violence.  They excuse the fact that he hasn’t released his tax returns like everyone else has.  And they flat out ignore the fact that he has repeatedly made statements about all the wonderful things he’s going to do when elected…but he hasn’t given hardly a single detail about HOW he’s going to do them.

Add in the accusations of sexual misconduct and assault, the thin skin that makes him attack anyone who takes a stand against him, his seeming inability to understand that nukes are bad and we don’t want everyone to have them and we don’t want to use them and you have someone who is, in my opinion, quite possibly the single worst candidate for President in the history of the United States.

So you see my dilemma…

Who do I vote for?  I have four candidates, none of whom I can really get behind.  One is too inexperienced.  One wants to make changes that I don’t agree with.  One is the same old thing we’ve always had.  And one is…too many bad things for me to list.

Eight years and this is the best that the major parties have to offer the American people.  I don’t know whether to call it pathetic or scary.  Regardless, America needs better choices and there are none on the ballot.

My advice is to go out and vote.  Vote your conscience.  Vote for who you think is the best of a bad lot.  Vote against the candidate you don’t want.  But whatever you do, VOTE!!!  It’s your responsibility as a citizen.  It’s your duty to your country.  Plus, you don’t get to bitch for the next for years if you don’t.

Oh, and one final bit of advice.  Vote Out The Incumbents!

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Traitors, Oath-breakers and The Supreme Court

Posted on August 13, 2016 | 2 comments

The Supreme Court has been one Justice short for six month today.  Why is that?  Did the President not do his duty and propose a new Justice?  No.  President Obama nominated Chief Judge Merrick Garland on March 16th of this year.  So how come the Senate hasn’t confirmed him?  Simple, really.  They haven’t confirmed him because his confirmation hearings are being blocked…by the very people who’s job it is to hold the hearings.

Let’s take a look at a few things here…

The Oath of Office for the President of the United States reads as follows:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect, and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Article II, Section 2, clause 2 of the Constitution states that the President

“shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint … Judges of the supreme Court.”

The Oath of Office for a United States Senator reads as follows:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I take
this obligation freely, without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion; and that
I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter:
So help me God.

Nowhere in there does it say that a Senator can refuse to hold hearings for a Supreme Court Justice just because they don’t like the President.  The Constitution and the Senate Oath of Office are very clear.  The President “shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint” and a Senator “will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter: So help me God.”

So essentially, any Senator who willfully blocks, delays or in any other way refuses to hold fair hearings for a replacement Supreme Court Justice is breaking his Oath of Office and violating the Constitution of the United States.

Anti-Constitutional Oath Breakers!

This strikes me as sufficient reason for a recall election…or considering that this is an election year, reason to vote them out of office.  Just my opinion…as a registered Republican.  I understand that others may disagree and that’s certainly their right.  But I can only tell you that if I refused to do any part of the job I was hired to do because I didn’t like the president of the company I work for…and was dumb enough to talk publicly about it…I’d be fired.  And rightly so.

What Mitch McConnell and his fellow Senate obstructionists are doing is precisely that.  Refusing to do the job they were hired to do.  Which in this case also means that they’re breaking their Oath of Office.  That is not something that we should allow our employees to do.  And that’s just what all the Senators and Representatives are.  They’re our employees.

I know it’s common these days to call them “our elected officials” or “our elected leaders” but what they really are is “our elected employees”.  Which means we can fire them by the simple act of electing someone else who will hopefully do the job better.  Someone who will hopefully not lie to us.  Someone who will hopefully not break their Oath of Office.  And they will hopefully NOT defy the Constitution.  Because that’s what McConnell and his cronies are doing.

A politician is known by the promises he keeps. ~Author Unknown

By breaking their word…their Oath of Office…they are defying the Constitution and saying that what they want is more important than what the Constitution says.  They are saying that an Oath they took  before God is worthless.  They are, in essence, placing themselves above any other rule or law in our Nation and saying that what they want is right…even if they have to lie to get their way.

Please note, I’m not saying they’re committing treason.  According to the Constitution “Treason against the United States, shall consist only in levying War against them, or in adhering to their Enemies, giving them Aid and Comfort.”  I’m saying that their actions make them traitors.

