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Category Archives: My Opinion

You Never Had To


Americans who are what I call regular people are the Americans who grew up white may or may not understand the following statement: “You never had to face discrimination due to skin color so you do not understand what it’s like”. The reason for this is that you as normal people are color blind and are reminded sometimes of color or ethnicity when it is put before you. This is not a failing  but more a lack of exposure to the issues  that face non white Americans. We all hear and see the same news and information from the same sources generally but there are pockets of information on both sides that would enlighten and unite us all as Americans. The title “American” should be worn with pride by all of us and unfortunately we have allowed our leaders to keep an implied or even specified difference between us aside from the natural differences inherent in all humans. These implications are what has allowed the rise of the Donald Trumps as viable candidates for the Presidency of the United States. Those of you old enough to look backwards a number of election cycles will understand that our two-party system is flawed and too often do produce the best leaders (not necessarily the President) via the Congress. The real problems in a Democracy is  weakest when  the people we elect to serve are allowed to remain too long in office and then cross over the private sector to further influence the lawmaking process. Our true power as voters is to forget the hot button issues and buzzwords such as Race, religion and citizenry but to look at the long serving legislators who so easily use “the American People” as a reason for not doing their job. If you were able to get a straight answer from any of them you would find that they have not asked too many of “the American people” for their opinion. This is a classic case of “when I want your opinion, I will give it to you”. Our focus as “Americans” is to begin the process of reasonable assessment of our legislative leaders at the State and Federal levels and ignore the reality show atmosphere of modern politics. Beware of the man behind the curtain.

Washington 2 Step


If you are listening to the news, you have been witnessing the Washington 2 step from almost every sitting Congress member of note. It appears that neither party is really thrilled with their presumptive candidate for the Presidential race. The Dupublicans are in the hardest position with Donald Trump as their Messiah and holding their noses while supporting him. The Scamocrats have a similar issue but maybe not as ugly or potentially dangerous. The mistrust of the leading candidate has put a haze over their choice with the closest follower still in the race with a strong voting base. Looking at the entire campaign and the flip flops, waffling and indecision by the Congressional elite(?), who do you think we need to elect to represent us in Congress? It would be smart to remember that the Congress is supposed to represent US, the American people they are so fond of quoting without our approval.

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Demagogues, Witch hunters and Charlatans


It has become clear to me that many current and past well known figures in politics and the public eye are not who they purport to be. We have over the years been enthralled or distracted by seemingly larger than life figures who have turned out to be less than most of us ordinary people. We have had Jim Jones (Jonestown) who induced hundreds to commit suicide or be murdered , Senator Mc Carthy who sent the nation on “red” witch hunt and ruined lives, We had Several Evangelicals who fell from grace after information on their personal and financial misdeeds came to light, we have had several Federal legislators ousted and imprisoned over  official and personal misdeeds. Years ago in the 1600’s we had the “Salem Witch Trials”. All of these things have to do with people who took upon them selves the mantle of  leadership under the guise of administering justice and religious right. Our current political climate appears to be running in the same vein. We have a congress lead by Right wingers who without our explicit consent doing what “they” want and ascribing it to the “American people”. We have a leading Presidential aspirant with unknown affiliation or motivation who has excited the angriest (gullible?) elements of the country into a mob who are covered with a blanket of hate for anyone not like them in mindset and skin color. This is the same type of mass sentiment that created the witch hunts ala Salem and the McCarthy eras. It is of great concern to me that the media coverage no matter how the middle of the road is flavored and often overshadowed by  the extremes of the right and left of center outlets. With all of the truth being available not enough people avail themselves of it and become entrapped by the Demagogues, witch hunters and charlatans whose sole purpose is to incite discord which in turn hides their own agendas which do  include the good of anyone but themselves and their cohorts. Remember the following Names: Joe McCarthy, Dennis Hastert, Mitch McConnell, Donald Trump, Spiro Agnew, Jim Jones, Cotton Mather, Tom Delay and many others. They have all been (or are currently)  high in the public eye and (or will fall) fell after their true nature or purpose is exposed. If we become and remain vigilant we will be wary when the lies sound like the truth according to someone with a high public profile.

