Elective Thoughts

I am not worried about the election.  It is pretty obvious at this point that Hillary Clinton is going to be the next President of the United States, and, while I don't support or endorse her, I can live with it.   I don't see her as a two-term President and I believe America can withstand four years of anything.   I don't see her creating new problems so much as expanding on current ones and I think/hope we can contain and mitigate the damage we know is going to come.   No, I am not worried about November 8th at all...but November 9th is a different story entirely.

November 9th...I fear what happens when a candidate who has said since before he was the candidate that if he loses then the election is rigged, loses.   I fear what happens when the supporters of a candidate who threatens to jail their opponent find themselves with that opponent as President.   I fear what this country has become and how it is going to influence the children of today who will grow up with this behavior as the norm rather than the freak show we see it as.   I am more scared now than when I had cancer.

There has been a steady decline in political civility my entire life; I was born in Nixon's time.    I saw the tricks and games played by Reagan's team to beat Carter.   I saw the masterful use of the word "Liberal" to destroy Dukakis.  I watched Perot give the White House to Clinton and the RNC proceed to demonize him for the next 8 years culminating in an impeachment in the name of spite.   I saw Bush being treated as the Cheater in Chief and the results of the election dismissed, even by myself.   I saw the following elections being prepared under a banner of "Voter Fraud;" a pre-emptive murmur, but never a battle cry...until now.

A man who attacks voters, the press, his opponent, and his own party as if they are all his most hated enemies is dangerous; the people who blindly believe his delusions are scary.     PLEASE NOTE I DID NOT SAY ALL TRUMP FOLLOWERS ARE SCARY, JUST THE ONES BUYING INTO HIS "EVERYTHING AND EVERYONE IS AGAINST ME" RHETORIC!   The people speaking of "revolution" or "2nd Amendment Solutions" scare me more than any tumor in my colon.

America is the ultimate "Fath-Based Institution."   We have to believe in the system for it to work.   Sounds almost juvenile, I admit, but it is that simple.   Having a candidate in a major party like the Republican Party say the system is hopelessly rigged against the people is communicating a very dangerous thought to the masses and having it backed up by a major party.   It is not a new thought but has always been a fringe thought.   Trump has brought it mainstream and given it strength.    People will think "if the GOP Nominee says the system is rigged, it must be."   Their children will be raised to believe the system is rigged and therefore never join a system that can't be changed from the outside.   The future generations will exponentially spread this lack of faith and then the country will be dead because only those seeking the corruption of the system will bother trying to join it.

I am not a "think of the children" guy for the record.   I tend to hate those who hide behind their children to push their point of view, but I think this is different.   This is part of a larger pattern:

War on drugs in the 80's conditions kids to allow searches of their property; they never learn about their rights.

 Columbine and other school shootings created an atmosphere where one's fellow students are a greater threat than anything else, and more rights are given up in the name of security.
 

 9/11 happens and these kids, now in their 20's and 30's are told the world is against you and you must give up even more rights in the name of more security.

 Police shootings of unarmed Black people cemented an "us vs them" belief in many and confirmed the idea of a militant and out of control government to many others.

Raising kids in an atmosphere of constant war, endless threats, police shootings, and being told repeatedly freedom is the weapon being used against us has made these kids of the 80's raise their kids according to the new rules of America.  As a result, they have no context of freedom...

How do you think these kids will govern us in our old ages?   These kids who have grown up in a world of constant war, endless threats, limited freedoms, and now major candidates proclaiming rigged systems?

Is it rigged?  In some ways, yes, but in the important ways no.   You vote counts.   You voice matters.  Your belief in the system matters more.   There are problems, but this talk of revolution and violence is not how you solve it; it is how you make it worse.   Uprising will be a self-fulfilling prophesy where you will end up with the exact government you fear.  

The path to Hell is Paved in Good Intent.   I don't think those speaking of revolution are bad people.  I think their hearts are in the right place, but their anger misguided and being abused and perverted in the name of one person's ego and I do feel how they might respond on November 9th scares the Hell out of me.

I think I ranted a little.  Sorry if I lost my train of thought.  Hope you could follow it.

Debate Two

I've tried three times now to write about last night's debacle...debate I mean, and my head starts pounding every time.   My hands start to shake.   I am that upset THIS is what my country has devolved to, but I can't muster the focus to get much further.

Here is the best start I had yet.   Pretty much good on its own.

There is an old fable about the scorpion and the frog.  It goes like this:

Once upon a time, a scorpion found itself along the bank of a river with a desire to get across it.  Looking about, he saw a frog sitting on the shore.

"Hello Mr Frog," said the scorpion, "could you give me a ride across this river on your back?" 

"No," said the frog emphatically.    "You are a scorpion and I am a frog; you'll stick me and kill me halfway across."

"Why would I do that?" asked the scorpion; "If I do that, we'll both die."
The frog relented and allowed the scorpion upon its back who then proceeded to stick him halfway across the river. 

"Why would you do that," asked the dying frog.   "Now we're both gonna die."
"What else did you expect" asked the scorpion as they both sank to the bottom of the river.

America, that debate was the river, we are the frog, and the candidates are the scorpion: what else did you expect?

For shame, America.  WE can do better.   I hope this nation is strong enough to withstand the next four years.