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Campaign 2016: The Awful Truths We’ve Learned So Far

Although election day is still ahead of us, this nightmare of a presidential campaign has already revealed some very serious flaws in the American experiment that will require our attention in the future if we are to survive as a country. If Trump wins, of course, all bets are off and every ounce of energy we the people have will need to be focused on keeping him from blowing up the world. If Clinton prevails, and all indications are that she will, perhaps, just perhaps, there may be some shred of hope for us, although I won’t hold my breath waiting for her to tackle the deep systemic problems we face as a nation.

Public education

Once the hallmark of our democracy, public education has been under attack from conservatives for the past 40 years, and the resulting wounds are deep and potentially life threatening. The grand culmination of their efforts is presidential candidate Donald Trump, a racist, sexist, anti-intellectual billionaire who lies, bullies and promotes violence with every breath he takes, a fascist strongman who, if elected, would use the Constitution as toilet paper. The most frightening aspect of all of this is his popularity in red state America. In the Mountain States, Midwest and South, conservative school board members have worked tirelessly to eliminate science, the arts and critical thinking from school curricula and replace it with thinly disguised religious propaganda and pseudo-science, pushing for “traditional values” over intellectual inquiry and independent thinking skills. What we’ve all reaped for their efforts is a large swath of citizens who lack basic analytical abilities and are thus easily manipulated by appeals to their darkest fears and cries of victimization. Con-men (and women) in their churches, schools, and the corporate media have stoked a burning anger within these people and then directed that anger at all the wrong targets, immigrants, minorities, scientists, college professors, none of whom have any direct influence on the policies that influence the everyday lives of Americans. That would be the politicians who actually make policy in Washington and state houses around the country. We need a national effort to revitalize America’s public education system to provide children with an authentic education that focuses not merely on tests and rote knowledge, but critical thinking and analytical skills that encourage lifelong learning.

Campaign finance reform

I know I tend to harp on this subject, but with the ascension of Donald Trump, we have the poster child for everything that is wrong with our election process. Trump has zero qualifications for being President of the United States. There are two reasons why Trump has reached the position he is now in: He’s wealthy and he is highly skillful at tapping into the darkest regions of people’s psyche to manipulate them. That’s it. Supporters claim he is a successful businessman, but that is simply not true. He’s filed for bankruptcy four times, he’s lost billions of dollars over the years on failed deals, he’s being sued by just about everyone except me, and no one really knows how much he’s worth. The way we elect people to the highest offices in America needs to change drastically. The influence of money in our elections is criminal and must be undone if we are to survive as a democracy. Americans need to demand that this issue be addressed by candidates running for office and that it be part of our national debate.

The Republican Party

As part of the 2016 election cycle, we have the truly bizarre situation of lifelong Republicans who are so horrified by their candidate for president that they are publicly announcing they will not vote for him. Trump is, of course, the monster they helped create. From the days of Jim Crow to the Vietnam War “America, love it or leave it” era to the drug war to the Southern Strategy to welfare queens to attacks on abortion rights to welfare reform to Rush Limbaugh and Fox News to voter intimidation tactics to the Tea Party, Republicans have veered farther and farther to the right over the years, providing comfort and support to the looniest candidates and conspiracy theories, resulting in a party offering up a presidential candidate that their own leaders can’t stomach. The question is, what will the party do about this situation after Trump? Will they continue their descent into a religious/fascist party of violent “revolutionaries,” or will some group or individual within the party have the strength to pull it back from the mouth of madness? Some of this may depend on how Trump supporters respond after The Donald loses his presidential bid. It’s hard to imagine people like Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan condoning violence, but these are very strange times and we’ll have to wait and see. We can be sure, however, that they will continue not doing their jobs and fight Clinton’s agenda every step of the way.

Lack Of Competition In America’s Major Industries Is A Serious Problem, Yet No One Wants To Talk About It

What could be more dangerous and threatening to democracy than having a mere handful of companies controlling our money, our news and entertainment and our food? Yet this is exactly the situation we find ourselves in today, and there has been little to nothing said about this situation from either Presidential candidate. The reason why is obvious. Industry giants contribute and control candidates running for office. They help set the national agenda and pad the bank accounts of elected officials who do their bidding.