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Snake Oil


Listening to NPR news this morning there was segment of an interview with Mitch McConnell. This inter view was much like listening to a snake oil salesman. The questions while being straight forward were answered the way you would expect a not so honest person to respond. Mr. McConnell came through with flying colors. His responses while being extensive were not true answers as much as they were talking points. His use of the phrase the “American People” has been a mainstay of his party for years but only means the people we can fool. Mr. McConnell is a polished speaker but an inveterate liar whose sole objective is and has been for years to gain power in the Congress. Now that he has it he will do no good for the country as a whole. His remaining in the Senate is a tacit OK to poor government and a unilateral shift to the right which will impact us all for years to come and in no good ways. It is unfortunate that his disciples fail to see the true face if their hero.

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The Game’s Afoot


The recent rulings regarding bathroom usage in certain states has become a focal point in the current national elections. These “bathroom” issues are purely political and just another tactic brought to the front  for political purposes. The points made were put out as potential threats to children and women. One  person interviewed  stated ” He did not want some male pervert in the bathroom with his daughter or wife”. This is the message put out by the legislators of those states and it is purely a political ploy. The issue was never an issue until the legislators decided it was one. It indicates the lengths that Dupublicans will go to have their way and manipulate the voters. It is never hard to persuade people who limit their access to information to local news , faux news and gossip disguised as religious law (sharia anyone?). The current political climate is one of intolerance and bigotry perpetrated by the same long serving lawmakers around the country. This is why our Congress is deadlocked and getting paid to do nothing. The issues are not who is or will be President but more who we have elected and continued to elect in the smaller and off-season elections, namely – Congressional, state and local . These collective elections are what generate the radical and misleading information that the media reports. Comparing the outcry over Radical Islamist practices to the (extreme) Evangelicals and other religious sects in America, there appears to be more in common than not. The Constitution calls for a separation of Church and state yet many States have crossed that line many times based on personal pejoratives. There are as many religious sects in America  as there in the Islamic world. My opinion is that there is (according to known history) one bible but hundreds of interpretations according to the ministry.

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Telling It Like You Want To Hear It.


The Trump excursion and the other runners have all put out their talking points but Mr. trump stands out as the one who tells it like it is and speaks the truth. Truth is subjective. Everyone’s truth is different and persuaded by each persons experience and background. Donald Trump has spoken plainly about many things and in some of the worst terms. The supporters of Trump have been allowed to believe that He can bring back the halcyon days of “White Right” and take America back. This false belief does not take into account the “theft” of American from the Indigenous natives by White Europeans. Americas history is a plethora of white oppression and theft by semi legal and non legal means. The masses who follow Trump appear to be largely uninformed and / or under informed. It is unfortunate that many of them have become afraid of the melting pot quality of America and have decided that other Races are the reason the country is in the State it is in. The real truth is that these folks have been implicit in the condition of the America’s present condition due to the lack of vetting the people they vote for in the local and State elections. The same people that these folks are calling their protectors are the perpetrators of a hoax that has begat the many ills plaguing us now. How many have really paid attention to the people they elected? The elected officials we have in place all have their own interests and those interests are no the interests of their constituency but they have used the innate biases of that constituency to further their own needs.

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Reevaluating The Kochs


Recently The Koch’s stated that they are not and would try to stop Trump. The well known backers of outlier Super Pacs have decided to sit this election out in the sense of not backing anyone as the candidates of their personal party of choice are too awful to back. Even these staunch conservative supporters are pushing back against the extreme rhetoric of the Dupublican runners. Is it possible given the people they have supported previously, the Koch’s are not as bad as we think? Yes they have funded super pacs and backed the unfettering of unlimited political funding yet both major party’s have used this unlimited funding to gain or keep elective office. The question arises: Who is worse? the funders or the fundees? Suppose as an extreme unlikelihood, those huge amounts of money were used to build infrastructure, eliminate poverty or provide jobs. Our focus at this time needs to be on who we elect in the smaller elections which will put other people in the State houses and Congress. New people  at each election cycle will over time move the old guard out and show the willingness to vote poor performers out. This is the power that voting has and that power is in the hands of the people.

