This one I wrote after the election....(but before the inauguration)

First, let me say that the United States of America is not a democracy.  Never has been.  It is a republic (“...and for the republic  for which it stands.”.)  In a democracy, whoever gets the most votes wins.  With our electoral college and gerrymandered congressional districts, that isn’t the case.  It’s always been that way.  In my book that is not ideal, but it’s what we have and I’m okay with it.  Just don’t call it a democracy.

I believe the president-elect to be a racist, mysoginist, narcissist with very little intellectual capacity or impulse control. Pretty much just the opposite of what I would look for in the character of the person leading the free world.  And if he is not these things, that’s even worse.  He tapped into those feelings to exploit voters, making promises he had no plans to keep.  However, unlike Republicans who fought tooth and nail against anything President Obama was for (good thing he never said anything about Mother’s Day),  I will support the measures and policies that I find positive for the good of the country.  (Even a stopped clock is right twice a day.)   Rebuilding our infrastructure, lobbying restrictions, congressional term limits are some of the things I can get behind.  If he can find a way to improve the Affordable Care Act, more power to him - if it is an improvement.

There are many things I will voice my opposition against however. Banning refugees, a muslim registry, a wall on the Mexican border, restricting the states from experimenting with legalization of cannabis (medical or otherwise) or appointments to the SCOTUS with the sole aim to overturn Roe v Wade (abortion), or Obergefell v. Hodges (gay marriage)  will get my ire up and I will protest in any way I can.  By the way, our military is not broken.  It is the largest and most capable fighting force on the planet by any measure.

I am encouraged by what I see as a softening of his most outrageous campaign rhetoric.  Governing is quite different than campaigning.  But I do wonder how long it will take before his more vocal supporters turn their backs on him when he doesn’t follow through on what fired them up in the first place.  No politician ever elected (in this country at least) has delivered everything they promised.  Realities of governing make compromise essential.  But no politician has ever tapped into the anger and fear of the American public quite like DJT either.

How did DJT succeed in getting elected?  At first he was an oddity and the media ate it up.  Almost every word, every rally, every tweet was covered by the media.  When he started saying more and more outrageous things, “The Media” became enamored and there was little room for any actual news anymore.  But most of the coverage was how bad and outrageous his statements were.  The news “discussion” shows always included a Trump supporter, but they were badly outnumbered and always the subject of derision.  But in pointing out how immoral, impractical, unethical or just plain stupid his statements were, they turned him into the underdog.  America loves to root for the underdog.  Add to that the relentless decades long persecution of Hillary by congress and the FBI and it creates a mistrust of all politicians.  Enter the anti-politician with no political history and a “successful” businessman and people start thinking, “Yea, why not, couldn’t be any worse?”

Another post from October....

It has been brought to my attention that I have been taking the bait on a lot of political post.  In some ways, that makes me as bad as DJT!  The difference is, that I will stop doing so.  It can be so irresistible to try to fight unreasonable opinions with fact based responses.  But it also gets frustrating when some people refuse to accept facts at all costs.  So I am done trying. (It doesn’t mean I will stop sharing posts that I find amusing or meaningful.)

I’ve already voted here in Ohio, so there is no point in anyone trying to change my mind at this point anyway (if that was your goal).  And I know that I can not change yours, so peace be with you and may the all winners on both sides in this election work with each other to solve the serious problems facing our country.

I am a progressive liberal and not ashamed of it.  To me this means -

• Facts matter.
• Everyone should deserves the personal liberty and freedom to live their lives as they choose as long as it doesn’t infringe on someone else’s right to do the same.
• We are responsible as a society to lift each other up, care for each other and to protect those that need it most.
• We should respect each other as human beings.  Fat, skinny, tall, short, male, female, able bodied, handicapped, black, white, native, hispanic, asian, gay, straight, transgender, Catholic, Protestant, Jew, Muslim, Atheist, or whatever category or combination of categories you identify with, all deserve respect. (Sorry if I missed yours.)  Disparaging name calling by anyone to anyone is not acceptable in civilized adult society.  Most of us have left that behaviour behind in grade school.
• We have a responsibility to protect and maintain our one and only planet.
• We have a responsibility to our future generations.
• Education and learning (not always the same thing) should always be encouraged as an investment in our country.
• If something has been repeatedly proven to not work (supply side / trickle down economics, for instance), try something else.

I also believe that a functioning and vibrant conservative party is good for the country.  As a liberal, I may have blind spots when I bring my point of view to solving problems.  Conservatives could bring another point of view and together we should be solving our country’s difficult problems.  Unfortunately it seems that the leading conservative party has been taken over by anarchists that care only about vengeance and stopping any progress whatsoever.  The South (and their sympathizers) have declared war on the Union again.  Not by firing on Fort Sumter this time, but by doing everything they can to make our federal government dysfunctional.  I honestly hope that this will change after the election, but it doesn’t look encouraging.

Going to start posting again....

This was a FaceBook response to a Trump supporter last September. I don't think I ever posted it.

John,

 Not sure we have ever met, but I have enjoyed this morning’s discussion.  You have reminded me, that for a very large portion of the electorate, facts are mostly irrelevant.   Feelings and emotions are what is important.  I will never be able to change your mind with facts since your position is an emotional, gut level one.

