When I was young, I would roll my eyes when the adults in the room would lament how the world was going to hell. I listened to their stories about the Great Depression, and the rationing they endured during WWII, and wondered how in the world they could think those times were better than the one we lived in. But while their lives were better from an economic and materialistic perspective, they didn’t like what they saw as a society that was becoming too permissive, self-centered, selfish, and violent.
I remember hoping I didn’t get like that when I got old, but understand where they were coming from now because I’m feeling the same way about today’s world compared to when I was a kid. While social media isn’t solely to blame for this, it symbolizes what is wrong with the world and has greatly contributed to the dumbing down of this country.
I’m not anti-social media. Its original concept was good and positive. It provides quick access to information, provided one can discern facts from bullshit. It provides platforms to exchange ideas and collaborate. It helps increase digital literacy and connects people. Unfortunately, it also shortens attention spans, spreads misinformation, on-line engagements are often superficial, and in many cases bullying, hurtful and harassing.
What I see are generations of people not knowing how to have conversations or communicate with one another. All you need to do is go to a mall or any place where there are a lot of people, and you will often see a gaggle sitting next to one another and not say a word because their faces are buried in their phones. Perhaps they are even texting one another.
Likes and virtual friends have replaced real friends and are often the basis of an individual’s self-esteem. Students are relying more on AI to produce schoolwork, so all they are doing is regurgitating something that someone else produced rather than doing their own research and using their own brains. How does that allow anyone to learn and grow?
It provides a safe environment for cowards of all kinds to pass falsehoods as facts and to relentlessly insult and demean individuals with little or no recourse. Suicide rates among people between ages 10-24 have increased 62% over the last 15-20 years (according to Chat GPT – how ironic). It would be irresponsible to say that social media is the direct cause of this, but it would also be foolish to think it hasn’t has contributed. For those of you who like me are in their mid-sixties, can you imagine what it would have been like going to high school (or college) where a phone with a camera was always nearby to take a picture or video, and your reputation could be slandered with one click?
Social media has been instrumental in creating a toxic brand tribal politics, where anyone can spout blatant falsehoods as facts and have them accepted as gospel by too many people who are either too lazy to do their own research or too naïve to question anything from certain sources. Many of our younger congressional representatives are more interested in getting noticed and accumulating views and likes than accomplishing anything good or positive. All of this has spawned a sour and increasingly pessimistic collective mood in this country. It certainly has for me, and the scary thing is that we haven’t hit rock bottom yet.
With aging comes perspective and when I compare our collective mindset growing up to what I see today, we have created a culture where it is all about me. We have become lazy, ignorant and more self-centered. We take less personal accountability, have lost our sense of community or collective good, and are beginning to see a rise in the kind of political violence that permeated the late 60’s. I shudder to think how we would react to another depression, or to be forced to accept the rationing of the WWII years.
I am chagrined to discover that I have turned into my elders spouting gloom and doom. Greedy, ego-centric and ambitiously ruthless people who are primarily interested in feathering their nest without concern about how their actions might impact others have always existed and always will. But social media has allowed them to immediately influence the lives of others more directly than ever. It isn’t going away. Perhaps there will be some positive changes once we hit rock bottom, although I can’t imagine what that might be.
Well, the election did not go as I had hoped, and those of you who follow this post know why. If not, read the section about the President-Elect here.
A feeling of dread grew as Tuesday night progressed, so I stopped watching the election results and tried to get some sleep before the dread turned into despair. When I finally got out of bed after a fitful night of tossing, turning and catching bits of sleep here and there, my emotions were raw, and my anxiety was in the stratosphere. The despair I had wanted to avoid landed with a thud when the outcome was confirmed shortly after I awoke.
After stewing all morning and into the early afternoon while trying to concentrate on work, I had an epiphany. Life is too short, and I can’t keep pissing into the wind like this. I can’t continue to be consumed by national politics like I was in 2016, 2020 and allowed myself to be these last few months. It isn’t worth living and dying by who occupies the oval office in the MAGA era.
This is not sour grapes. While I believe the nation’s decision is extremely misguided, that the electorate completely missed the long-term implications of their decision, and that we are about to enter a particularly dangerous period in our nation’s history, that ship has sailed and there is nothing I can do about it. What I can do, however, is control how I adjust and adapt to what will follow over the next four, long years.
I’m heading into my late sixties, have fought the good fight, and it is time to move on. I am not going to torture myself anymore by following the news and being inundated with stories about the Armageddon that is coming and the chaos that is sure to follow. So, I’m done.
I’ll grieve for a while and get that out of my system, but to preserve my sanity I’ve decided to completely unplug from politics. No more CNN, no more MSNBC, no more 60 Minutes, no more discussing politics, no more of anything like that. No more deluge of political e-mails predicting the end of the world as we know it, as I literally spent close to fifteen minutes last night unsubscribing from all the stuff that was lingering in my mailbox.
I’m not going to bang my head against the wall with the MAGA crowd because experience has proven there is no reasoning or give and take with them, so let them own what follows. Reap the Whirlwind, as they say. It’ s time for the younger generations to take responsibility for their own future because mine is comparatively limited and they have the most to lose. I’ll make my voice heard at the ballot box.
I’ll stay informed at a superficial level about what is going on nationally by occasionally glancing at the titles of the news feeds that keep populating my phone and tablets, and follow what is going on locally and within my state more closely. I’ll dip my toes into the national waters the night of the mid-term elections, and of course in 2028. But other than that, it is time to move on. I’m putting the blinders on and will concentrate on what is truly important: family, friends, my health, and getting some Zen back into my life.
Sports have always been my fallback as a means of escape, but I will also watch more movies, read more fiction, and maybe write more than I have over the past couple of years. New England, which is where I live, is one of the prettiest regions of our country, so take I’ll take time to enjoy the beauty of her woods, beaches, lakes and hills/mountains more often. I’ll focus on appreciating the peace and wonder of what we take for granted, like the brilliance of the stars on a clear, dark night, the sight of fireflies flashing their lights on and off in a field of tall grass on a warm summer evening or standing outside in the tranquility of a winter’s night, watching the snowflakes fall on my illuminated yard. I need to begin appreciating life’s simple pleasures more instead of lamenting about what I can’t control. I also need to spend more time pondering the next stage of my life: retirement. I had a date in mind but need to get a sense of what might (or might not) happen to Social Security and Medicare, and if it makes sense to keep the original plan or keep working until that picture comes more into focus.
This new mindset has already provided a sense of freedom and relief. My deepest hope is that when I finally come up for air in 2028, the country will still resemble the one that I know and love.
1993 – 2000. William J. Clinton – Ages 34 to 41 – Liked.
The 1992 election was the first one I was really invested in. Clinton was young, personable, and eloquent, which was refreshing because I thought of everyone who previously served as an old guy. Clinton felt like more of a peer.
I thought he was brilliant and the emphasis on Whitewater and Paula Jones was a lazy excuse to distract voters from the reality of our economy. He oozed enthusiasm, optimism and hope. I vividly remember watching the election returns that night and became more excited as it became obvious what the results were going to be.