Some will characterize this claim as a conspiracy theory, but in this case, the facts say otherwise. Here are a few:

- The American economy, and to a large extent the global economy, is controlled by four banking behemoths: Wells Fargo, Bank of America, JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup (joining them from abroad are BNP, Deutsche Bank, Barclays and a few other older large banks). Eighty percent of the New York Federal Reserve Bank is owned by eight families: Goldman Sachs, Rockefellers, Lehmans and Kuhn Loebs of New York, the Rothschilds of Paris and London, the Lazards of Paris, and the Israel Moses Seifs of Rome.

- Six companies own 90 percent of the media in America: Comcast, The Walt Disney Company, 21^st Century Fox, Time Warner, CBS Corporation and Viacom. In 1983 there were 50 companies in this category. A mere 232 media executives control the information and entertainment diet of 277 million Americans.

- Ten companies control almost everything we eat and drink: Nestle, Pepsico, General Mills, Coca Cola, Kellogg’s, Associated British Foods, Mondelez, Mars, Unilever, Danone and Mars. From granola bars to frozen foods to your morning glass of orange juice, ten companies determine the diets of most Americans.

Although today’s situation may not conform to the strict definition of a monopoly, the result is basically the same. What makes this so undemocratic and anti-capitalist?

Competition. One of the basic tenets of capitalism is the supposed benefits of competition. If I build a good mousetrap, but you build a better one, you, and supposedly the consumer, benefit. When you have only a handful of giant corporations controlling an industry, competition and innovation are stifled and, in some cases, bought up and incorporated into the mother company. Consumer choices are artificially limited.

Workers’ rights. The less competition, the easier it is to control prices and wages. Workers are the big losers when they have so few choices of companies for which to work, and the companies are more than happy to take advantage of this situation by keeping wages and benefits as low as possible, despite making huge profits.

Market control. The media monopoly is a good example of how a small group can control an entire industry. There have been numerous examples in recent years showing clips of local and national newscasters from different networks not only airing the same stories during the same news cycle, but reading from the exact same script. News is no longer news, but corporate propaganda designed to not only sell things, but to keep the masses docile and uninformed.

It’s really a crime that this very serious situation is receiving absolutely no attention during this campaign. A few notable politicians like Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders understand the problem, but they have been excluded from the race to the White House by the Goliaths they are fighting against. When you have two candidates who benefit financially from the very companies we need to break up, there’s little hope change will come anytime soon.

Clinton Picks Signaling an Anti-Progressive, Corporate Friendly Administration

Hopes were high among liberals and progressives in January 2009 as this country’s first African American was inaugurated President of the United States. Barack Obama had run his campaign around a simple slogan, “change,” and for many of us who voted for him, that meant charting a new course away from the horrendous failures of the Bush administration toward peace and prosperity. It didn’t take long, however, for us to see that our hopes were once again misplaced.

In the early months of 2009, anticipation turned to trepidation as Obama began announcing his new cabinet, and we saw positions being filled by long-time Wall Street insiders, well-connected Washington bureaucrats and political cronies, none of whom could remotely be considered “agents of change.” Instead of a new direction, we were treated to a new face continuing many of Bush’s worst national and international policies.

Fast-forward to 2016. In this election cycle, it’s a race between a particularly repulsive Republican, Trump and the Democrat who could be the first female President in U.S. history, Hillary Clinton. That sounds good on paper, but once again, what is being billed as a historic moment in this country’s history is turning into a win for the status quo, business-as-usual crowd that actually runs America. The only difference this time around is that we progressives have no illusions about Clinton’s establishment leanings, despite the requisite liberal rhetoric of the campaign season.

Do I sound cynical or realistic? Exhibit A: Clinton chose as her running mate Virginia Senator Tim Kaine, a moderate Democrat who has supported, and recently voted for, the onerous TPP agreement. Exhibit B: Just yesterday, Clinton named former Colorado Democratic Senator and Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to be chair of her presidential transition team, the position that will oversee the selection of thousands of presidential appointments should Clinton win the election.

So what’s the big deal with Salazar? Well, as a Senator and Interior Secretary, he continuously demonstrated he was a friend to big oil, gas, and the mining and ranching industries. He opened the Arctic Ocean to oil drilling and played Michael Brown with his botched response to the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. On top of that he is an ardent supporter of the TPP and fracking. In short, Salazar is an old school corporate shill disguised as a Democratic politician, and Clinton’s choice for one of the most important positions on her transition team.

