Michael1942's Blog

We have always been suspicious of elected officials, their parties and their motives especially when their motives are counter to what we personally think. Our personal opinions are informed by what we read (correct or not) and more modernly the influence of mass media right in our pockets. In the back of our minds, we always think the political parties are barely on our side and have been proven correct enough times to maintain that distrust to the point of being swayed by any information that seems true according to our core beliefs (proven or unproven). Our enate information while valuable for everyday living until we reach the learning stage of high school where for the most part we receive the opportunity to interact with others of different faiths, creeds and ideas (the formative years?). After high school comes additional education in the form of college, tech schools and military service. These all come with the baggage of home learned information which tends to color or tilt our overall thinking. When we become voters and are assailed by political messages which either reinforce our ideas or challenges them, that is when the political information becomes suspect. The political process has always been messy and has become more so since the “Citizens United” decision which opened the flood gates on monetary contributions. This allowed an unlimited amount of cash to flow into the coffers of candidates which rendered them “paid for”. The current political system has maintained and reinforced our sense of politicians maintaining integrity for the good of their party and not for the good of the voters.

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Listening to several political talk shows and the folks who call in to them, I realized that TOTUS and many of his supporters have Colonial Mindsets. The type of thinking that many years ago allowed the European and Asian countries who had the power to take and drain the resources on the conquered. One caller applauded the killing of the last(?) ISIS leader while citing TOTUS’s statement regarding the “protection”(?) of the oil fields (which are nowhere close to where the ISIS leader was killed). The same caller stated that we should take the oil much like the early conquerors took the resources of the conquered. It is apparent that many Americans who enjoy the fruits of early colonialism misremember what the original Americans (you know the NATIVE AMERICANS) lost during the first 100 years of this country. Is it possible that many nonnative aka “White” (no matter what other nationality) Americans do not or cannot see the folly of their notions, attitudes, and pseudo historic sense of our country? Unfortunately, American prosperity was built on the European model of conquering and oppressing rather than the premise of acting like a guest (as it were) in someone else’s country. Apparently many have lost (or never had) the ability to accept and coexist with other people (I don’t say Race as we are all of the Human Race) who are different. NO ONE is above the law and NO ONE is better than anyone else except in their particular circumstances. So Update your thinking to 2019 and beyond!

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sub·ver·sion
/səbˈvərZH(ə)n,səbˈvərSH(ə)n/
noun
noun: subversion; plural noun: subversions
the undermining of the power and authority of an established system or institution.
“the ruthless subversion of democracy”

The current administration has seemingly made subversion a tool of its daily work. Over the past 3 years, TOTUS has continued campaigning rather than run the government with integrity. Aided by an almost criminal Congress and the related Whitehouse aides and miscreants, this administration has opened the U.S. to international and national ridicule. Our long-time allies while not speaking out have opted to do the work they need to do without the U.S. At the same time our long-time enemies have risen in our place as “protectors”. This dereliction of duty by the administration has allowed this strengthening of bad actors in the world while spending valuable capital pursuing and punishing immigrants new and long time U.S. residents. The U.S. has long contributed to our Southern hemisphere neighbors to enable them to provide better conditions for their residents. TOTUS and his “crew” have cut those funds,  allowing for the dire conditions there to become more urgent. This increased urgency (coupled with in some cases) the rise of an unscrupulous leader has caused great harm and desperation in the people who then flee their homes and livelihoods. The flow of people has led to the crisis on our Southern border and at other entry points of our country. This defunding has only weakened us a country while satisfying the baser instincts of a small core of people. In effect, the U.S. has been subverted by an administration devoted to self-service.