A traitor is defined as “one who betrays another’s trust or is false to an obligation or duty”.  That sounds like what McConnell and the others are doing – betraying the trust of their constituents. You know…the people that hired them in the first place…the people who should fire them.

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Happy Birthday, America!!!

Posted on July 4, 2016 | Comments Off on Happy Birthday, America!!!

On this 4th of July, this day of celebration of the birth of our great nation, I’d like to take a few minutes to…sound a little less pompous.

Today is the 4th of July!!!  Happy birthday, United States of America!!!  You’re still looking pretty good for a 240 years old.

Jokes aside, our country has endured for 240 years.  Think about that.  240 years.  That’s 12 generations of people who have lived, loved, worked and raised families here. And 12 generations of people that all too often have had to fight and die to defend this country.

I’m not going to talk about that, though.  There are tons of people who will tell you all about it much better than I can.  What I’m going to talk about is how I feel on this 240th Birthday of the United States of America.

We must, indeed, all hang together or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately. – Benjamin Franklin

Adams and Jefferson Singing the Declaration

First off, notice that I said “United States of America” and not “America”.  Think about that difference.  Almost no other country on earth declares in their very name that they are independent states working together as a group.  Think about that for a minute.  The definition of state is “a nation or territory considered as an organized political community under one government.”  In other words, a country.  So essentially, the United States of America is a cooperative group of 50 independent countries working together for the common good.

It’s a (pardon the pun) revolutionary idea.  And unlike a lot of other revolutionary idea, it’s a very good one.  One that has stood the test of time and proven itself.  So much so that we’re now seeing other collections of States joining together for common good…with common laws, free (as in unrestricted) travel and easier inter-State trade – the European Union or the United Arab Emirates come to mind.

Freedom
a : the absence of necessity, coercion, or constraint in choice or action
b : liberation from slavery or restraint or from the power of another

Second, freedom is essential to the survival of the United States of America.  There was another Union of States in recent memory that didn’t have freedom – no unrestricted travel, no local autonomy.  They didn’t make it.  That country, the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, dissolved because they weren’t free.  They only paid lip service to the idea of a Union of States…and so they failed.

As I sit here in front of my computer typing this, I’m aware of those freedoms.  I can say pretty much anything I want to about our elected leaders (also known as our employees) without fear of retribution.  The only thing I have to avoid is saying anything that falls under the legal definition of slander.  And even if I do cross that line, it’s a civil matter and I’ll get sued.  I won’t get arrested and thrown in prison for it.  Take a second and think about that…and how it’s been throughout history…and how it is in so many other countries.  And then thank your Maker that you were born in or able to emigrate to the United States of America.

Give us your tired, your poor…

Which brings me to my third and last thought for today.  We’re all immigrants or the descendants of immigrants.  As I’ve pointed out before, “Even the Native Americans originally came here from somewhere else.”  We’re strong because of our melting pot heritage.  We’re strong because we are a collection of people and ideas and beliefs and faiths from all over the planet.  We’re strong because we’ve chosen to live together peacefully (usually) and work together (for the most part) toward a common good.

The Great Seal of The United States of America has the words “E  pluribus unum” inscribed on it.  That means “Out of many, One.”  One Nation, indivisible, with Liberty and Justice for all.  Not “with Liberty and Justice for all that are like me.”  For ALL.  For every single citizen of the United States of America, regardless of their country of birth, regardless of their faith, regardless of their skin color, regardless of their political party.  For everyone.

That freedom is what makes the United States of America the shining light that it is.  It’s the thing that makes people from all over the world want to come here.  Because we have what they don’t have.  We’re free.  Our destiny is whatever we can make it, not what some local warlord or terrorist says it is.  And as citizens of the United States of America, it’s our duty to welcome “the homeless, tempest tossed” and give them and their children the freedom they crave and the opportunity to contribute to our great nation and make it even greater.  To do anything less would be un-American and would betray the ideals that our Founding Fathers had when they declared the birth of The United States of America.

Happy birthday to us all!

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Merry Christmas vs. Happy Holidays…and other political flamebait

Posted on December 23, 2015 | 1 comment

For the last few years I’ve been hearing people talk/yell/scream about other people saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”.  Donald Trump, everyone’s favorite Tribble-topped loudmouth, has announced that if he’s elected he’ll bring back Merry Christmas. I wasn’t aware it had gone anywhere.