The national media is doing its job by perpetuating the myth that American voters have a real choice in this presidential election, and contrasting an obvious nutcase like Trump against Hillary surely helps reinforce that narrative, but reality is quite different. Whether Hillary or Trump is elected President, the powers behind the scenes will continue to implement the military/industrial/media agenda at the expense of democracy and the economic future of the 99 percent. Hillary is already indicating the direction she wants to take this country as President, and it is a ruinous, if familiar, path of greed, war and environmental decimation.

No Matter Who Wins the White House, Americans Lose

Are you as nauseated, saddened, horrified and disgusted by this Presidential election campaign as I am? In one generation, mine, this country has gone from the world’s beacon of democracy and prosperity to the giant village idiot bumbling and stumbling incoherently around the planet, an untethered corporate mascot gone berserk.

With the ascension of Trump, our election process has become an international joke, and other countries look at us with pity and sadness as they watch a once admired champion lean helplessly against the ropes, punch-drunk and bran damaged, in what is surely its final round.

We are here today thanks to greed, plain and simple. Despite a booming economy and a real chance for citizens to live the American dream, the military/industrial/media complex of the 1960s/70s, like Frankenstein’s monster suddenly realizing it has superhuman strength, woke up to its horrible potential to influence this country’s political process through its wealth and connections to America’s elites. The ball really got rolling during the Reagan administration with its tax cuts for the wealthy and, despite sixteen years of Democratic rule, the trajectory has been downhill ever since.

Having destroyed America’s middle class, stretched income inequality to ludicrous extremes and purchased the two major political parties, the wealthy elites are surely enjoying the spectacle we serfs naively call a democratic election. The reality is, they don’t care who is crowned President. The oily, snake-tongued Trump is one of their members, as is the neo-liberal Clinton. Neither candidate is a threat to the current hegemony that is pulling this country beneath the surface like a weight tied around its ankles.

The corporate media dutifully continues its assigned goal of making the Presidential campaign look like a race when it is actually more like a horrific automobile accident from which we can’t avert our eyes. Our elections have turned into a dark spectacle, a cirque du macabre of huge laughing orange faces, cackling countesses and obese promoters counting their stacks of coins backstage. We willingly pay the price of admission while they laugh at our gullibility from behind the curtains, filling their vaults with our hard earned cash.

This election year, regardless of who moves into the White House, Americans will lose, and despite being conned once again, their attention will be drawn to the shiny object the media tells them is the next big thing.

If Trump Wins, the Democratic Establishment Will Have Only Itself to Blame

The daily trove of evidence coming from Wikileaks and other sources make it abundantly clear that the DNC, the Hillary campaign and the mainstream media colluded to steal the Democratic primary from Bernie Sanders. Without missing a beat, the media, including some left-leaning outlets, is portraying Bernie supporters at the Democratic convention as spoiled brats who can’t let go of their Quixotic dream, instead of the patriots they are fighting for the soul of the Democratic Party.

Hillary supporters, you can’t have it both ways. You can’t claim to believe in the democratic process and fair elections and then stand behind a candidate who condoned dirty tricks, under-the-table support from the establishment and who accepted money from anyone with an open checkbook. Democrats love to tsk tsk shady Republican tactics that circumvent the democratic process, but refuse to look in the mirror when one of their own commits the same sins.

The irony of ironies of course, is that polls consistently showed that Sanders had the better chance of beating Trump in the general election than did Clinton. So the Democratic establishment, in its myopic quest to ordain the elite-approved candidate, may have cut off its nose to spite its face.

Believe me, the last thing in the world I want to see is Donald Trump taking the Presidential oath of office next January, but if that happens, the Democratic establishment will have only itself to blame. When you play in the same muck and mire as Republicans, you’re not any less dirty because you support a different candidate, and perhaps you’re even a bit more so after decades of claiming the moral high ground.

I Understand the Futility of Voting in a Rigged System

So this morning I went through the motions of voting.  I say, “went through the motions” because yesterday, one of the major news services made the announcement that, based on information from the nefarious and undemocratic Superdelegates, Hillary Clinton had wrapped up the Democratic nomination for the Presidency. The announcement, timed conveniently the Monday night before the California and other primaries, is one more example of the political establishment hijacking the democratic process to essentially install their candidate as the nominee.

This Presidential campaign cycle has already shown a glaring light on our broken electoral system. Yes there’s Donald Trump, but the problems I’m talking about are systemic issues that run across party lines to rig the election in favor of America’s elites, whatever their party. This campaign season the DNC has pulled out all the stops to assure Wall Street, K Street and every street lined with multi-million dollar homes that they will have one of their own sitting in the White House come January.  The one percent can let out a sigh of relief knowing it will be business as usual for the next four years under Clinton, that greed will be rewarded and short-term profits over long-term stability will still be the order of the day.

