Like most of the rest of the U.S., this election has me shaking my damned head. This year has been the worst in my lifetime in terms of the dearth of candidate character and substituting personal attacks for rational debate of the issues.
I usually have post-election thoughts that I share every four years. But I see no need to wait. I'll share them now and then intend to take the next month off of political/election oriented reading and writing.
Soooooo, here we go.
On Donald Trump: We may well wake up on November 9th with Mr. Trump as our President-elect. If so, then he will be my President. I will support his policies when I can and respectfully oppose them when I cannot. I will criticize him when he steps outside of the law and/or otherwise fails our Constitution. But it will be done with respect and without vitriol to the best of my ability.
All elections matter. If Mr. Trump wins, then he will be my President.
On Hillary Clinton: We probably will wake up on November 9th with Mrs. Clinton as our President-elect. If so, then she will be my President. I will support her policies when I can and respectfully oppose them when I cannot. I will criticize her when she steps outside of the law and/or otherwise fails our Constitution. But it will be done with respect and without vitriol to the best of my ability.
All elections matter. If Mrs. Clinton wins, then she will be my President.
On the GOP: I'm not looking to change your vote. However, your candidate is heavily flawed. He's about as attractive as a bucket of warm moose drool. If you cannot identify and understand those flaws, then you are part of the problem with American politics these days.
You had other choices. You had a whole raft of other choices running from John Kasich to Marco Rubio to Carly Fiorina. Any of them would have left Mrs. Clinton in the dust. And you opted for a bucket of warm moose drool.
When your candidate loses, don't look at the rest of us. Take a good long look at yourselves.
On the Democrats: I'm not looking to change your vote, either. However, your candidate is heavily flawed. She's about as attractive as a bucket of warm pig drool. If you cannot identify and understand those flaws, then you are part of the problem with American politics these days.
You had other choices. Jim Webb would have been a solid candidate that would have left Mr. Trump in the dust. You have an entire party of worthwhile candidates. And you opted for a bucket of warm pig drool.
When your candidate loses, don't look at the rest of us. Take a good long look at yourselves.
On buckets of drool: If you are interested in debating the relative merits of moose drool vs. pig drool, then you are also part of the problem with American politics these days.
ETA - well crap. You always forget a couple things.
On those threatening to leave: So you have threatened to leave the U.S. if your candidate doesn't win the Presidency. Samuel Adams covered this quite well.
ETA - well crap. You always forget a couple things.
On those threatening to leave: So you have threatened to leave the U.S. if your candidate doesn't win the Presidency. Samuel Adams covered this quite well.
"...May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen."
You haven't got what it takes to be an American.
I enjoy a wealth of acquaintances and friends from across the political spectrum. We argue. We fight...rhetorically. To a person, every single one of them is an American in their heart and in their head. The(y) love freedom even though we disagree on the best means of pursuing that freedom.
There are millions of people that have immigrated to the U.S. in pursuit of that freedom. People from Iran and Iraq and other parts of the Middle East that are fed up with living under various flavor of dictatorship; theocratic or otherwise. Millions more have come from south of our border to escape dictatorships, oligarchies, kleptocracies and other offenses to the cause of individual liberty.
And you know what? Millions more have the same unquenchable thirst for freedom. They have in their heads and in their hearts the desire to be left to live their lives in peace and liberty and away from the bullying nose of government.
And if you lack that thirst, then please find the nearest exit. Leave your citizenship at the door. You don't have what it takes.
I enjoy a wealth of acquaintances and friends from across the political spectrum. We argue. We fight...rhetorically. To a person, every single one of them is an American in their heart and in their head. The(y) love freedom even though we disagree on the best means of pursuing that freedom.
There are millions of people that have immigrated to the U.S. in pursuit of that freedom. People from Iran and Iraq and other parts of the Middle East that are fed up with living under various flavor of dictatorship; theocratic or otherwise. Millions more have come from south of our border to escape dictatorships, oligarchies, kleptocracies and other offenses to the cause of individual liberty.
And you know what? Millions more have the same unquenchable thirst for freedom. They have in their heads and in their hearts the desire to be left to live their lives in peace and liberty and away from the bullying nose of government.
And if you lack that thirst, then please find the nearest exit. Leave your citizenship at the door. You don't have what it takes.
"If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen. - Samuel Adams"
On those threatening to move to Canada: You have a particularly ignorant and racist position there.
It is ignorant in that Canada has some pretty strict rules for immigration when compared with the U.S. They want young people with skills and/or education to be in their labor force for a long time. The old, uneducated, and unskilled need not apply. The election of either of the major candidates will not qualify you as a political refugee in any place beyond your imagination.
It is racist in that these folks never threaten to move to Mexico. As most of the "or I'm moving to Canada" folks seem to be quite a bit left of center, I'm also surprised that they don't want to move to the Chavista paradise that is Venezuela. They have bucket loads of that "democratic socialism" down there. And yet they almost always offer to move to Canada.....or less often to "Europe".
They never offer to move to a place where they could use their skills and education to improve life for the people in their new country. Must be too many brown skinned people for their taste.
It is ignorant in that Canada has some pretty strict rules for immigration when compared with the U.S. They want young people with skills and/or education to be in their labor force for a long time. The old, uneducated, and unskilled need not apply. The election of either of the major candidates will not qualify you as a political refugee in any place beyond your imagination.
It is racist in that these folks never threaten to move to Mexico. As most of the "or I'm moving to Canada" folks seem to be quite a bit left of center, I'm also surprised that they don't want to move to the Chavista paradise that is Venezuela. They have bucket loads of that "democratic socialism" down there. And yet they almost always offer to move to Canada.....or less often to "Europe".
They never offer to move to a place where they could use their skills and education to improve life for the people in their new country. Must be too many brown skinned people for their taste.