For the life of me I can’t figure out why it makes any difference…except that saying Merry Christmas wishes someone a good Christian holiday whether they’re Christian or not whereas saying “Happy Holidays” is a little more catholic (small c – i.e. universal).  That’s the part that kinda pisses me off.  It’s perfectly OK for a Christian to wish a Jew a Merry Christmas but it’s not OK for a Jew to say anything but Merry Christmas back.  By the way, for the sake of completeness, repeat that last sentence several times substituting “Muslim”, “Pagan”, “Zoroastrian”, “Hindu”, “Agnostic”, etc for “Jew”.  This, boys and girls, is what we call hypocrisy.  And what do we call a person who practices hypocrisy?  That’s right!  We call that person an ASSHOLE!

Look, if I’m talking to someone and they say, “Happy Holidays” I assume that they’re not sure of my religious beliefs and are trying to hit all the bases.  I do NOT assume that they’re some politically correct fraidy-cat who won’t use a religion oriented greeting for fear of offending my delicate sensibilities.  After all, the word “holiday” is an abbreviation of “Holy Day” so “Happy Holidays” really means “Happy Holy Days”.  Since most religions have some sort of Holy Day around this time of year, “Happy Holidays” pretty much covers everybody.

And while we’re on the subject, “Christmas” is an abbreviation of “Christ’s Mass”.  Do you see how this works?  Christ’s Mass is a Holy Day.  Christmas is a Holiday.  It’s the same thing!  It does make me wonder, though…how do you conservative Protestants feel about celebrating an ancient Roman Catholic Holy Day?  Asking for a friend.

Anyway, if someone comes up to me and says, “Happy Hanukkah”, or “Merry Kwanzaa” or “Blessed Yule” or and other seasonal greeting from not-my-religion I generally answer, “Thank you.  And Merry Christmas to you.”  I don’t do this to force my faith down their throats.  I do this because that person has just wished me well according to the tenets of their faith and I’m trying to do the same.  In other words, I take it in the spirit intended and NOT as an attack on my religion..

Over the years I’ve had friends who believed differently than I do.  They’ve included Muslims, Jews, Wiccans, Atheists, Catholics, Greek Orthodox and Protestants of different denominations than me…and probably more that I just never learned about.  Oddly enough, their respective faiths had nothing to do with whether I liked them or not.  I like people – or dislike them – based on who they are as a person, not what they believe…or if they believe.  If you’re a good person and you and I have reasonably compatible personalities, odds are that we can be friends or at the very least, friendly.  If you’re an asshole I don’t care how devout you claim to be.  We’re probably not going to get along because, well…you’re an asshole.

This whole politically correct, Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays bullshit is exactly that…bullshit.  It’s something invented by politicians to garner votes from conservative Christians who are already afraid because things have changed and the world isn’t like it was when they were kids.  It’s gasoline dumped on a fire that I fear is in danger of burning the Republican house to the ground.  It’s sound and fury signifying that the current Republican leadership has no frickin’ clue how to lead anymore and has had to fall back on the old “if you can’t blind them with brilliance, baffle them with bullshit” strategy.  Speaking as a (former) conservative Republican, I find this very worrying because it’s dragging us down as a Country.  It’s divisive and encourages people to distrust their neighbors.  And it’s the same tactics that Despots and Tyrants have used throughout history to seize power.

So how about we try something different this Holiday (Holy Day) Season?  How about we try to wish people well and give them Season’s Greetings without taking political or religious offense?  How about we try to not be assholes for Christmas?

May God bless and keep you and your family this Holiday season.  And may you have a very Merry Christmas!

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…the only thing we have to fear…

Posted on November 27, 2015 | Comments Off on …the only thing we have to fear…

It’s a famous quote.  Everybody’s heard it – FDR’s opening to his First Inaugural Address.  Or at least they’ve heard the part about “…the only thing we have to fear is fear itself…”  The thing is, the second half of that sentence is just as important.  The full sentence reads, “So, first of all, let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself — nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralyzes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance.”

That “nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror” part is very important because that’s what’s going on in America right now.  Think about it.  Everyone is freaking out about Syrian refugees and how they might have terrorists in their midst.  Or is it Mexican murderers creeping across the border.  Or is it the Blacks.  Or maybe it’s the <insert your favorite bigotry here>.  Regardless who it is, WE HAVE TO PROTECT OURSELVES FROM THEM!!!!

