Getting Some Politics Off My Chest

It's about eight hours before the polls open on Election Day 2016. If I'm gonna say anything more about this presidential election, it's gotta be now.

All the talking heads on the boob tube are ramping up their pseudo-expertise, each trying to out-soothsay the others. As I sit here before my computer, I'm trying to sort out all the innuendo, slander, libel, baseless charges, legitimate allegations, downright lies, common-senseless rumors, myths and truth I've digested over the year-plus of this interminable campaign. I'll not go into them all, but it's not easy.

I will tell you what I've come to believe and learn.

I'm convinced, first and foremost, Hillary Rodham Clinton will make a poor leader if she's elected. The primary reason? Because, being charitable, she is unethical; at worst, an unrepentant criminal. I know I can't change anyone's mind now. However, if you vote for her because 1) she is a female, 2) because she is "experienced," 3) because you hate Donald Trump, or 4) because she may be dishonest but so is everyone else in Washington, I feel sorry for you. You've focused on the smoke and not the fire: the economy and jobs, the direction of the nation, and national security. I'll take a president who says what he thinks over a pandering crook any day!

I believe this nation needs term limits on Congress and every elected federal official. Our nation's Founding Fathers in no way intended the government of the United States of America to be operated and controlled by a professional political class. They knew what it could do to the nation. Our first president George Washington went so far as to urge and warn the people of his era not to succumb to the siren song of partisan politics. But did they listen? N-o-o-o! And look where we are now.

I've learned never to put your absolute faith in any politician, no matter how closely he/she resembles the Second Coming. I remember the president's first campaign, and after he won some were bubbling that an Obama presidency would be a God-send for the black community. Some of his followers even were calling Barak H. Obama the "black Jesus!" Now, I'm not a member of the black community, but I don't hear such hyperbole now from that quarter. Conversely, I hear more and more minority folk expressing disappointment, regret, even disdain for his presidency.

I've learned the person at the top sets the tone. The last eight years, that tone was changed from one of empty optimism to petulant cynicism. Or worse. For the first time in my life, I saw a president who encouraged division and hatred. I saw a "leader"who directed the nation's top law enforcement officer to selectively enforce laws. And I saw a man who, using the excuse of an uncooperative Congress, ruled by executive order (read "fiat") and trampled the Constitution. That's unacceptable! I fear if that abuse continues or grows, I envision the sort of strife I never want for me nor my children.

I believe that when one of the four branches of our republic's government — Executive, Judicial, Legislative and Press (yes, four. Why do you think it's called the "Fourth Estate?") — breaks down, oversteps its limits without challenge, or shirks its responsibilities, the nation is endangered. And that's what I've watched happen in the past eight-10 years.

I've seen the Press in the last decade turn a blind eye to government abuses and corruption. The national media were so eaten up with the idea of a "black" U.S. president, they not only dropped the ball, they lied that they didn't. Obama basically came out of nowhere after six years as an Illinois legislator and one-term U.S. senator. And the Press only touted his race. He was un-vetted. Nobody, and I mean nobody looked into where he came from, who influenced him, etc. He got a free pass.

I believe the national news media should be ashamed of themselves. The deeper into the 2016 presidential campaign we've gotten, the more apparent it's become where media sympathies lie. As we've ground down to tonight, our national news media have abandoned any pretext of impartiality, unless  \overwhelming circumstances forced otherwise. They have become what the USSR's state news outlets, Pravda and Tass, were during the Cold War: a propaganda arm of the government. We the People may be slow on the uptake sometimes, but we're not stupid. We eventually see. Is it any mystery, then, why so many of us don't trust the news?

I've believe Barak Obama is a Socialist, and so is Hillary Clinton. Both the writings and the life influences they've cited prove it. Socialism, which morphs into Communism, rots a society from the inside. The Communist Bloc dissolved because, eventually, criminals were the only ones left who benefited from their own efforts. Everybody else gave up. A Clinton presidency will keep us on the downward spiral that has trapped us the last eight years. If we don't pay attention, our America will morph into something we, all of us, will not want to experience.

 I believe our population has become too comfortable, too spoiled and too apathetic. We're too easily led by empty promises. For years before I retired, I heard comments about one elected U.S. senator/representative or another: "Well, he may be a crook, but at least he's our crook." It always amazed me. If we continue with that sort of attitude, we absolutely deserve the kind off government we get.

Having written the above, I still believe in our nation. Paraphrasing the Left after Obama won the White House, "We survived Obama, you can survive   ." That is, no matter who wins the White House tomorrow, our nation will survive. We'll have to make some changes, either opposing or supporting whoever the president is. But we need to give the "new guy" a fair chance. And we need to "own" our government; stop letting "our guy in Washington" take care of things. We need to pay attention. If not...

Maybe dancing's all we'll have....