If reporting the aftermath of the terrible decisions President Bush made and the disastrous results of the incompetent administrators he appointed (“Heck of a job, Brownie”) is villainizing him, so be it.  9/11 happened on his watch and he chose to ignore any warning signs.  He invaded a sovereign country on false pretenses. The repercussion has led to even more violent Islamist extremism.   He “looked the man [Putin] in the eye. I found him to be very straightforward and trustworthy.” Need I go on?

You claim to be able to produce a “laundry list”, but have failed to cite a single factual example, just more hyperbole and opinion.  You certainly have the right to your opinion.  But please recognize it for what it is.

Yes, I will be voting for Hillary this election.  She is not the perfect candidate by any means.  I was a Sanders supporter, and he wasn’t perfect either.  Her views, opinions and world outlook are closer to mine than any other candidate running.  She has well thought out policy plans and positions and I agree with most of them.  She is up on current events and has the experience of working with world leaders.  (Not bribing them.)

I have actually looked at Gary Johnson and Jill Stein as well.  They don’t measure up as well as Hillary.  It is virtually impossible to make any kind of accurate assessment of Donald Trump’s policies and views since they change so often.  But the things he does say are very scary to me.  If he were to be elected and able to carry out even 10% of what he talks about, the world we live in will be a much more dangerous place.  Can you imagine a country where the president decides he doesn’t like the generals in charge of the military and can replace them at whim with generals that agree with him?  We used to call that sort of place a banana republic, not the leader of the free world.

I would guess that you are a supporter of his based on our dialog this morning.  I do understand he exploits fear.  I have actually heard some of his speeches.  He goes on and on, telling you how bad you have it, you are such a victim.  But don’t lose hope.  He and only He can fix your problems; make you feel safe and protect you from the boogie man.  He is a con man plain and simple.   Same trick has been used for centuries.  Problem is, it still works.

I served my country proudly in the United States Navy for twenty years. I love my country. But I have become deeply ashamed and embarrassed by the selfish greedy bastards that have taken it over.

Our country has evolved since it's birth to keep pace with advances in technology, industry and morality. At our country's inception it was acceptable for one human being to own another. It took a gruesome war and a great many lives to finally end that injustice. It had already been outlawed in most of the world by then. Women only got the right to vote in this country in 1920. Again, most civilized nations of the world were ahead of us.

Now we are debating health insurance reform. The debate should be about the best way to provide health care to our citizens. Our current “system” of employer provided health insurance began during World War II, when there were labor shortages and wage freezes. Defense contractors discovered they could provide health care benefits to attract and keep workers.

Every corporation exists to make a profit. That includes insurance companies. Can someone explain how is it morally acceptable to make a profit off sick people? I have traveled our planet extensively and have seen that the rest of the industrial world (and even many “third world countries”) are capable of providing the necessities to keep its citizens healthy. Is our great country not capable of doing the same? We should be setting an example for the rest of the world. Are we NOT our brothers keeper?

I simply do not understand how people who claim the moral high ground can be against taking the obscene profits out of healthcare. If you took the money that insurance companies call profit, and the savings that providers could realize by not having the administrative overhead of dealing with them, there would be more than enough to extend health care to all our citizens.

Unfortunately we have the best government that money can buy. There are far too few honest politicians for there to be any true health care reform this time. All of the bills/proposals being discussed in congress right now are so hopelessly complicated that the end result will just help the bottom line of the insurance companies at the expense of us taxpayers. I'm sorry but I just can't believe in this change. Maybe next time...

Faith

Most of us are taught that Faith is a good thing.  Even the president says so.  Why?  Faith is the belief in things that can not be proven.  Why is that a good thing?  It really means that you can be tricked into believing anything.  Most monotheistic religions claim to be the only path to salvation, but except for extreme fundamentalists (of all kinds), they respect each others beliefs.  Once you get people to believe in things that can't be proven, you can get them to believe all kinds of things that are not only unprovable, but also down right proven false.  Just look at those that reject the Theory of Evolution.  You just have to have Faith and Believe.  It seems to me that "Communities of Faith" mainly exist to reinforce a shared delusion.  

Does that seem harsh?  I don't think that no good has come from religion, but western religions seem to have a primary goal of controlling those they"serve".  Historically, this has been "the church" itself and then in the guise of political leaders.  Kind of sounds Marxists doesn't it?  But political leaders have usually felt they were "Anointed by God" to lead His people; from Moses, to Queen Elizabeth to George W. Bush. Surrendering the ability for critical thinking is perhaps the greatest of all evils and is required by most religions in order to be "saved".

So I'm probably going to Hell.  Or not.  Does Hell exist if you don't believe in it?  Is living on earth Hell?  Some religious leaders claim to have the answers to these questions, but since no one has died and come back to talk about it, it can not be known.  If someone tells you that they know, they are lying.  They may believe, but they can not know.   And neither can you or I.

Why 54 Submarines

The name of this blog comes from a recent news story about leaking radioactive water from a US fast attack submarine. While the release of any amount of radioactive material from a nuclear reactor should be a cause for concern, I was more shocked to learn that the US has 54 of these submarines in the fleet. Fiftyfour! How can my government possibly justify the need for 54 fast attack submarines? They cost close to $1 Billion to build and about $21 million each a year to operate!
Would we be any less safe if we cut the number in half and invested the savings in healthcare, highways, or housing?