Economically speaking, these were good times. He converted what was then the largest deficit in American history to the largest (and last) surplus. His administration achieved a record 115 months of economic expansion and the lowest poverty rate in twenty years. The world was relatively peaceful. We experienced the highest rate of home ownership up until that time, the lowest level of government spending and the lowest unemployment in three decades. What was there not to like?
On a personal level I had become a father, had moved out of state only to return four years later, and was successful professionally. Everyone was prepping for Y2K, and 12/31/99 was the last time I intentionally stayed up to watch the clock strike midnight (that didn’t involve a party) to see if the lights stayed on or if computer systems crashed.
I liked Clinton a lot, and still do. He was one of the smartest Presidents of my lifetime, but his Slick Willie tendencies were silly and frequently hurt him (“I smoked marijuana but didn’t inhale”), and he tarnished his legacy because he couldn’t keep it in his pants. Remember how outraged everyone was that such a scandal could occur? And in the Oval Office, of all places. This is another example of how quaint and outdated this seems now given what has transpired and continues to transpire.
2001 – 2008 George W. Bush – Ages 42 to 49 – Disliked.
My focus during this period was raising a young son, and marveling at the changes I observed as he turned from 3 to 10. But I was never a Bush fan. I didn’t think he was a bad guy, but I thought the Clinton Administration had done well and Gore deserved a chance to serve. Bush didn’t have Clinton’s intellect or drive and was a clumsy public speaker who gave the impression he wasn’t comfortable in the spotlight. The 2000 election was the biggest election fiasco up to that time, (remember hanging chads?) and the Supreme Court ultimately decided who won the election. Gore to his credit ultimately bowed out to save the country from what would have been an ugly and prolonged fight. How times have changed.
Bush’s demeanor and response to the 9/11 terrorist attacks made me reassess, but that was short-lived. I never bought the proposition that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and was very skeptical of our involvement in Afghanistan because the Russians had been engaged in a 9-year war with them, accomplished nothing, and ultimately left. Why should we have expected different results?
Then came the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression where he stayed mostly in the background. I had refinanced my variable rate mortgage to a fixed one a few years prior, so I didn’t get hammered. But people were hurting, I was cringing as my retirement portfolio took a nosedive, and his administration appeared helpless regarding what to do about it.
By the time 2008 rolled around, I couldn’t wait for him to leave, and thought he was the worst President of my lifetime. I was comforted by the idea that we would never have anyone as inept as him. Little did I know that the next Republican president would make him look like a Noble Laureate and make me long for a Republican like him.
2009 – 2016 Barack H. Obama II – Ages 50 to 57 – Liked
I was and still am a big Obama fan. He was young, vibrant, brilliant and the best orator we’d seen since Reagan. Even though I liked and respected John McCain, I thought Obama was what we country needed to get out of the economic quicksand we were in and felt as upbeat and hopeful as I had in a while. The fact that Sarah Palin was McCain’s running mate didn’t help his cause. The country needed hope and a reason to believe that better times were coming given the situation we were in, and he provided that in abundance.
Obama delivered. We did not plunge into the abyss of what pundits were calling the second great Depression of 2009. That by itself was a great accomplishment, one that he never received the credit it deserved. Let’s also not forget the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare), which opened access to care for multitudes that were previously uninsured, got rid of the pre-existing condition card insurers often played to escape responsibility of paying a claim, and allowed parents like me to cover their children’s health insurance needs until the age of 26. We also rid the world of Bin Laden on his watch.
The grace and dignity in which he handled himself was unparalleled. His entire Presidency was challenged by disrespect (remember Joe Wilson, as assistant Republican whip in the House of Representatives, interrupting his State of the union address by calling him a “liar”?), the issue of his citizenship (the birther conspiracy), and other inane allegations designed to make him appear small, weak and ineffective. Yet he didn’t sink to the level of his enemies. I admire that. Integrity is something I hold in high regard, and he and his wife had it in abundance.
He’s the only President I can think of that didn’t have to address a single scandal or major controversy during his administration (I don’t count the Benghazi uproar because that was directed against his Secretary of State). I It feels like that all occurred in a different lifetime, and I long for those days.
Donald J. Trump – 2017 – 2020 – Ages 58 to 61 – Despise (and fear).
Where do I start?
Before the campaign even began, the two names I didn’t want to see on the ballot were Bush and Clinton. Credentials aside, we had a collective twenty years where a Bush or Clinton was in the White House, and I was burned out on both. I believed the country was too.
I thought Trump’s candidacy was a joke, and he had less than a snowball’s chance in hell to get elected. To me he was nothing more than an arrogant, uncouth, ignorant con-artist, blowhard and egomaniac who screwed anyone over who got in his way without a tinge of remorse or regret. He was a legend in his own mind, and I believed the only reason he was running was to promote his brand and profit from it once the election was over. Unfortunately, he validated P.T. Barnum’s assertion that “there’s a sucker born every minute.”
This was not, and still is not, a Democrat/Republican thing. I’m fiscally conservative and socially liberal, which puts me square in the middle. But Integrity is very important, and while an argument can be made that Bill Clinton had character issues as a candidate, it was nothing compared to this guy. I could not and still can’t understand how people could be bamboozled by his schtick and not recognize him for who he was: a bully who was not only lazy but incapable of admitting he was ever wrong about anything. Including the 2020 insurrection which had his fingerprints all over it.
The 2016 election was the only time where an impending feeling of doom and shock hit me to the point where I was almost physically ill. It was also the one and only time in my life where I had difficulty sleeping on an election night. A few days later I started rationalizing that maybe it wasn’t going to be as bad as I thought. I mean, how bad could the guy be? Maybe he’d surprise me. Maybe he’d surround himself with people who knew how to get things done. Maybe I should give him the benefit of the doubt. That pretty much ended when Rex Tillerson, the former CEO of Exxon-Mobil who served as his Secretary of State from 2017-2018, resigned his position and reportedly called Trump a “fucking moron” once he left.
What are Trump’s gifts to the country? Propaganda and a bunch of lapdog sycophants whose intent is to make us doubt the integrity of institutions we rarely questioned. Fake news. A tribal band of politics. Cozying up to tyrants and dictators while dissing our NATO allies. Making racial comments acceptable. Unleashing the prejudice and extremism in this country. Juvenile name calling of political adversaries. Purposefully dividing the country. Never admitting any fault. Creating an toxic environment where anyone who didn’t think he was God’s gift to mankind was scum. I could go on and on.
The scary thing is that if it weren’t for the COVID pandemic and the way he handled it, he’d still be president today. And if anyone still doubted his true character, the election denial saga, the January 6th insurrection, and the Congressional hearings that followed should have laid that issue to rest. The fact that a large swath of this country seems willing to ignore January 6thand its aftermath is unfathomable, sickening and disturbing.
Trump has no regard for anyone or anybody but himself. You want to argue that we didn’t know him prior to 2016, and we needed someone who was not a politician who could “drain the swamp”? Well, the swamp didn’t get drained, and he approaches governing like a Mafia Mob-Boss. He’d rather be King because there isn’t any accountability, and I am more afraid of him getting elected now than I was in 2016.