The only hope is that the Sanders revolution will continue rolling on past the election, and that it will have energized young people to stay in the trenches and fight for progressive ideals and candidates. We need to cultivate younger candidates to run for offices at all levels of government around the country and start making inroads into the old boy’s network that has a stranglehold on our democratic institutions. Had this been a truly democratic election, Sanders would have won, but the fight can’t stop here in defeat, but must move on and grow stronger and smarter for the next battle.

The Rise of Fascism American Style

Love him or hate him (and I don’t think there is any in between), Donald Trump has stirred up the normally stagnant political waters like no one in my lifetime. For those of us appalled by the idea of an unhinged, racist real estate mogul sitting in the Oval Office, it feels like we’re watching an out of control train careening down a mountainside to its inevitable explosive demise. Even Republicans like Mitt Romney are starting to panic, although, as others have pointed out, Trump is the monster the Republican Party built and there’s no way they’re going to get him back in the lab to take him apart.

The most frightening aspect of the Donald’s run is how his message of hate, exclusion, racism and violence resonates with so many Republicans. I’m sure intellectuals and leftists in Germany during the thirties were thinking the same thing. “How can so many German’s find Hitler and his policies appealing?”

Although the lion’s share of blame for Trump rests with the Republican Party, Democrats have to shoulder some responsibility as well. Over the past thirty years, Democrats have failed to offer a clear alternative vision to an American public growing  more and more disillusioned with politics and politicians. The problem exists on both the left and right, and it is manifesting itself in support for the non-establishment politicians, Trump and Sanders. Our government is dysfunctional, and Americans are slowly realizing that they can’t count on the government to heal itself, and are opting for true outsiders. The problem is, it’s left the door open for a guy like Trump with his fascist tendencies and racist appeal, a charismatic strong man promising to fix things in Washington and make America great again.

What Democrats know and now some Republicans are starting to realize is that the ego-driven Trump is playing a very dangerous game, and playing the conservative base for suckers. The only one who wants to see Donald Trump become President is Donald Trump’s ego.

Trump Taps the Rich Vein of Anti-intellectualism in America

Donald Trump loves him some poorly educated people. Of course he does. They make up the base of his supporters. Scammers, con artists, grifters, they all love the poorly educated because they are the easiest marks, the ones who, even knowing the 3 shell game is rigged, will play anyway.  On a larger scale, that same mentality explains why poorly educated Republicans continuously vote against their best interests in election after election, and why Southern red states are at the bottom of the list in every measure of economic viability and livability.

Anti-intellectualism is as American as apple pie, and Donald Trump has found that vein to tap, and it’s a rich one. Intellectuals are haughty Europeans sipping lattes and smoking pipes. Real Americans like to get their hands dirty and resent what they feel is the condescending attitude of the educated class. God, guns and guts are what America is all about, and Trump knows that mentality all too well.

Even the escalating language about “punching protesters in the face” and the real violence often seen at Trump rallies used against protestors is cleverly designed to appeal to the “poorly educated” and their Wild West delusions. Trump knows his supporters are sick and tired of whiny liberals and their political correctness. Debating issues is for wussies. Sometimes a fist to the face is the only way to settle a debate.

 

Trump recently said he could kill someone and not loose any support, and I think he’s right. Trump’s great triumph already is that despite being an elite billionaire from Gotham, he has become the emblem and icon of the poorly educated whites in America, the hideous representation of their frustration, anger and helplessness that this country is changing in ways they don’t like. Donald Trump is a master manipulator of people, using this talent to lead the Republican field of Presidential candidates. Will it be enough to win him the White House? These are strange and uncertain times.

The Democratic Party: Fighting For More of the Same

For all of the articles about the turmoil in the Republican Party over Trump’s successes in the primaries so far, I am much more concerned about what’s going on in the Democratic Party between Clinton and Sanders. The Party (the DNC, celebrity Democrats, the Whitehouse, the media, etc.) has already put the crown on Clinton’s head and is working overtime to make sure it stays there. From shady shenanigans at polling places to national headlines blaring Clinton’s inevitable victory to the Democratic National Committee’s unabashed support for Hillary, the Dem establishment is doing everything it can to make Bernie Sanders go away.