The GOP candidates are all pushing some flavor of this right now.  We have to protect ourselves from X because they might be hiding terrorists or they might creep into our bedrooms and murder us in our sleep or they might take our jobs or they don’t worship the same way we do or they look different or whatever their particular nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror is.

That’s really what it is, you know?  Nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror.  OK, they put a name to it – refugees or Mexicans or blacks or Muslims or whatever.  But what all those names boil down to is “Not like us”.  What all those candidates are trying to do is separate Us into Us vs. Them.  And that is so patently un-American it boggles my mind that anyone is falling for it.  Especially people who consider themselves Patriots.

Look at the face of the Great Seal of the United States.  What do you see?  ‘E pluribus unum‘ – ‘Out of many, one’!  That was the de facto motto of this great nation until 1956 when, in response to Joseph McCarthy’s Red Scare, the motto was changed to ‘In God we trust’.  That means that what the Founding Fathers of our country wanted was strength through diversity.  Not “One Nation under God” but One Nation out of many different people.

We are a nation built on diversity.  And we are a nation descended from refugees.  Take a look at your own family tree.  Where are your ancestors from?  Ireland fleeing the potato famine?  Refugees.  Italian fleeing the Fascists?  Refugees.  Jews fleeing the Nazis?  Refugees.  Some other nationality looking for a safe place to raise their families?  Refugees.  Are you descended from the original Mayflower families?  They were refugees, too – fleeing religious persecution…kinda like the Syrians.  Even the Native Americans originally came here from somewhere else.  So trying to stop other people from doing exactly what your grandparents and great grandparents did is at best, hypocrisy – at worst, cowardice.

That cowardice – that nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror – is the main message of the GOP these days.  Speaking as a Republican, I don’t like that.  I refuse to be ruled by my fears or by anyone else’s.  I won’t give in to or vote for a bully.  Bullies are cowards.  They are people who have given in to their fears and are trying to act big and intimidating to hide that fear from everyone else…and from themselves.  To quote another wise person, “Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.”  Hey, take your wisdom where you find it, people.

And Yoda is right.  Fear does lead through those steps to end up with suffering.  There’s a long history of politicians preying on people’s fears and then taking their countries on a guided tour of Hell.  Hitler did it in Germany.  Mussolini did it in Italy.  Stalin did it in the Soviet Union.  Mao did it in China.  McCarthy tried to do it in the United States and damn near succeeded.  These fear-mongers and bullies, these madmen and murderers, are the ideological fore-fathers of the current GOP candidates.  And history tells us what will happen if we follow them.

I’ll tell you what I want in a Presidential Candidate.  I want someone who will looks at the real issues today – not the made up ones – and propose rational, realistic solutions for those issues.  I want someone who will lead with courage and calm conviction.  I want someone who will look at the vast diversity of this country and recognize it for the strength it is.   I want someone who will lead with humility.  Someone who will listen to the opinions of both their constituents and their political opponents and realize that the best course is often somewhere in between those two opinions.  Someone who will work with leaders of other countries for peaceful solutions to problems…but not be afraid of military solutions if that’s what the situation requires.

I do not want someone who tries to bully me so that I’ll do whatever they want.  I do not want someone who will try to bully other country’s leaders.  I do not want someone who will try to turn neighbor against neighbor.  Most of all, I don’t want a coward who tries to make everyone else just as afraid as he is.

John Wayne once said, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.”  That attitude is what I want in a President.  Someone who can admit that he  – or she – is scared but who is, by God, gonna do their damn job anyway…because that’s what Americans do.  We don’t lend credence to our fears.  We face them, acknowledge them and conquer them.  We don’t force people to follow us by bullying and intimidation.  We lead by example.  We don’t refuse to help those less fortunate or in need.  We act with compassion and mercy and offer help wherever we can.

We do this because we are strong and because our differences make us stronger.  We do this because we are courageous, because we have faced our fears, acknowledged them and saddled up anyway.  We do this because it’s the right thing to do.  Not the easiest thing to do.  In fact, it may be the hardest thing to do…but it’s still the right thing to do.  We do this because to NOT do it would make us less than we are.  To not do it would be to fall short of what it means to be American.

 

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