Simply stated, he would sell you and this country down the river without thought or remorse if it put money in his pockets or keeps him in power. I honestly believe the democracy we enjoy and the freedoms that come with it are at risk, that he would stack the deck as best he could to make sure we can never get rid of him, and punish anyone who opposed him.
Joseph R. Biden, Jr – 2021 – 2024 – Ages 62 – 65
One of the happiest days of my life was the day he was inaugurated. Do I think he’s done a good job so far? Yes. Do I think he’s perfect? No, but none of his predecessors were. Biden was and is an experienced, stable and wise politician who inherited a mess and pulled us out of the pandemic. You want to give Trump credit for developing the vaccine? Fine. But given how he handled the pandemic in general (remember the idea of injecting bleach and the cluster fuck surrounding hospitals obtaining necessary ventilators and other supplies?) do you really think he would have handled the vaccine rollout, or dealt with the competing disasters in the Ukraine and the Middle East as well as Biden? You’re on drugs if you do.
2025 – ?
Prior to President Biden dropping out of the election, I had avoided watching anything related to politics, especially after the first debate. It was depressing because it was clear he lost the election that night. The apocalypse was approaching because we were going to be stuck with someone who has a hard time putting a coherent thought together, whose mental fitness was rapidly deteriorating before our eyes, and whose only motivation for getting elected was to keep his ass out of jail and make as much money as he could in the process.
I would have liked to see a Nicky Haley, Chris Christie or even Liz Cheney be the Republican candidate because I think the focus would have been on issues and not the circus. That would have been intriguing and refreshing.
If the lies about Haitians eating peoples’ pets in Ohio didn’t prove that he isn’t mentally fit to run for President, I don’t know what will. This lie has negatively impacted the lives of all Springfield residents, but he doesn’t care because he perceives it is politically advantageous to keep peddling it. Can you imagine if Hillary Clinton, Obama or any other democrat uttered those words? Or tried to overturn the 2020 election results. MAGA would be screaming for public executions.
Biden’s age concerned me a lot, and it seemed to concern a lot of Americans. But that now applies to Trump, who is only a few years younger than Biden and has a family history of Alzheimer, yet his age and deteriorating mental acuity get seem to get discounted.
The saddest thing of this entire affair has been the demise of the Republican Party as a moral, ethical and viable political alternative. Very few Republicans have had the cojones to stand up to Trump and his enablers, and those who have (Liz Cheney, Adam Kinzinger and a host of others) get blackballed and run out of office. The only way I see the party rebounding from the MAGA era is if Harris gets re-elected and the Republicans get annihilated in the Congressional and Senate races. Maybe common sense would prevail, the party would realize what an anchor he is, and they try to rebuild their honor.
The divide and conquer mentality of what used to be the GOP has too many people convinced that the elections are rigged, and their voices are not being heard. Games are being played at the local level to suppress and/or certify the vote. So, unless Trump wins or the Harris margin of victory is so significant it can’t be debated, the events surrounding the aftermath of this year’s election, and perhaps even the election itself, will be comparable if not worse to January 6th.
Regardless of who the candidates are, I had always felt we were safe and secure as a country because I believed they had our best interests at heart and could manage the ever-changing and increasingly complex global economy and politics. That no longer applies and hasn’t since 2020.
I recently saw a Mary Trump interview where she said that her uncle’s entire life has navigated a narrow band of emotions (grievance, rage and the fear of humiliation), and he has forced the rest of us to live in that world with him. Don’t know about you, but that sums up how I have felt since 2016. Trump’s America is an all-consuming rabbit hole that is deep and dark, where there is little light or hope. It becomes deeper, darker, and harder to escape from the longer he is around. His schtick is like a once-popular television show that has gotten old, stale, is tough to watch, and needs to be cancelled. I’d like to think that the majority of the electorate is smart enough to see that.
There have been thirteen occupants of the oval office since I was born and they fall into the following personal rating categories: liked, ambivalent, disliked, and despised. With the elections looming, I’ve been thinking about them as people, what they accomplished, and the tenor of the country during their administrations. While I firmly believe that we have hit rock bottom as a country during the eight years Trump has been a political figure, this trip down memory lane has taught me that there have been eras that are as bad if not worse (in a different way) than what we have today.
So here is a partial roster. The rest will be shared in Part 2.
1959 – 1960. Dwight D. Eisenhower – Ages 0 to 1 – Ambivalent – Remember nothing: All I know about Eisenhower is from what I’ve read in the history books, most of it as the Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces during World War II than as a President. He’s on the list simply because I came into existence when he was President.
1961 – 1963. John F. Kennedy – Ages 2 to 4- Ambivalent – Remember very little: I was too young to know what was going on in the world, but this is one of the eras where I may have been wondering if we were on the verge of the apocalypse. The Cold War was raging, and the Cuban missile crisis would have been frightening to live through. Given Kennedy was the last President to be assassinated, you’d think that event is what I most remember about him, but you’d be wrong. At that age I LOVED parades. So, my most vivid memory concerns his funeral that was televised nationally. The event was a doozy.
1963 – 1968. Lyndon B. Johnson – Ages 4 to 9 – Ambivalent – He could have been great but wound up dividing the country: From a kid’s perspective, what I remember the most about LBJ was that he had big ears and talked funny. Back then the President was like a God, and I accordingly trusted and believed in them. My Dad used to routinely watch the CBS News with Walter Cronkite, and I started watching it with him in the late 60’s. I formed opinions based on what I heard, none of which were good. Racism in general, and the South in particular, were bad. The riots during the 1968 Democratic Convention in Chicago were bad. The Vietnam War was bad. The assassinations of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Robert Kennedy were very, very bad. So based on that nine-year old’s perspective, LBJ would be on the disliked list. Looking back on that time now as an adult, I think LBJ could have gone down as one of the most noteworthy Presidents based his “Great Society” initiatives and our continued race to land on the Moon. But his willingness to allow us to become entrenched in the Vietnam quagmire fucked him and is the reason why he’ll never be considered one of the greats.
In looking back on all the violence and racial strife that occurred at the end of his presidency, I see a lot of similarities to our society today. Racism is rampant, we’ve seen political violence over the last few years, and it feels like more is on the horizon. We seemed to have lost common courtesy and decency, especially in our politics. I’ve asked myself if I were an adult in 1968, would I have been more fearful about our future compared to the night Trump got elected or today when I think about him getting re-elected. It’s a close call, but I think today is worse, primarily because both candidates in 1968 could be trusted to protect our country’s security. The same can’t be said today.
Not to be a complete downer, the LBJ years gave us The Beatles, I fell in love for the first time, and the Red Sox Impossible Dream season of 1967 spawned a life-long passion for baseball and the team. Whether that passion has served me well is debatable.
