Trump And The Rest Of The Republicans

Every once in awhile when I take a step back from the insanity of politics I try to make some sense of it.  My question to myself today is when did the Republican Party surrender to the conservatives? Especially since the front runner, Trump, is anything but.

He's constantly being given the litmus test and he fails in so many categories I'd think the Republicans who rebuke him would take a step back themselves and try to figure out why.  Maybe, just maybe, it's because for the most part he  and the people who support him aren't as conservative as the powers that be want him to be.

In my day lots of Republicans were socially liberal and fiscally conservative.  That makes me today an independent. Republicans are no longer socially liberal.  Anything but. And not unlike those we fight in distant lands if you don't agree with their point of view you're the worst of the worst and no attention what-so-ever should be paid to you. So far they aren't killing us physically though they are in many other ways.

There used to be a time, after having decided against being a Republican and becoming an Independent, when I could vote a split ticket.  No more.  I understand why so few people vote.  They're expected to march in lock step with the dictates of their parties and many just cannot do so with good conscience.  When the choice is one extreme or another, fewer and fewer are holding their noses while they vote.  They just don't bother. This is true of both parties.

I think Mr. Trump gives a voice to these people.  The more the overpaid and intellectually challenged voices like those of Sean Hannity or Glenn Beck preach their sermons of moral purity the more people turn to a Trump or a Sanders who tell it like it is from their point of view.  No ducking nor dodging.

I don't think Sanders will win the nomination.  If he does I don't think he can win the general.  I hope not anyway.  Not because I don't like him as a person but I do not like what he preaches.  Socialism.

Trump is more centrist than Sanders and that's part of what the people like.  So his demographic is the middle class without a college education. Guess what?  That's a sizeable number of the voting population.  He talks to them.  He gets them feeling like this man can make it better.  He isn't resented for his wealth but admired for how he got it.  He worked for it and his kids are working for their share.

So he's rude and crude.  Yet he runs in circles where that isn't the norm.  Pit him against Mitt Romney and he'll still win because he's the easier to identify with.

To the Republican hierarchy who so wants him to go away be careful what you wish for.  If it isn't what the voters want you lose.  Big time.  Just for once cease your behind the doors conniving and let the people who pay you make the decision.

Will they come out and vote?  For the right candidate I'm betting they will.

Trump - The Face Of What??

According to Pat Buchanan in an interview with  Chris Cillizza in the Washington Post Trump could well be the future of the Republican party.

I don't know whether to quiver in fear or celebrate the thought. My problem is I've never seen Mr. Trump act the way I think a President should act.  I've covered this at length in previous posts.  That being said, there is much about him I rather like. One, he's not exactly a Republican, nor a Democrat but more of a (gasp) centrist.  Could that actually become fashionable again? I really see him as the face of an entirely new party yet to be determined.

I like the fact that he plays no favorites.  True, he is his own favorite. He isn't taking some one else ideas and pretending they're his.  I like that he has brought to the fore that from which the other candidates shy away. He has brought discomfort to the campaign.  Perhaps his New Yawk brashness has allowed this.  That plus his personality.  Everyone else looks like they're no more than new faces running for old positions and the power that comes with them.  No one has any passion. Not that they're given much of a chance to show it except where they are physically, town halls, rallies and the like.

They have been given the chance to shine in the debates but no one has yet discovered how to out Trump Trump.  Jeb Bush comes across as weak and whiny.  He should have listened to his Mother.

Carly, I think, is too low key and while I still have a great deal of respect for her she just isn't catching on.  So much for those who think it's time for a woman in the Presidency. Considering the other choice for that honor is Hillary, I can't help but wonder what her supporters are thinking.

Old news is stale news and so it goes for Huckabee and Santorum.  I think Chris Christie missed his chance last go 'round. Rand Paul had best secure his Senate seat. Rubio seems like a nice young man but he doesn't exude the chops he needs to over come looking so young and in many cases indecisive.

My guess it's only a matter of time until Dr. Carson bows out. Rand Paul's Libertarian bent has run into the need for a very strong military; something that goes against his grain. Kasich seems a bit condescending.  We've one of those in the White House now.

Ted Cruz. He may claim to be an outsider but I don't buy it.  He strikes me as being very expedient in choosing where to say what.  That worries me. He seems like a another new face being an old politician.

