It looks like civil discourse is dying, if not already dead. We've disagreed with each other since Adam and Eve, and that's OK. If there are two people in a room, they're gonna disagree about something, count on it. But now disagreement has moved beyond words and is going violent. And I don't mean "violent" as in a couple of drunks in a bar fight, but "violent" against our ruling class in Washington DC.
Is it any surprise? Congress is a miserably disagreeable bunch, and they seem to like it that way. As long as they can get a back-slap from their hardcore faithful, and continue to shake them down for a few million $$$, they don't care about the opinions of others. Fair? Pfffft! They don't give a shit about fair! They, Democrats and Republicans alike, absolutely live to crush each other. Take no prisoners, winner take all.
Liberals hate conservatives and vice versa, publicly at least. We're Christian vs Muslim, wealthy vs poor, the ivory tower vs the unemployed, pro vs anti abortion, pro vs anti gun, pro vs anti gay marriage, pro vs anti welfare, pro vs anti public healthcare, pro vs anti public education, pro vs anti tax cuts, pro vs anti regulation, pro vs anti climate change....pick an issue and there are LOUD, disrespectful partisans on both sides, being whipped up into frenzy by our politicians. There are probably both right-wing militias and left-wing anarchists who would relish seeing their opponents physically whacked. And here we are....
This morning a group of Republican lawmakers were practicing for an upcoming charity baseball game in Washington when they were attacked by a gunman. Five were injured, the gunman is in custody, motive unknown. What's gonna happen next? Will there be copycats who will jump on? Congressmen's town hall meetings have already become increasingly testy. Will they now be cancelled altogether? Will our lawmaker's offices, both in Washington and in their home districts, become open to citizens by invitation only, after a pat-down? (And a personal financial statement review, of course.)
The immediate response, after a rousing bipartisan chorus of Kumbaya, will likely be a call for more gun restrictions by Democrats, and a call for less restrictive gun rights by the Republicans. Both will appeal to their faithful, both will pull in a lot of money off of it....and nothing will change. It never does.
Am I the only one still non-aligned who can't see what this despicable bunch of professional politicians have done to us?
S
I think Donald Trump has stumbled on to something. His current heartburn is that, according to him, he's getting screwed out of his rightful Republican presidential nomination. Practically speaking, he's right. Technically speaking, he just got snookered.
The Donald is pissed because he has won the popular vote hands down, yet because of the way each state Republican Party writes their rules...and they are all different...they can award him fewer convention delegates than his popular vote count would suggest he should receive.
Ted Cruz, evil as I believe him to be, is NOT stupid. He knows how to play the game to get what he wants. And it's this corrupt game that Donald Trump has exposed.
Us common folks have naively believed until now that the majority ruled, that our elections were based on "one man, one vote". But now we find out that party nominating processes are not "elections" in the proper, legal sense, but are just a game a bunch of powerful, rich (mostly white) guys play to further feather their nests. They can legally do this because they say the state primaries/caucuses/conventions are NOT elections. The rules of fair play only apply to the official election on the second Tuesday in November. Donald Trump obviously didn't read that memo.
They will NOT give us a candidate we want*, but only the one they want us to have. Trump has exposed how the Republicans operate, but the Democrats no doubt have things rigged, too. (Do "Super Delegates" sound fair to you? It's just their way of denying The People's Candidate if they feel they can't control him/her.)
So why can't we just tell both parties to go f--k themselves and then nominate someone as a third party candidate who will truly represent us? Because again, they have rigged the system and made it virtually impossible for a third party candidate to get their name on the ballot in all 50 states. They have a monopoly, and they intend to keep it that way. All the hoops a third party candidate would have to jump through, with each state (controlled by one or the other of the established parties) setting their own rules, is by their design impossibly Byzantine.
The parties only want to nominate candidates they feel are "one of them". But this year, thanks to Donald Trump and to a lesser extent Bernie Sanders, outsiders are threatening their privileged positions, and both parties are out of desperation exposing their sly little built-in "fail safes".
Our Founding Fathers are no doubt looking down on us and thinking all their brilliant work is now officially down the drain. And they would be right!
S
* Hypothetically speaking. I am in no way intending to endorse Donald Trump.
