Posts Tagged → Trump
Think you’re nuts? You’re in good company
Lots of Americans wonder just how normal they are. Yes, we are told constantly that normal is relative, and while that’s not true, it is true that lots of us are nuts.
Want proof?
Go food shopping. Bring a long list of items. Start in the fruit section and end at the other end of the store, probably the dairy aisle. About half way through you’ll be muttering to yourself, trying to figure out what you’re doing and why you’re doing it.
Listen carefully. Lots of others around you are also thoughtfully contemplating being lost amidst the richness. They, too, are quietly muttering.
By the time you are three quarters done, people have given up any pretense of quiet. People at the end of their shopping list are outright talking out loud to themselves. Not even trying to hide it.
Living the iPhone lifestyle leaves most of us blathering fools, struggling to connect the myriad dots we’ve happily forced upon our otherwise easier lives. Dots of the kids, dots for meals, dots for significant dates, and dots for the food items we went shopping for.
Take heart. You’re not alone.
A special note on the other insanity, this one a political and cultural craziness justifying violence against peaceful political opponents who merely assemble to hear a political candidate they like speak.
It’s hypocrisy to blame the victim. But here it is, masquerading as news in most mainstream media outlets.
This insanity is new to America but old to Europe and other countries. We’ve seen it in South American countries wracked by corruption and government failure. We’ve seen it in the Middle East the past few years. We’ve seen it in Weimar Germany.
None of the other examples of political street violence bode well for where America is or will end up. At a certain point the Trump supporters will rally and defend themselves. At a certain point bystanders will come to their aid, with weapons.
Hillary and Bernie have not discouraged their followers from committing violence. Instead they’ve poured gas on the fire. It’s terrifying. It’s hard not to feel like we are watching the end of America. Where this all goes is anyone’s guess. Violence is both wrong and unsustainable. Human nature can only turn so many cheeks before the desire to self defend sets in.
Much more to be said about this insanity posing as political dissent. But let’s just leave it at this: Be careful what you start. When that ball gets rolling, there’s no turning back. America is the best nation ever, but it’s still subject to human flaws. Our Constitution did not find a way to stop people from committing crimes. It merely placed the power in the hands of The People, and if that power comes from the end of a gun, look out.
Cruz Quixote
Ted Cruz was my candidate until he was clear he’d rather be used by the GOPe to block Trump than stand on his principles, do or die.
Now with another Super Tuesday primary election behind us and boosting Trump, with zero chance of a Cruz win, Ted Cruz has decided to go on a Quixotic anti Trump jihad.
Cruz has made damaging Trump his top principle. Not defeating Hillary. Not promoting an overhaul of the GOP. Nope. Hurting Trump is now Cruz’s raison d’etre.
Pathetic. And unpatriotic.
At this point, a real American would step aside and cheer on the front runner. A real American would consider the national interest before his own.
Not Cruz. Being an obstructionist is now his highest and best use. This is sad to me, as I had thought he was bigger than this juvenile behavior.
It’s so bad that some Pennsylvania Cruz -aligned delegates are talking openly of going to the Republican convention just to work against Trump.
Donald Trump still does not represent my values very well, nor do I trust him to be the warrior in office he is now. But Trump is a damn sight better than Benghazi Billary, and he’s now our standard barer, for better or worse.
Time to let go of personal ambitions in the greater interest of America. Or maybe move to Canada and just get out of our way.
If it smells bad, it’s bad
Donald Trump wasn’t my candidate. Lacking a political or social track record appealing to my values, he was going to be enjoyed for having mixed it up with the corrupt political establishment.
But then Ted Cruz began behaving in ways inconsistent with my values, too, and I began second guessing my loyalty to his campaign.
American voters across the country have increasingly complained about voterless primaries run by insiders. Actual voters, public opinion, have been shunted aside in Colorado, Wyoming, Indiana, and elsewhere.
We are then lectured about “the rules,” and how if people want to win, they need to play by the rules.
Well, in Georgia there were no rules. It was Lord of the Flies, anarchy, where voter sentiment was tossed out and insiders voted themselves into delegate roles inconsistent with the actual vote outcome.
Rules? The rules here are meaningless. They change with the wind. They’re open to interpretation. They apparently don’t mean much at the end of the Election Day, and across America actual voters are complaining that something smells bad. They’re saying they are being disenfranchised.
If our voters say it smells bad, then it’s bad.
On Facebook some people I know and respect assert that Trump is “whining” about losing, that he’s disorganized, that he doesn’t care about or want to learn the various state rules. That he doesn’t want to play by the rules.
Problem with this thinking is, Trump is merely giving voice to the hundreds of thousands of fellow citizens feeling shut out from their political process. When our fellow citizens express these concerns, we must listen. When they say they’re being ripped off by insiders playing by rules that are by their nature fast and loose, we should listen.
When voting fails, the fabric of society is tearing.
Real conservatives are principled. First and above all else, conservatives follow our Constitution and the basic, essential principles devolving from it. Like one citizen, one vote as the basis of our republic.
People who say they don’t care about these claims, who say they don’t care about Trump or his supporters, are really saying they just want to win and they don’t care how they do that. And that right there is as unprincipled as it gets.
Cruz’s character is being tested here. In my sad opinion, this candidate I donated to, campaigned for, lined up endorsements for in Pennsylvania, is demonstrating poor character. He should be disavowing the voterless primaries he has “won,” as well as the delegates he has “turned,” despite the will of the voters who created those delegates in the first place.
No question, Cruz better represented my values early on. But now, his actions say that my perception of his values was wrong. And thus, I’m not voting for that, or him. I’m voting for the voters and their voice, their best advocate, Donald Trump.