I find this all very troubling. Sanders truly represents what the Democratic Party should be about, but our leaders have been brainwashed over the years by Republicans into believing that only centrist, “realistic” (tough on crime, militaristic, fiscally conservative) Democrats can win elections. Sanders is already proving them wrong, and that’s making them very uncomfortable.

Since Ronald Reagan won the presidency 36 years ago, the Democratic Party has shifted to the right, believing wrongly that if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em. Yes, we’ve won four Presidential elections since then, but look at the state of our nation. George Bush took this country down a dark and dangerous road after 9/11, and instead of trying to clean up the mess as he said he would, Obama has embraced it. Ever since he’s been on the national stage, Obama has talked like a liberal, but acted like a centrist Republican. Sanders is the only candidate who sounds and acts like a Democrat.

The Democratic establishment should be 100 percent behind Sanders, instead they are repeating the strategy that Bill Clinton and Obama used to win their elections: talk like a liberal until elected, then play it down the middle.  Hillary is the establishment choice, the “safe” choice, the choice that Wall Street and K Street can live with. With its actions this election cycle, the Democratic Party continues to willingly disenfranchises not only the left wing of the party, but other Democrats who simply want real change instead of Clinton II, with the attitude of, “Where else you gonna go?” The two major political parties have way too much say about who sits in the White House and it will take a major public upheaval to break their stranglehold.

Republicans Intent on Destroying America to Save It

Members of America’s Republican party must be suffering from some kind of mass psychosis, a party-wide mental breakdown that has negatively affected their already questionable ability to think beyond simply remembering to breath and eat. New Hampshire Republicans who went to the polls yesterday gave Donald Trump a large primary victory with nearly twice as many votes as the second place candidate, John  “Extreme-long-shot” Kasich.

What could be going on in those pointy little wingnut heads? Some possibilities:

- Republicans simply don’t care what Trump says. He’s big, loud and never apologies, and he makes liberals lose their minds. He’s perfect Presidential material.

- While few Republicans would openly admit this, many would be fine with a dictator like Trump. He looks, acts and talks like a third-world despot, and apparently that’s a turn on for a lot of conservatives. Also, Trump shows open disdain for the Constitution, a document many conservatives would love to torch and replace with the Bible.

- Republicans would rather destroy America than leave it in the hands of liberals. Some evangelical Christians believe we are living in the End Times, when true believers will be whisked up to heaven, and the rest of us will remain earth bound, re-enacting the The Purge. What better President to have in office than Trump who, through the sheer power of his stupidity and arrogance, could single-handedly bring about the end of the world.

Whatever the reasons, Republicans seem intent on destroying democracy in America and replacing it with something else resembling a dictatorship. A vote for Trump is clearly a vote against the America created by our founding fathers.

Yes, Ted Cruz is That Bad

This is without question the most surreal, Twilight Zonish election cycle that I’ve ever witnessed, and I’ve survived 10 different administrations during my lifetime. We have a Democratic socialist versus a moderate, establishment Dem, and a cast reunion of “One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest” on the Republican side. Of all the outrageous lies and accusations that have been spewed by Trump, et. al., perhaps the most telling moment of the campaign so far for me was an unscripted moment between Ted Cruz and one of his daughters.

No one likes Ted Cruz with the exception of a small sliver of neurologically underdeveloped white evangelical Christians, who wouldn’t care if he sacrificed a goat onstage and drank its blood as long as his speeches are peppered with the appropriate code words that all translate into “We privileged white Christians are under attack and we must fight back. I will lead our holy army.”

The Cruz problem that the rest of us have is that he’s a smarmy, self-righteous liar who will do and say anything to win the Republican nomination. Come on, you say, can he really be that bad? I respond confidently with, “Yes, he can.”

Witness one Rafael Edward “Ted” Cruz, a Republican Presidential candidate and family man with two daughters. The video was supposed to be a tender, “behind-the-scenes” clip of Cruz demonstrating his “warmth” by hugging his oldest daughter, but then reality struck. As Cruz approaches his daughter Caroline, she begins flicking her finger at him in an awkward, “Don’t come any closer” gesture. But father Cruz, not wanting to let the potential aw-inspiring ad spot be wasted, pushes toward the girl, smiling insanely, and then grabbing her as if she is throwing an uncontrollable temper tantrum. Caroline pushes against him with her hands until he finally lets her down, his phony smile disappearing as she runs away from him.