1969 – 1973. Richard M. Nixon (Tricky Dick) – Ages 10 to 14 – Disliked – A fall from grace and loss of trust: I was glad Nixon won the election in 1968 because he promised to get us out of the war. That is how a ten-year-old thought, because I didn’t know at the time that politicians words were cheap. But I was really into NASA and the space missions back then and was mesmerized by the Apollo 11 moon landing. Science fiction had come to life, and I could not pull myself away from the television. It galvanized the nation and the world unlike anything since, so I gave him credit for that.
I didn’t care about or understand politics. But “Peace with Honor” never materialized and the war in Vietnam had continued through his first term. It didn’t feel like the powder keg of 1968, but protests were still going on and Kent State happened. Agnew resigned in disgrace, becoming the first VP in over 130 years to do so. And to this ten-year-old, Nixon was becoming a guy you had a hard time liking or trusting. But he was the President, and I had not yet come to the point where I thought what a President does should be called into question. That all changed with Watergate. I raptly watched congressional hearings, concluded that Nixon was a bad guy, and was glad that he resigned. I didn’t fully understand the ramifications of it but sensed that something had fundamentally changed because our President was a crook and resigned from office for the first time in our history. His crime seems quaint now.
On a personal level, this period had more bad than good. The Beatles broke up, I discovered what real grief was when my best friend died of cancer, and the Junior High years were awkward at best. I had my first taste of working a job in the tobacco fields of Connecticut when I was 14 and absolutely hated it. I also smoked my first cigarette and experienced my first wet dream. One was a much better experience than the other.
1973 – 1976. Gerald R. Ford, Jr. – Ages 14 to 17 – Ambivalent – A Caretaker:
These were the years when I learned to drive a car and started to think about college. Girls were also becoming more interesting, but I was too shy to do anything about it.
To me, Ford was more of a caretaker than a President, given how he came into office. He’s the only President during my life that I would term forgettable. The few things I remember are his pardon of Nixon, which I didn’t agree with, our nation’s Bi-Centennial celebration, and the two assassination attempts on his life. Ford seemed so bland and clumsy and uncontroversial that I couldn’t understand why anyone would want to kill him.
1977 – 1980. James E. Carter – Ages 17 to 21 – Disliked – Economic Upheaval:
I had just entered college when Carter came into office and was more concerned about making the baseball team, losing my virginity, and experiencing life away from home than anything else. I didn’t care about what was going on in Washington DC. Having said that, I thought Jimmy Carter was a shitty president. The Israel/Egypt peace agreement was a huge accomplishment in retrospect, although at the time it didn’t mean much to me. But the Beirut hostage situation and the OPEC oil crisis, where we had to endure long lines at the gas pumps, assuming there was any gas, did and were black marks. He was the boss, so who else was there to blame? Maybe he suffered from bad timing and global circumstances he couldn’t control, but I thought a lot more bad than good occurred during his watch. Fast forward to today, and while my view of his presidency haven’t changed much, I think he was a good, decent man and has done as much if not more outside of his presidency than most.
1981 – 1988. Ronald W. Reagan – Ages 21 to 29 – Liked then disliked – The Teflon President.
I had just graduated college and was embarking on a career. At the time I thought Reagan was too old to be President (he was 69) but voted for him anyway because I thought Carter sucked.
I still wasn’t interested in or followed politics, but how could you not like how Reagan presented himself and his public speaking prowess (provided he had a script or teleprompter). He exuded strength and confidence, which was a nice departure from his predecessor, and he was a hawk as far as the Soviet Union was concerned, which I liked. John Hinckley tried to assassinate him, which made Reagan a sympathetic figure. Maybe Gorbachev and “Glastnost” had more to do with this, but our relationship with the Soviets and The Cold War in general got much better, which I gave Reagan credit for. It was certainly better than the “Evil Empire” days.
As the years of his presidency passed, I liked his policies less and less. “Trickle down” economics sounded dubious, and was. I knew a few people that were small business owners and farmers, and they were adamant that Reagan’s policies screwed them. Iran-Contra was shady, and I remember reading how our deficit was exploding. Still, nothing seemed to stick to him or his administration, thus the nickname “The Teflon President” The bottom line is I gave Reagan mixed grades and is a tough one to categorize because while I generally liked his first term, the same can’t be said for the second.
Reagan’s time was a fertile period of personal and professional growth. My career started taking off, I was independent and on my own, and I loved it. But I also suffered a broken and shattered heart as two momentous events occurred. A long-term relationship to someone I was convinced I would marry bit the dust, and the Red Sox snatched defeat from the jaws of victory in the 1986 World Series against the Mets. I swore, not for the first time, that I would never root for them again.
I got over the relationship angst within a little over a year as I met my soulmate, who ironically was a Mets fan, in late 1985, and we would marry twenty-one months later. I’d continue to suffer with the Sox for another 18 years.
1989 – 1992. George H.W. Bush – Ages 29 to 33 – Disliked, liked, then disliked again when the economy tanked.
Since I wasn’t keen on Reagan towards the end of his Presidency, I wasn’t enamored with the idea of his VP because I suspected he wouldn’t be very different. And after years of watching Reagan make his appearances look flawless, Bush looked like he was uncomfortable in the spotlight, which didn’t endear him to me. This was also the first time I remember (perhaps I was just paying more attention) a campaign being intentionally mean-spirited, with the ads of Dukakis being in a tank (which made him look ridiculous) and the continuous Willie Horton attack ads.
The Berlin Wall came crashing down early in his tenure, then Desert Storm, which he handled in an exemplary fashion. The Soviet Union had fallen apart, and Boris Yeltsin was leading the new Russia. Bush’s popularity meanwhile reached the stratosphere, and I didn’t think there was any way he would not be re-elected. I certainly thought he earned that right.
But…. The economy turned to shit. That and the “read my lips: no new taxes” pledge doomed him. By now I understood how policy decisions affected my pocketbook, and I concluded handling the economy was not his strong suit. Then during one of the Town Hall debates during the 1988 Presidential campaign, the camera caught him glancing at his watch, looking bored and as if he’d rather be anywhere else, and that turned me off. It’s amazing how quickly his fall from grace occurred.
I genuinely liked the man and though he was a decent president, but we bought our first house during a time when interest rates were sky high. The place turned out to be a money-pit to boot so of course I blamed him for our woes and voted for Clinton.
I later learned how lucky I was not to have become involved in the Desert Storm and subsequent Middle East conflicts. I was a member of the Air National Guard from 1983 to 1987 but decided not to re-enlist. Little did I know there was a two-year grace period after my tour ended, where I could be recalled in the event of a national emergency, that ended less than six months before Desert Storm started. Many National Guard personnel in our state were deployed, so perhaps I literally dodged a bullet there.
It’s been a few weeks since my last post. Some of the reasons for this are because work has been busier than usual, and because I’ve been mulling over novel #2. My editor has been encouraging me to start, and I have been slowly putting an outline together, but the time spent on that takes away from this. At some point in time I will have decide to move forward or not bother, but that will be a different story for a different day.
The truth is that I haven’t felt like posting anything because I have been in such a down mood. The campaign and the mean-spiritedness behind it put me in a place that resulted in recent entries I thought were maudlin and depressing, and I didn’t feel like spreading anymore of that around. And this is from someone who HATES politics and has traditionally avoided talking about it.