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Vote Like An Adult


Watch your toes! Any of you who plan to vote for Dupublicans (Republicans) and Scamocrats (Democrats) need to rethink your choice. If you have not done your due diligence in reading about the Parties as they currently exist then you are part of the problem of poor government. Government has never been perfect, that’s why we vote but voting by rote is why we have such poor Congressional and other representation. Do your home work and vote like an adult. The next Congressional error could arrive on your doorstep. The major political race is not where the Governmental problems arise, the real problems are the people we overlook and just vote for due to name recognition. These are the Congressional stiffs who treat us like the village idiots, they invoke us (“the American People”) to support their agendas and those agendas do not include us no matter what they say in the media. It is certainly reasonable to be upset with the current Government but if we ignore the small races ( Congress et al) we are effectively keeping the same ineffective Government. The President will change every 4 or 8 years no matter what but the lesser elected officials will be there until they retire unless we vote them out. These are the same people are willing to shut the Government down and pass laws we do not agree with but invoke us whenever they desire. I caution you to not get caught up in angry rhetoric which leads to errors in voting.

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Reality


The Presidential candidates all have their ongoing talking points and those points are designed to get your attention and hopefully your  vote. This is normal for elections but in the last 10 years or so these campaigns have become particularly virulent and nasty. Possibly half of what is said on the stump is either false or half-true. Even with speech writers more stuff is said that is impractical or impossible in the real world but it fires people up and gains attention. Not many of  us know (or maybe don’t care to know) what actually happens in the White House on the issues of trade, war and immigration. The candidates can afford to attack the administration since they do not know what is really involved but state with surety that what they say is fact. Not one has proposed a replacement for the Affordable Care Act (no matter how radical or ridiculous), not one has come up with a way to defeat ISIS and not one has an answer to immigration (except a wall). All these things if done improperly will send the U.S. down a dark path worse than Vietnam. The middle east has been in turmoil for centuries in one form or another and what is going on now has more to do with the intervention of some major countries in the past than the current events. The discovery of oil fueled a boom in some countries but did not extend down the people who needed it the most. The various sects have divided the Islamic religion for years but new wealth increased that divide exponentially. Meanwhile we (the west) and Europe bought cheap oil and ignored the internal issues of the region. For some reason we took on the task of removing and installing dictators in hope of helping but our efforts only exacerbated the situation. Now we have a major humanitarian crisis that has engulfed most of Europe and extending to the west via South America and Canada. There is no reason to ban refugees whose home have been obliterated by bombing, family members and entire families killed. The possible solution is tell the truth about the situation so that everyone knows what the real situation is. We in the U.S. should understand better than anyone what the result of this type interference does to people as we did it to the Native Americans, the American born Japanese and the enslaved African Americans. With this knowledge we should really be a lot smarter as voters than we are.

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The Little Stuff


With all of the attention being paid to the Presidential Race not enough of us are paying attention or thinking about the activities of the smaller elections. These smaller or less publicized activities around the country. These  small events are the real things that  shape our Government. The Congress is elected in these small statewide elections. The current Congress is made up of people who were elected and re-elected on a State level. This semi-annual elected return to Washington by the States is the biggest problem. Each of these Representatives uses local issues to stay in office while doing something different on the big stage. It needs to clear to all State voters that their representatives do not and will not represent them as long as their big donors pour money into their campaigns no matter what the candidate says to their faces. For instance Coal is a polluted form of energy which is being phased out by manufacturers and producers but the Coal States representatives use the decimation of Coal as a talking point to be re-elected. This bit of misleading  information is just one part of the bigger lies that people are told by our “representatives” for their own ends, not for the people they purport to represent. The American people that the political pimps are so fond of quoting seemingly have no idea what these guys are actually doing and maybe they (we) don’t) want to know. The key to better Government is better representatives and the use of the vote to change them when it is required but this will only happen when we (voters) look behind the proverbial curtain. It’s the Little Stuff that makes the difference.

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