Wow. The members of your own family treat you like a creepy stranger. The problem for Ted is that the longer the election cycle, the more you get to know him and the less you like him. In recent interviews, even his college roommates and acquaintances dissed him for being an arrogant, religious ass.

All of the Republican candidates have their unique problems that should disqualify them from holding any elected office, let alone the Presidency, but as we see and hear more and more of Ted Cruz the man, it is becoming apparent he may in fact, be the worst of the lot. And that, friends, is pretty damn bad.

Random “After-the-Iowa-caucus” thoughts:

Very happy to see that Bernie Sanders did as well as he did against Hillary in Iowa. It’s especially gratifying to watch someone fight against the Goliath Democratic election machine backing Hillary and pull out a David-like win (with a virtual tie).  Historically, Iowa hasn’t been a good barometer for who will actually win the nomination, but it seems to me that if Bernie can generate the kind of enthusiasm and involvement he had in Iowa, he can do that in other states as well.

Cruz, Rubio and Trump come out on top on the Republican ticket, in that order.  Alternate media is having a field day with Trump’s loss to Cruz, but again, what happens in Iowa is not a reliable predictor of who will eventually win the nomination. Trump is still very much in the race, but we can relish his “loser” status for a bit.

Speaking of the despicable Ted Cruz, just today he sent out a mailer to his supporters that is so far over the op it’s not even visible by the human eye. Claiming America is “under assault” from Islamic fanatics, it has an image of the Lincoln Memorial with old Abe dressed up like an ISIS terrorist strapped with an AK47, scarf-covered face and large hunting knife in one hand. The fear mongering here is off the charts, with absolutely no facts to support his wild assertions. The copy is all sixth-grade bluster about killing the terrorists and restoring America’s greatness. Trump is a narcissistic blowhard, but Cruz is something even more evil and diabolical. His religious values are medieval and he seems to take them very seriously, and you know if he were elected President he would do everything in his power to turn America into a theocracy.  With Trump we’d at least get some entertainment value watching Richie Rich convert the White House into a casino.

Do Those Who Endorse Hillary Realize How Broken America Is?

It’s disappointing, but not entirely surprising, to read that people and organizations you respect are endorsing Hillary Clinton for President, like Al Franken, Paul Krugman, LGBT Group, Human Rights Campaign and even Barack Obama. Krugman, Obama and others are arguing that real change (which Obama promised, but failed to deliver) requires strategic, incremental steps, and won’t be accomplished by someone as radical as Bernie Sanders. In other words, Hillary is the safe, establishment Democrat who won’t upset the oligarchs who actually run America.

There is a sense of hopelessness in all of this. Establishment Democrats seem to be throwing in the towel and admitting that we have a broken system that is beyond repair, and Hillary won’t rock the boat by trying. Everyone is afraid of Sanders except a huge chunk of the American people, who are trying to make change happen before our streets ignite in protests, and perhaps violence, over our unresponsive, undemocratic government. 

While the establishment Democrats endorse one of their own to take the helm of our sinking ship America, Republicans continue their assault on democracy. Senator Mitch “Yurtle the Turtle” McConnell introduced a resolution for the authorization of military force that gives the President more unilateral power to wage war across the globe, essentially cutting Congress out of the process and giving the President the powers of a dictator. Democratic Senator Chris Murphy calls it “…a total rewrite of the War Powers Clause in the U.S. Constitution.” 

The radical right in this country does not believe in democracy, and, with its numbers quickly dwindling, it is using what power it has left to bring about their preferred form of government, a fascist dictatorship. They have already succeeded in creating an oligarchy, but that’s not enough. If they ever get another one of their own in the White House, they want him to have Putin-like powers to force their deluded ideology onto the American people and crush dissent quickly and violently. Sounds like a Trump rally, doesn’t it?

As President, Hillary Clinton will not stand up to the oligarchs because she is one of them. Her husband did their bidding in the 1990s and she will continue to do it as President. The Democratic Hillary endorsers are the true political cynics of the day, weak-need enablers who, for a variety of reasons (none of them good), feel it is preferred to “work within the system” instead of fighting it. The problem with this is that the system is far beyond the point of a few tweaks here and there to set things right. Washington has become a façade like an Old West movie set, a cover for the dark forces to work behind for their own agenda, and Bernie Sanders is the only candidate willing to take on these puppet masters. It’s a Quixotic effort to be sure, but to do nothing, or elect someone President who will do nothing,  is not an option.