But now that the election is over, I’m glad to have a respite from the barrage of lies and negativity. I’m also glad that there will be a new occupant in the White House that will hopefully be able to change the narrative, bring civility to the political process and ultimately begin to heal the divisions that are so deeply imbedded.
Having said that, I am curious about how the 72 days between now and the inauguration unfold.
I’m not surprised that Trump’s initial reaction is that of a spoiled child who threatens to hold his breath until he gets his way. It is distressing however to see the reality of how this election unfolded being replaced by his insistence that he won the election, only to have it stolen from him. It is shocking how many actually believe that, which makes me wonder if those same people would start believing in Santa Claus if their leader insisted he was real.
This kind of behavior and misinformation is indicative of the man, and while sad it isn’t a surprise. Unless there is proof of election malfeasance however, he should shut up and go away quietly, because that kind of fantasy makes only deepens the divisions, but what are the odds of that actually happening? One can’t help but believe he is more interested in seeding doubt so he can appear like a martyr to his faithful, then following tradition and doing the right thing by bowing out gracefully. It is this selfishness and self-centeredness that is one of the many reasons I am glad he lost.
I don’t care what anyone says, the anger in this country, fostered by the kill or be killed attitude where people with different points of view that are belittled and demonized, are the byproduct of his conduct and rhetoric. It’s one thing to disagree, but it is another to do so in such a way that spawns hate, division and resentment. That is not who we are. Hopefully most people will come around to see it that way.
One of the most ironic things about yesterday is that as I was watching some of the news broadcasts later that evening, and scenes were being shown of the spontaneous celebrations in our city streets, one of the commentators mentioned that these were the kinds of scenes you normally witness when a dictator is overthrown. I had never thought of it in those terms, but I have to admit it does feel that way. At least for me.
Still, there is a lot to be wary about. Most news reports have indicated that the next 12 to 18 weeks are going among the worst we have experienced as far as the virus is concerned, and most of that time frame is on Trump’s watch. Who knows what the landscape will look like, or how many more will die, between now January 20th?
I think it is safe to say we will see more of the same given how the administration has handled the virus so far. I suspect that most of that time will be spent, other than chasing legal windmills, on settling political scores, whether it be firing Fauci, pardoning Manafort, Lynch, or any of the loyalists who were sent to jail, than trying to help the population navigate what can be a potentially lethal time.
For me, I’m going to try to focus on the positive and ignore whatever the Trump camp is (or isn’t) doing. Everybody is eventually going to have to lick their wounds, and try to come together and listen to one another so we can heal, grow and move on. And job one is the pandemic because nothing, including the economy, changes until we get more control over the spread. We need to break the cycle of tribalism that has come to define our politics, and the only way to do that is to stop treating opponents as enemies, but don’t expect any of that to start until after the inauguration.
These next seventy two days can unfold a number of different ways. The best case scenario is that the White House accepts the results without destroying faith in the process so that we can begin to heal. The worst case is that the Trump camp remains entrenched, burns our traditions of civility and an orderly transition of power to the ground, and some of his most enthusiastic supporters decide to take to the streets and incite violence in an attempt to take back what they believe is theirs.
The reality, as always, will probably be somewhere in between. I’m hoping for the best but understand that’s expecting too much. It’s going to be grim winter, but at least there is hope for a better day.
That hope is all the respite I need despite what may unfold. I don’t expect miracles, and it is naïve to think that the president-elect has a magic wand that he can wave to make this all go away. Our legislative leaders need to find ways to find common ground and act for the betterment of us all. Otherwise we will eventually find ourselves in the same place we have been the last four years. I’d like to think we are smarter than that.
My rule of thumb has always been to avoid writing about politics, religion and sex because each are intensely personal. Save for one post I wrote a few months back, I’ve been true to that credo. In fact, when Superman wrote this post last week, I responded off line. But when a sitting governor is the subject of a kidnapping and potential murder plot, I can’t be a quiet bystander any longer.
ENOUGH!!!!!!!!
As you all know I have never been a Trump fan, but I have stayed out of the name calling, political hysteria, and all that crap. I felt and still feel that anyone who openly wished for his death when he caught the virus is just plain wrong. But his behavior since the COVID diagnosis has become even more erratic to the point of being downright frightening.
One of the first things someone told me as I entered the managerial phase of my work career was that the first rule of management is that everything is my fault. Both the good and bad. They explained that the leader sets the tone for his people, that any department head wears the successes and failures that follow, and that if I didn’t have a thick skin I’d better develop one quickly.
In our fearless leader’s mind, that doesn’t apply to him. Everything good is his doing. Anything bad wasn’t his fault, responsibility, or someone else is to blame. And his tribe follows his lead.
How else can you explain the visceral and often primitive reactions between those who believe in the science of COVID and those who think it’s all bullshit? How else can you explain the amount of hate that is so blatantly obvious in this country? How else do you explain why we lead the world in COVID related infections and deaths. How else can you explain that there is no outrage from the White House when a black person is gunned down by law enforcement, yet peaceful protesters are branded as subversive. And now we have the incident in Michigan.
What a fucking mess!
COVID would have been here regardless of who was in the White House, I know that. Not all Trump supporters are blatant racists, but I bet it is safe to say most racists do support him, and he continues to refuse to disavow their actions. And Trump didn’t recruit or organize any of the terrorists, lets call them what they are, to take out the Michigan governor. But I’m sorry. Anyone who insists that he has absolutely nothing to do with the state we now find ourselves in are as much of an enabler as his cronies in the Senate. He is the messenger egging them on. After all, he did say that Michigan (and other states whose governors dare criticize him) should be “liberated”. Well, I guess some of those “good people” were listening and decided to act.
If he wins the election, everything is all hunky-dory, but if he loses, the election was corrupt because of absentee ballots, the Democrats and any other wild shit he can concoct. He encourages people not to let the virus dominate their lives, and that it isn’t any worse than the common flu, without taking into consideration that he’s just plain wrong, that nobody on the planet received the treatment he received, that it demeans those who lost their struggle with COVID, and even if a bona fide treatment becomes available, not everyone will have access to it because he is so hell-bent getting rid of the Affordable Care Act.
Mitch McConnell meanwhile breaks all historical precedent by refusing to have the Senate hold a Supreme Court confirmation hearing more than eight months before the 2016 election, claiming the incoming President should have the right to choose, but wants to ramrod a nominee through less than a month before the election that involves the most unpopular Presdient in our history who lost the popular vote by over three million votes. The hypocrisy of it all makes me want to puke! Putin and our enemies must be laughing their asses off as they toast to their success.
