Wednesday, February 10, 2016

Bitter, Nasty, Sneaky?

We Americans, are watching a campaign for the office of President of the United States and the descriptive words I hear are, bitter, nasty and sneaky, among others.  We hear candidates using personal attacks and name calling, and even if a candidate appears above the fray, his/her supporting PAC's will conduct the game of blood letting.  Should we be alarmed?

Well, while the party participants may nip at the heals of the opposition from time to time, the intra-party cannabalism is what is most vicious, especially among the Republicans; true there are far more Republicans running than Democrats, but, the sniping can seem to some voters as off putting and nasty.  However, we can learn from our history that the early years of our Republic show that campaigns were every bit as nasty and even life threatening at times; some campaigns ended in duels.  But who is at fault?  Is it us?  Should we demand more clarity?  Do we respond to rhetoric over substance?



As Americans, we are divided and angry, most are not happy with the direction of our country. This anger is continuing to be fed in the primary race, and I do not suggest that it needs no attention, to the contrary, it must be recognized and acknowledge.  But what about the substance of the rhetoric? This is what few candidates want to discuss so early in the election cycle.  It opens their ideas up to scrutiny, and gives ammunition to the opposition.  But, it is the substance that is most important.  We should ask, what are you going to do about illegal aliens, what are you going to do about the deficit, what are you going to do about job growth, what is your plan to keep us safe and combat terrorism?

Many angry Americans are gravitating to two anti-establishment candidates.  An Independent and Socialist, Bernie Sanders,  is making a very strong argument for the Democrat nomination, and a former Democrat billionaire, Donal Trump, is leading the Republican field.  To be honest, I don't listen to the Socialist much, he appears to be a very nice person, but, there is no way in hell I'm voting for a socialist, in fact, I'm alarmed at how fearlessly voters gravitate to him (I blame our lack of honest education in this country where our country is more likely to be denigrated than celebrated), but I digress.  On the Republican side, Donald Trump has so far told us that America is losing in everything, makes stupid deals with terrorists, that he's built a great country worth, "billions and billions" of dollars, that he wants to build a wall and make Mexico pay for it, and take on China over currency manipulation, all valid points.  He has made nasty attacks on his fellow competitors, and his supporters love it.  It's out of the norm and politically incorrect, and many, including myself, are so sick of political correctness.  His rhetoric justifies our anger.

However, a personal plea as we move forward.  Most of you know I do not currently support Trump.  I am unsure as to how he would do what he wants to do.  We have a current president that has circumvented the constitution to achieve his ends, would Donald do the same in order to accomplish his goals? And, are we willing to allow this because it's what, WE, want now? Justified, because it's our turn now?   Perhaps I'm misreading him but, all his messages are what HE will do, how HE is going to make it happen.  No discussion of working within the constitution.  Some may feel that this acceptable in order to put on the breaks and reverse the direction we are going now.  I simply disagree, it is the constitution we need to embrace now.  It is this wonderful document that restricts the government and not the people.  We must follow it.  I understand the passion for Trump, I really do.  I actually really appreciate his participation and contributions to the conversation, I just don't currently trust him.

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