Palin and Trump: The Real Life Dumb and Dumber

If you haven’t seen Sarah Palin’s speech endorsing Donald Trump for President, you are missing out on an unforgettable moment in political theater.  Sporting a tinsel covered shawl, Alaska’s favorite deranged daughter delivered a word salad of unhinged attacks on Obama, the “lamestream media” and, somewhere in the cacophony of sounds, endorsed Donald Trump for President.

Like the head cheerleader at a high school pep rally, Palin became more animated and her voice grew louder as she blathered on in her attempt to rally the mindless around her favorite billionaire and garner a job in the Trump administration should, God help us all, that become a reality. As for the Donald, he stood uncomfortably at her side, arms dangling helplessly, with a tense grin that screamed, “Please shoot me now.”

With a combined IQ in double digits and the vocabulary of a fourth grader, Palin and Trump represent the absolute worst America has to offer, and they truly deserve each other. Palin may have a drinking problem, as some have suggested, but it’s her thinking problem that is the biggest threat to America’s future.

Should We Allow America To Destroy Itself in Order To Save It?

Ralph Nader has been saying it for decades: The two-party system in America is a lose/lose game, with both parties prostrating themselves to the moneyed gods of Wall Street and K Street while the American people sink deeper into a listless sleep to avoid dealing with the ugly reality of a dying democracy.

A recent article in Salon grapples with the issue that Nader and others have raised, which is, at its core, that we may need to let America hit rock bottom before a large swath of citizens will wake up to the reality that conservative ideology in general, and the Republican Party in particular, offer nothing that will help this country become a healthy democracy again.

The title of the Salon article is, “Just Let the Republicans Win: Maybe Things Have to Get Really Bad for America to Wake Up.” The author discusses the pros and cons of not voting for Hillary if she receives the nomination from the Democrats, and I think many of the arguments are on the money. If we progressives keep acquiescing to the establishment Democrats, we will keep getting candidates like Bill Clinton, Kerry, Obama and now Hillary, luke warm liberals who, once they’re in office, rush to the ideological center to keep the one percent happy.

Roosevelt’s New Deal may not have seen the light of day if not for the Great Depression. We as a country might need to fall hard again to remind ourselves that America is supposed to have a government of, for and by the people, not the billionaires or corporations or the military/industrial/media complex.

Like the Salon article’s author, I have yet to decide what I’ll do if Hillary wins the Democratic nomination. The one option not discussed in the essay is a massive write in campaign for Sanders. Either way, 2016 could be the election when progressives say enough is enough, and let this country have the President it deserves.

Hate America? Vote Republican.

Where do we as a society draw the line between far right wing ideology and mental illness? How have we gotten to the point in the United States where we will have a presidential election featuring one candidate who straddles that grey line, who makes Elmer Fudd look like a Mensa member, and who, if elected President, will almost certainly drag our country into the depths of despair?

Think about a President who would condone the actions of the American terrorist who killed three people at a Planned Parenthood clinic in Colorado. Think about a President who doesn’t believe in man-made global warning and who’ll do nothing to reduce our toxic emissions, and may even push to increase them. Think about a President who doesn’t accept the separation of church and state, and actively pushes an agenda to make America a Christian theocracy. Think about a President who prefers war to diplomacy and sees violent intervention as a strategy of first choice. And finally, think about a President who does not understand or care about our Constitution, and who will think nothing of violating it in the pursuit of creating an ultra-conservative/fascist government.

Our system of governance in America is broken. Next November, we will likely have a choice between a Wall Street-endorsed establishment Democrat and a borderline mental case. This is what we’ve come to, and to all of the liberals and progressives who are in denial, who are certain Cruz or Carson or Trump could never win the White House, all I can say is wake the fuck up. Our elections are rigged and have nothing to do with the will of the people. If the one percent and the Deep State want a Republican to win, a Republican will win.

Although I’m not Harold Camping predicting the end of the world, I think America is at a crossroads. Should any one of the Republican candidates prove victorious next November, it will herald the end of the United States as most of us know it. Our country already has serious problems that need to be addressed, from income inequality to campaign finance reform to a crumbling infrastructure, and the only thing I can say for certain is that if a Republican is elected President, all of those issues and more will only get worse.

Ben Carson Should Not Be Allowed Anywhere Near the White House

Just a couple of observations about Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson.