My eighty-five year old mother in law has said on a number of occasions that Trump reminds her so much of Hitler. I’ve never bought into that comparison, and still don’t (mostly), but how can you not see the similarities in the creation of what became the Nazi party in Germany to what is occurring here now. We have a very unpopular President, who was always a loose cannon, who is now spouting off incomprehensible bullshit that I’m actually hoping is a case of rhoid rage from all the steroids he received instead of him losing his mind. Indict Obama? Indict Biden? Indict both of the Clintons, Pelosi and any other enemy he can think of? For what? Does this sound like a sane person? He’s doing everything he can to make it harder for people to vote, either in person or via absentee ballot and his enablers are helping him, like the governor of Texas who mandated there can only be one location per county where people can drop off their ballots. Do you know how big some of those counties are?
Any true leader would care for the welfare of all of his citizens, not just those who support him, and would do everything in their power to make it safer and easier to vote. His actions demonstrate the only thing he cares about is winning, and he does not give two shits how that happens. Does anyone honestly think that all the absentee ballots will be handled appropriately and accurately? I expect to read stories about how bags and bags of these ballots were thrown away or “lost” after Election Day. It’s the only way he wins the election in my opinion.
These next few months really scare me. He’s sewn doubt about the election and in so many words encouraged his people to flood the polling areas to make sure everything is above board. Even the Department of Homeland Security admits that domestic terrorism is the greatest threat we face, and he’s calling in the dogs to…..what? Intervene if they think they see something fishy. How do you think that will turn out?
He and Pence have all but admitted they will not accept the election results should he lose, and he has a lapdog of an Attorney General who asks how high when Trump says jump to help him steal the election. How can anyone not see this is a recipe for disaster? How can anyone not see the potential for carnage in the streets unlike anything we have yet seen? Accuse me of being overly dramatic, of hyperbole, of being full of shit, and of being a far left socialist (I’m not, by the way) if you want to, but when a republican senator and ally says “democracy is not the objective of the US system,” how can you not think otherwise, regardless of how Senator Tillis tries to explain it away. The only chance we have of the administration accepting the results without much fuss is if he loses BIG. And even that may not be enough.
I’ve never been a political animal, and have proudly straddled the middle for as long as I can remember. I’m fiscally conservative (don’t get me going about the spiraling national debt that will soon overwhelm us), and socially liberal. But this election isn’t about politics for me. It truly isn’t. I’d say the same thing about anybody in that office who is as unhinged as Trump is now.
This is simply about a bad guy who only cares about himself that needs to be fired before this becomes a country we no longer recognize. We’re more than halfway there already. We can argue and worry about 2024 in 2024. The church of what is happening now is what’s important.
Whenever the dust finally settles on this cluster fuck, I sincerely hope we have a new President. We didn’t know what Trump was about in 2016, but have no illusions now. Shame on us if he doesn’t lose big. We’ll have nobody to blame but ourselves.
And I’ll probably become an alcoholic, drug addict or both. How else can one numb themselves from the reality that is sure to follow?
So here it is, my 62nd birthday. It took forever to get here as the long, scary, AWFUL year that was 2020 trudged along at a snails pace. Unfortunately 2021 didn’t start out as any bargain either.
The new year wasn’t the cause for celebration I once hoped it would be. The virus was still thriving because people got impatient, the Feds didn’t listen to the science, and we reopened too soon. Long story short, over 500,000 people in this country are dead and the numbers have only recently started to plateau. At least we have finally started to come together as a nation, but what a torturous path it was to get here.
I was a kid in 1968 and had no understanding of how torn apart this country really was. It wasn’t until I watched some of the historical retrospectives on that year that I fully understood and appreciated the turmoil and divide that plagued us. I was happy not to have been an adult during that time because I would have been freaking out, fearing for our future, and gave thanks that I would never have to live through anything like that. Of course, the second half of 2020 made 1968 look like a walk in the park.
When roughly half the states ignored the scientists pleas and reopened in June, the results were actually pretty good for a short while. The naysayers and those who embraced the fake news mantra puffed their chests out and screamed “I told you so.” Trump’s popularity skyrocketed, and the economy started showing signs of coming back.
Then the second surge hit. It ravaged Middle America and the rural population areas before spreading outward to both coasts. Even though a good chunk of Trump’s cabinet got sick, the President typically insisted it was all a hoax designed to make him look bad. When the Northeast, the Mid Atlantic and the West coast continued to resist opening, and were joined by some of the states who realized the terrible mistake they had made, his “followers” took things into their own hands, and the violence that erupted far surpassed that of 1968.
When the second surge exploded, the scientist’s fears came to fruition: hospitals got overrun and could not meet the demand, in part because our testing capability was worse than when the initial surge hit, and because the second surge took out a lot of our front line healthcare workers as the PPE shortage forced clinicians have to wear what they had longer than they did the first time around. Meanwhile, our food supply chain collapsed, and unemployment got as high as 40%. Only recently has it started to decline. It has dropped to 34% and continues to decrease.
When Trump and the Republicans got crushed in November, he claimed the results fraudulent, which wasn’t a surprise since he started beating that drum during the summer, saying he was afraid of massive voter fraud designed to remove him from office. Insisting he was cheated, he refused to accept the results, the followers hit the streets and the second wave of violence hit. Thank God the Supreme Court ruled against him, but he still didn’t change his tune until he, Pence and President-Elect Biden got the virus. We really didn’t start coming together as a nation, however, until Biden died shortly before the inauguration (Trump and Pence survived, barely). Thankfully Biden’s passing did not occur until after the electoral college formally cast its votes, and the results became official and irrevocable. Who knows what might have happened otherwise. The country has rallied around the Harris/Warren administration, and I think we are finally starting to heal.
As for me, we still haven’t sold the house, and can’t even rent it. If this goes on for another three months I am going to have to dip into the retirement funds, but at this point I could really give a shit. I’ve lost close to a dozen friends, colleagues and relatives to the disease, so the fact that Nidan, K and I have survived is all that counts. The fact that I am among the lucky 66% still working is a blessing too. Things could be infinitely worse.
You know diary, I always thought I was lucky to be born when I was. I mean, I got to experience The Beatles, saw man walk on the moon, witnessed the Red Sox win not only one World Series but four, saw the turn of the new century and so many technological advances it makes your head spin. But never in my life did I ever expect to witness what I have these past nine months, when the dark side of human nature was unleashed. I even bought a gun when the looting got really bad, for goodness sakes. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that would ever happen.
At least the population got so pissed and disgusted that there finally seems to be enough momentum to pass Congressional term limits. Cover themselves in glory they did not, and the electorate seem firm in their conviction that any house rep or senator who votes against it will serve for only one term. It’s a pity it took something so catastrophic to make this happen.
I am cautiously optimistic the page has been turned, and am looking forward to being able to go where I please without fear, not to mention being able to watch professional sports some time in the near future. I don’t know what VE or VJ days were like at the end of World War Two, but I can’t imagine a bigger celebration than the one that will occur when the vaccine that has finally been developed is rolled out in a few days.
So enough of the maudlin shit, diary! Life as we knew it appears to be finally returning, so a huge HORRAY is in order, and it is time to turn the page. Having said that, it’s silly to assume life will be the same as it was before the pandemic hit. How could it after all the death, carnage and animosity? We have all been touched by this in some fashion, and are forever changed as a result. Only time will tell if it is for the better or the worse.