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In case you hadn’t noticed, national politics have shifted from the absurd to the sublime. The current administration has shown how greedily our electeds want to hold on to power for power’s sake rather than for the sake of service to the country. Each major party has had its time in the limelight and squandered it. It is of less importance who the titular head of the government is when the combined legislative members are suspect and corrupt in morals and integrity. The current hearings can be likened to a “show of hands” of public opinion of the administration and the legislature. The degradation of our always suspect political system has steadily gone downwards in the past 20 years and we (voters) still ignore the 1000 pound canary in the room. The only and most effective control of the government is the vote. No amount of mass media, rallies or speeches can tell you what a candidate or party is about or what they will do. What can be done is to look at the past and current record of the candidates and how their actions have or will affect ALL of us no matter what our party affiliation is. There are still a lot of attempts to pull the “political wool” over the eyes of the voters and many of us have allowed it by remaining uninformed and essentially “phoning in” our votes and loyalty. It is now time to shear the fleecers.

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The current issues involving  Ukraine, Russia, Turkey, Syria and the Kurds have one commonality and that is TOTUS. The “Trump Organization” with all of its components and arms has always been a one man show. Unfortunately, the United States Government does not operate this way. The government has separate branches so that there will not be a one man show. With all of the party politics involved, the government still in practice continues to function. Our purpose as voters is simply to evaluate the candidates for office and make the best decision we can. It is unfortunate that mass media has made the choices a bit tougher to decipher which leads us to an assortment of other outlets for information whether it is true or force. Our present “leaders” are at once staunch party members and independent depending on the issues. There is no doubt that TOTUS is guilty of all or most of the allegations against him so where are the “upright’ citizens and members of Congress who want as honest a government as we can muster?  When the dust settles on all of this we will have alienated our most reliable allies and partners, uplifted our longtime foes and allowed the deaths of civilians by withdrawing troops with no plan. It is wise to look at the countries involved in the middle east conflict: Turkey who as the host country for one of our bases has received Russian made military hardware over our objections and pursuing the Kurds (our allies in the ISIS defeat) as enemies. This pursuit into Syria now brings Syria and Russia into yet another conflict which we will eventually have to make a decision to join or assist. All of this on an underlying bed of  Saudi, Iranian and Israeli tensions. The uninformed hand of TOTUS holds the spoon stirring it all and will throw up his little hands when it all goes south!

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The current administration is rife with feckless and incompetent members who at the behest of self-serving leader which has brought American prestige and power to a new low. TOTUS has regularly created problems, then solved them (poorly) in the idea that the administration is doing a better job than his predecessors. It is unfortunate that many of TOTUS’s followers have single visions on what he has accomplished when that vision is one they share with no regard to the effect on the country as a whole. This is with all due respect “WWII era thinking” when we were at war after being attacked. The “Make America Great Again” slogan is just that, a slogan. America will recover from this administration but will his followers do the same and take a wider (better)  view of where we are and our place in the world. Our long-time foes have ascended under this administration while our productivity has decreased under tariffs that do nothing to help our producers and caused prices to rise on imported goods (and for no good reason). All the actions of this administration’s actions are for the glory of TOTUS and so-called “deal making” abilities. If the lies and missteps of this administration were bricks, there would be enough to build the unnecessary “wall” on the Southern border. If we could solve problems as TOTUS attempts to do, we could simply roll back what was done or said but since that tactic does not work we will just have to vote new people in and take actions to punish the outgoing criminals.

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Totus has shown us how nasty and divisive our politics has become. Many of us have always thought our politicians lie to us at some point and sometimes always. There has always been a basic mistrust since many of the everyday political workings are done in closed chambers which promotes an air of mistrust. As voters, we have to up our political game by paying more attention to who we elect and learn to dismiss potentially suspect statements from candidates new and incumbent. The hardest thing we have to do is to spend some time researching each one regardless of the party they belong to. It must be remembered that the party line is not necessarily in OUR best interests or the country’s. It has long been observed that candidates will and do say what is required to get elected but take another route once in office. The onus is and always has been on the voter. This is why all of us need to take a broad look at all candidates no matter what party they belong to and evaluate their words and actions ( previous and current) before jumping on a liner that could become a sinking ship. The real changes are not due to different people being in office but due to voters being educated on the candidates regardless of party.

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