Carson has said some very strange and troubling things during this campaign. He has also, so it appears, lied about parts of his life story, and was in full defense mode all of last week after the media checked into some of his claims. But here’s the thing that gets to me: Who makes a serious run for the presidency and DOESN’T expect his or her background to be investigated? It was the same thing for Bush, who apparently thought his personal history should be off limits to journalists.  Yet Carson is shocked, shocked I tell you, that his past is being scrutinized by the media. WTF? You’re a freakin’ brain surgeon and you don’t have the ability to understand that as a presidential candidate your past will be investigated? Something’s off here and it’s either the size of his ego or IQ.

The second issue relating to Carson is truly a fundamental one. As mentioned above, Carson has said some seriously batty stuff during this campaign, like the biblical Joseph built the pyramids to store grain and that being in prison can turn you gay. The way I see it there are only two situations that can explain Ben Carson’s loony beliefs: Either he really believes what he’s saying, which is a serious indictment of our education system in America, or that he is only saying crazy things to appeal to the Right’s lunatic fringe, which makes him one of the most disingenuous, manipulative people to ever run for office. I don’t really know the answer to this conundrum, but as more and more evidence emerges that he is a pathological liar, I might cast my vote for the latter.

Despite All Logic, a Republican Could Win the White House

So let’s take a step back and see where we’re at with the Republican presidential candidates after a couple of debates. We have the back-of-the-pack group who, if they had any sense whatsoever, should all throw in the towel and issue public apologies for wasting everyone’s time. Among the so-called front runners we have a guy who calls himself a libertarian, but who is really a Tea Party conservative minus the religious fervor, a woman who is trying desperately to rewrite her personal history of business failures, several religious fanatics, a bumbling Bush, a whiny, arrogant billionaire and, at the steering wheel of the crazy bus, a neurosurgeon and pathological liar who believes that the biblical Joseph built the pyramids.

The Republican presidential candidates are living, breathing representations of everything that is wrong with America, from a parochial, puritanical religious extremism to a rejection of science to war mongering to an allegiance to the wealthy and powerful over the rest of America’s citizens. If any one of them manages to win the White House, and Republicans maintain control of Congress, this country is in serious trouble.

To make matters worse, there are troubling stories out of Kentucky and Ohio that election results in those two states may have been rigged. In the Ohio case, there is clear evidence of votes flipping related to the legal marijuana ballot, with screen shots showing the votes changing automatically from “yes” to “no.” In every election since voting machines were introduced, there have been questionable results, almost always favoring Republican candidates. This is a huge issue that goes to core of what makes a democracy and democracy and should be a high priority for the Justice Department, but it doesn’t seem to be.

Gerrymandering, electronic vote hacking, state requirements making it harder for minorities to vote, fat cats bankrolling campaigns…Republicans are growing more and more desperate as their base of voters grows older and dies off. The most depressing aspect of this is that the tricks work, just look at Bush’s 2000 win, and no one within the system is strong enough or brave enough to take on the fight.

If anyone thinks that there’s no way one of those Republican lunatics could win the Presidential election, I’m afraid there’s ample evidence that it could indeed happen, if only by hook and crook.

America’s Deadly Reality Gap

Why is there such a Grand Canyon size reality gap in America? How is it that a significant number of citizens can live in a reality that allows them to take the Republican presidential candidates seriously? How can there be so many people that seem to agree with the inane, hateful, dumber-than-a-five-year-old comments that leak out like waste from a broken sewer line from the mouths of Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Ted Cruz and the other mental asylum escapees?

This country’s red states and rural areas in blue states have more in common with third world countries than the rest of the United States, with their substandard education, religious extremism, anti-science bias, rigid patriarchy and bigotry. Ben Carson is now leading the Republicans because he saw what Trump was doing and new he either had to go batshit crazy or go home. He clearly chose the former, and every day there’s a new headline with a Carson quote that’s more insane than yesterday’s, and conservative America can’t get enough.

America has truly become an ideological two-state country. Unfortunately for all of us, amoral Republican candidates are more than willing to represent the interests of the military/industrial/media complex, and their legitimacy is propped up by billionaire’s, who could give a shit about what happens to we mere mortals, and their propaganda machine, also known as the national news media.

Of course, it all comes back to money and power. If you got it, you call the shots. If you don’t, and that’s 99 percent of us, you get to watch the show they like to call democracy, which is really an oligarchy, and pretend you have a part to play in this 21^st century tragedy.