Emptying this cluttered mind of idea fragments and thoughts that have percolated the last few weeks.
One of the many things I am fascinated about witnessing is how we as a society and culture adjust to the new reality once this is over. Think back to the World War Two era, where our citizen’s lives were dominated by this cataclysmic event for almost four years. While this episode in our history won’t last that long, I suspect it may take as long if not longer to adjust to the new normal compared to when that war was over, the soldiers came home, and reconstruction began.
The industries that will take the longest to recover, and may never be the same, are: Sports and entertainment; the hotel/guest services industries; the various travel industries. Until a proven vaccine is created and made available to the masses, I can’t see anyone being comfortable in placing themselves among a mass of people. I’m certainly not.
Be that as it may, we know that sports will resume at some point. But what will that look like until the vaccine is available? I think the days of all the seats being filled are gone until then. Perhaps there will be mandated gaps/spacing between seats, and food services will be suspended. Either way it will look and feel completely different. I think the basketball and hockey seasons are over, and I question how much of a baseball season is realistic. The NFL? Coin flip that it starts on time.
It will also be interesting to see how or if the various sports unions and ownership groups play nice in the sandbox as they try to adjust salaries and compensation to account for the loss of gate revenue. I doubt you will see mega contracts that have become commonplace emerge for a few years. Mookie Betts and free agents like him are going to get screwed. They may be better off doing one year deals until this all gets sorted.
There used to be a buffer between the emotions I felt and what I’d show, but not anymore. I find that I am much quicker to laugh, cry, or become angry than ever before. Is that just me?
Perhaps it is because I’m more reflective and am thinking about deeper stuff as events unfold, but I’ve come up with a LOT of good writing ideas. I have at least a half dozen things I can share via this blog. It’s just a matter of taking the time to develop them. For now, I start a post, write the opening paragraph, and let it sit for future development.
I could care less about politics right now, because I really think whatever “campaigning” occurs between now and Labor Day is a waste of time. This virus and how it plays out will dictate the election’s outcome. My only concern and frustration is that the virus issue has become a political football. Those entrenched in power are screwed if the economy is as dormant as it is now, so the pressure exists to end the distancing protocols and get people working again, which would be a disaster should that occur too soon. I mean, how good can the economy be if the virus growth explodes more than it has now , and the fatalities explode with it? Unfortunately, competing camps are getting different directives, which will make it take that much longer to reach the end of this road. In todays ultra polarized environment, politics supersedes the common good. How sad.
Can we please stop with the lawsuits? An attorney in Connecticut filed suit against our governor over a new requirement to wear masks in public, saying it was an infringement on an individual’s constitutional rights. Can we also stop the mass protesting about “freeing” our people and the economy? Even if you are true believers that this is all overkill, and media-driven paranoia (which I don’t) are you really willing to take that chance and put you and your loved ones at risk? Haven’t you ever heard of science? I don’t get it.
When we do come up with a vaccine, what are we going to do about those who don’t believe in them? I can hardly wait to read the vitriol from those who feel nobody should be required or forced against their will to get the shot. An individual’s right is secondary to the common good in these situations from where I sit, so I say tie them down, give them the vaccine, and drown out the noise.
If you had to bet everything you own on the over/under as to when this threat will over, when would that be? My bet would be November 2021. That’s a long ass time.
Of all the little annoying things that crop up dealing with MS, putting socks on is at the top of that list. I typically do this while sitting on the side of my bed, but don’t have the flexibility I used to, especially first thing in the morning. I can’t force the issue because if I do I’ll lean forward too far and fall off the bed (it’s happened). I have to put the left sock before the right (my bad foot/leg), because if I do the opposite, the foot slides forward and I find my body falling with it. So what is the solution? Putting them on before I go to bed.
The planet is going to get a break this summer. With less cars on the road, factories not running at full capacity, the air quality should certainly be better as the amount of greenhouse gases released will be significantly curtailed. Cities whose skylines were hard to see due to smog should look clear and pristine by comparison. I wonder if this will have any impact at all on the severity of storms over the next two years. It certainly can’t hurt.
I have access to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Xfinity on Demand and a host of other platforms that I can’t think of off the top of my head, and there is still nothing to watch, which is sad given the expense. Guess I’m going to have to give things that appear interesting a whirl, but guess there will four to five duds for every keeper. Sounds like a lot of work, doesn’t it?
I haven’t filled the gas tank in our two cars in over a month, and neither has much less than half a tank remaining. Bet I’m not the only one saving money like this without trying.
Am I the only one who is drinking more than before?
I was afraid that I’d gain a ton of weight while waiting out this storm, but I’ve actually lost weight. I suspect I am in the minority. It must be the stress.
We are hot and heavy into the primary season, and everybody has an opinion. I get at least a dozen posts every day from various Facebook friends that promote one side or tear down the other, not to mention an increasing number of posts from fellow bloggers.
There are two subjects I avoid like the plague, and political commentary is one of them. Having said that, I felt compelled to share my take one time between now and November, but assumed it would be after Labor day, when things really heat up. Maybe it’s because I can’t think of anything else to write about, but now seems as good a time as any because my beliefs aren’t going to change. Before I proceed, however, here are a few things you should know about me.
I am fiscally conservative but socially liberal, which puts me squarely in the middle. I believe in equal rights, freedom of reproductive choice, human rights and financial prudence. I believe those in need should have a safety net, but am against rampant entitlements. I believe climate change is the biggest single danger facing our planet, and that those who think it is bullshit are either fools or liars.
I value anyone who displays grace under pressure, and conducts their lives and business with integrity. I am not a political animal who eats, sleeps and breathes politics or voraciously consumes political news on a daily basis, nor do I believe in forcing my point of view on others. I generally vote for the person first, then their policies, and typically avoid anyone who is far right or far left. Truth and honesty is important, but I consider that to be a bonus because it is in very short supply these days, and perhaps always has.
So now that you know a little about me, I will get right to the point: there is no way in the world I will vote for the current occupant of the White House come November.
My reasons are not primarily political, because as much as I disagree with most our current policies, there might be one or two that I applaud (don’t ask). No, my reasons are much more personal.
Quite frankly, I find our current President’s conduct and performance abhorrent. His personality and points of view check every negative box I own. I believe he is a lazy, uninformed, narcissistic buffoon who is more flash than substance, and is more interested in having people toe the line and kiss his ass than working as a team for what is best for the country. This is why he has surrounded himself with sycophants who are often ill-equipped to handle their assignments.
I believe he always has, and always will, be more interested in deepening the pockets of his various business interests at the expense of taxpayers instead what benefits everyday citizens. Why else would he refuse to release his tax returns? He doesn’t understand many of the difficulties and hardships we face, and certainly gives the impression that he doesn’t care to learn.
Unorganized and undisciplined, compromise and teamwork are words that are foreign to him. His uncontrolled ego can and, I believe, has been manipulated by foreign leaders, which makes us vulnerable.
