Where Am I?

You Can't Make This Stuff Up.
You Can’t Make This Stuff Up.

How many of you feel like you are channeling Rip Van Winkle? It’s hard to read or watch the news these days without shaking your head in bewilderment. I mean, maybe you fell asleep one night and missed fifty years, right? Surely our values and national priorities could not have devolved as quickly as it seems. Sadly, I regret to advise that the last time you went to sleep was most likely last night, and you awoke to the same increasingly chaotic world that existed when you went to sleep! Watch this brief video of a Trump rally by clicking here. I mean, you can’t make this stuff up.

We are living in a parallel universe with all Democrats and, yes, quite a few people who call themselves Republicans. I make the latter distinction because there is no way Donald Trump is a Conservative or a Republican. Donald Trump is in a world of his own making. He is taking all litmus tests and burying them under one of his debt-ridden Trump Towers. As regards the Democrats, what more do you need to know than they actually think the last seven years have been good for our country? And if any particular ill cannot be concealed by manipulative statistics spewed forth by the likes of Paul Krugman, the Democrats invariably fall back to blaming W. President Obama took the oath of office in January of 2009! He owns it; all of it. Yet the party faithful stand tall and firm behind that mantra that all ills still belong to Bush. Amazing. 

Back to the campaign. Everything that should matter doesn’t. Who is to blame? What is to blame? Have we become so dumbed down that only raw, base political pandering hits the target? Are we so superficial that policies no longer matter? Mr. Trump appears to be able to avoid any questions regarding substance by telling people to “wait and see” just how good a President he will be. Click here to see a summary of some of his remarks when questioned about specific issues. Give him credit. He’s got cojones. 

At the risk of repetition, bear with me as I say again, “This election is ours to lose, and we seem hell-bent on doing just that.” Our economy is a disaster. We have excessive regulations, high taxes, and a broken Affordable Care Act. Nothing, and I mean nothing, is going well. We need to send the clear message to people concerned about their jobs, families, houses, and futures that we understand government’s role is to give them the opportunity to succeed. Notwithstanding the increasing ISIS threat (which must not just be “contained”-whatever than means-but eliminated) the November election rhetoric will be focused first and foremost on economic issues. People are scared. They need to know someone is going to help them.

I believe the majority of independent voters (and at least half of the hard working Hispanic Americans) have no interest in four to eight more years of Obama’s failed policies wrapped up in a dress worn by Hillary Clinton. All we need to do is nominate a proven fiscal and foreign affairs Conservative. Is it really that hard?

There have been a lot of articles written recently pondering the decline and even the possible end of the Republican party as we know it. I am not sure what is happening. I don’t believe we are on the precipice of self-destruction, but we surely are in uncharted political waters. The next couple months will be very interesting. 

Enough maudlin dismay. You know, this Republican vs Democrat thing has been going on for a while, and the contrasts were as stark sixty years ago. Just listen to Bob Hope trying to help clarify the situation here.  Then again, Ronald Reagan always had a way of bringing things down to earth. Go ahead and chuckle along with him by listening to this . The amazing thing about Reagan is that even when obviously reading that joke, he had a way about him that was disarming and flat-out likable. I miss him. 

Enjoy your playoff football and long MLK weekend.

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