The President sets the tone for the country, and the mood in this country sucks. And don’t blame the press or the opposing party because if the shoe was on the other foot, the press would still be on this like white on rice, and the Republicans in Congress would demonize him to a much greater extent than the Democrats have. A large part of our collective mood stems from his combative nature, his demonization of anyone who criticizes him, and aversion of the truth. I’m sorry, but I simply do not trust anyone who routinely lies and always blames anyone but himself for anything. News is fake if it is unflattering, and laws are a nuisance to be ignored it if suits his needs.
As a private businessman, he routinely screwed the little guy and ran various businesses into the ground. Bankruptcy is not a foreign concept to him, and I honestly believe that four more years of this administration will put us on the precipice of going over that cliff. The massive tax cut that was passed was misguided, benefited the financial elite, and made our debt problem exponentially worse. If this trend goes unabated, the day will come that makes what is currently happening to the stock markets, or the devastation of what occurred during the financial meltdown of 2008, seem like a picnic.
I didn’t vote for the guy in 2016, and woke up the morning after the election very fearful. I had never felt that way before, but after the shock of the result simmered a little, I was willing to give the guy the benefit of the doubt. What choice did we have? Unfortunately, the reality of what has followed only confirmed all the trepidations I held. In fact, the reality has exceeded what I most feared.
I could continue ad nauseam and list every single grievance, but you get the point. I don’t trust politicians, and the phrase “drain the swamp” certainly has it’s appeal. But our swamp is deeper and murkier than ever, and the one thing this experience has taught me is the value of a professional politician occupying the Oval Office, for our national security and world standing if nothing else.
He wants to operate as a monarch, which is simply incompatible with a democratic society. To give him credit, he has cowed his party into toeing the line, fearful his base of carnivores will eviscerate them in their primaries should they show any balls and criticize him. He operates like Michael Corleone, which he would probably take as a compliment.
The Democratic nomination will boil down to two distinctly different choices. I would have a hard time voting for one of those choices, but would hold my nose and do so if it came down to it, because I honestly would vote for Bevis or Butthead if that was the only alternative to what we have now. That is how deep my antipathy runs.
Speaking of Michael Corleone, one of his favorite phrases it that it was business, not personal. I’m going to turn that around by saying my feelings aren’t business. They are 100 percent personal, they are real, they are visceral, and I proudly own them.
We often hear this word thrown around a lot, but what does it actually mean? I looked it up the other day and wasn’t satisfied with the standard definition, so I broke the word down, conducted an out-of-the-box word search and learned that the word politics comes from the Greek word Poly, which means many, and tics, which are arachnids that feed of the blood of mammals and other creatures: in other words, many bloodsuckers. Yep, that sounds about right.
Before you start thinking this is going to be a diatribe on any specific person or political party, I’m sorry to disappoint you. You might see something like that as we draw closer to November 2020, but not today. And in the spirit of full disclosure, I am socially liberal but fiscally conservative, which puts me right smack in the middle of the political spectrum, as I presume most people are. I also vote for the candidate, not the party.
Our political system is broken, but judging from what I read about Great Britain and some of the other world news, I suspect we aren’t the only country that can say that. I think term limits are necessary because elections are more like auctions where the nomination goes to the highest bidder in terms of lobbying and endorsement money, and doesn’t come close to separating the wheat from the chaff.
And once a person is elected to office, is their priority to do what is right and best for their constituents? Hah! No, the number one priority is to get re-elected, and to do that you need cash. Perhaps a candidate begins the process in good faith and with good intentions, but when the rubber hits the road, they become beholden to the special interests that fund their campaigns, got them elected in the first place, and put those needs above the people they are supposed to represent.
Politics, in theory, demands compromise, and putting the common good above everything else. Nobody gets everything they want, but gets what they can live with. Perhaps there was more of that before I came of age, but it certainly isn’t that way now.
Admittedly, the nature of politics is to obtain power to promote your party’s agenda. When political blood is spilled the sharks hone in on their target, particularly around election time hoping to rip them to shreds and kill their re-election chances.
But when did it become such a blood sport, where the only thing that is important is to kill or be killed, to say no to anything to opposition proposes, and not be willing to consider another point of view and to bastardize long-standing protocols and traditions (Mitch McConnell refusing to consider Obama’s Supreme Court nominee in 2016, for instance) in order to promote one’s own political agenda and ideology? When did it get so nasty and demeaning? And when, given some of the nonsense coming out of people like Devin Nunes, did we begin electing sycophants and buffoons?
Have I been asleep at the switch for that long? Sometimes I wonder because I thought Rudy Gulianni was the greatest thing since sliced bread after the nine-eleven attacks. I didn’t know the guy or his history as NYC’s mayor, but he certainly presented well as he galvanized the city and nation with his pluck and attitude in getting his city back on it’s feet. Now I think he’s a whacked-out loose cannon and bat-shit crazy.
What is going on now, and seems to have been escalating ever since Karl Rove was part of Dubya’s inner circle, is discouraging as hell. Nobody accomplishes anything, gridlock ensues, nobody takes ownership. The other side is blamed, and our national debate devolves into name calling, outright lying, and deflecting attention away from real issues. It’s getting worse instead of better. Some it of is so blatant that I often wonder if our politicians think the electorate is really that gullible and stupid. It’s insulting to think we are viewed as nothing more than faithful sheep who blindly buy a bill of goods without reservations or questions.
Perhaps it’s because our attention spans have shrunken to that of a gnat. Maybe it’s because in a social media and reality television-driven world, politics is nothing more than a form of entertainment for the masses, replete with heroes and villains, depending on which side of the aisle you reside in. Unfortunately, negativity sells. The issues get buried for the spectacle of the the show. Maybe it’s because we have morphed into an it’s all about me society, and as long as our 401ks are healthy we don’t give a shit about unimportant things, like climate change.
I’m not bitter, just embarrassed and extremely worried about the sideshow we currently finds ourselves in. The level of hypocrisy is appalling, and so is the apparentl level of apathy in some circles. Or maybe it is a feeling of hopelessness.
I have tried to avoid getting caught up in the circus that is Washington DC by taking the ostrich approach, sticking my head in the sand to drown out the noise until next fall. But the drumbeat of discontent, the closed-mindedness, the unwillingness to consider different points of view and outright hostility make that difficult.
If nothing else, I expect and truly hope that we have a massive voter turnout in 2020. If that occurs, I believe we can expect fundamental change. One would think that would be the only way the jackals in DC will get the message and (hopefully) act accordingly. But there is no guarantee of that either because when one party gets pimp-slapped the other often doesn’t learn from their misfortune, and resort to payback for all the crap they felt they had to endure under the previous administration and Congressional leadership. All that changes is one end of the political spectrum becomes a lot happier than they are now, and vise versa.
In order for this change to occur, the youth of our country need to vote in much larger numbers, and become more politically engaged. It’s their future after all, and they have a lot more at stake as far as that is concerned compared to someone in their sixties.
It’s going to be an interesting, infuriating, maddening and fascinating eleven months. When it is over, we will remain a fractured country, but hopefully have the infrastructure in place that can being the long, hard task of healing our divisions rather than making them worse.
MSich Chronicles 
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