Boy, I'm not much of a potential voter am I?  I don't expect to like everything about any one candidate but for now I'm having a difficult time finding anything inspiring about any of them.

There is still time.  I've read Biden has regretted not jumping into the frey. Wouldn't it be something if the Democrats are the ones to have a brokered convention rather than the rumor about the Republicans?

Maybe both should consider that option and each put forward a candidate that can inspire Americans as a whole.  But Sanders and Trump? It would be different. I think I can handle one or the other but, please, not both!

Maybe We Need A Trump

He's a New Yorker and brings with him all the rude brashness as they are sometimes stereotyped.  He can be outrageous.  He calls people stupid.

I listened to Hub as he flipped through news last night and tried to keep count of everything he called stupid from the remote to the talking heads.  Too many of which to keep track.  Yet he's one of the brightest guys I know.

The difference between men like him and Trump is that he doesn't talk that way in public.  He has that degree of civility because when he was out in the working world one didn't speak the way Trump does.  Of course we don't have Trump's wealth either.  Maybe when you don't have to rely on any one else for a pay check you can have a loose tongue.

That being said, Trump's language does resonate with the people.  Can he act Presidential?  I don't know but as he has said himself, we need a cheerleader and he has become the personification of just that.  Now if only he would get his facts straight!

Whatever, I can't help but like his straight forwardness and his willingness to stray from the Republican dictates.  He is not a Conservative nor is he a Progressive.  He's really quite a Centrist - a bit from the Republicans and a bit from the Democrats.  The beauty of it is he's mostly right.

Not being beholden to campaign contributors gives him that freedom. He has no political ambitions other than the Presidency and that to "make America great again". I actually believe him on that.

As I watch all the other candidates dance around Trump in silent frustration I think they are too political and haven't the courage to say what they really mean.  I don't think there is any one other  than Trump running that isn't beholden to some group.  After all, who is financing their campaigns?

If they can't out maneuver Trump on the strength of their policy how are they ever going to deal with the mavericks running the rest of the world?  We need someone who won't flinch when challenged.

I can't see Trump flinching.  I would suppose that's part of why he calls them "stupid".  Do they really have the strength of the convictions they espouse?  I'm not yet convinced.

I'm also not counting out Trump.  He didn't get where he himself is by being stupid. Bank on it.

Elder Abuse Of A Sort?

The last time I had a doctor's appointment, just a week or so ago, I was asked to come in early to do some paper work.  I figured it was the routine they do every year about making sure you address is the same as before, insurance, phone number - all that stuff.

But no.  It was four pages from medicare they were obliged to ask me to fill  out.  I raised a skeptical eyebrow as I read some of the questions like am I depressed, do I feel like taking my own life, and some that got really intrusive. Besides it was about the moment, short term, and I'm told it may happen every time I go in.  Why?

The gal at the desk was watching me.  "You can decline," she said. "Just write declined on each page."  I did just that.

Then when talking with the nurse who I know well enough and have a good relationship with asked me some really personal questions that I would have discussed with my doctor if I was so afflicted with symptoms or a condition.  Again I was told Medicare had directed them to ask.

It was government interference to the nth degree and I wasn't about to leave a signed paper trail for which who knows who would have access.  Big brotherism gone amok.

Now I see where in Obama's rush to inflict more gun restrictions, the people on Social Security may be prevented from buying a gun if incapable of handling their own finances.

I'm trying to connect the dots here.  First, at my age or minus ten years, if I'm going to have a gun I most likely already do. As far as finances are concerned I've had a lot of acquaintances far younger who "Could be in the club but couldn't be treasurer" because of their mathematical ineptitude. So nix that as a measure.

 Other boiler plate includes, subnormal intelligence or mental illness. Are we Social Security recipients the only ones with these maladies?  I haven't seen a senior citizen as a mass murderer of late, have you?

Incompetency, an unspecified condition or disease rounds out the qualifiers.  As determined by who?  The kids who want to rush us to an early grave?  Maybe the doctor who hasn't the heart to tell us he doesn't want us as a patient any more because Medicare doesn't reimburse enough to make us worthwhile?

Beware, its in the "mental health"  part of his latest executive over reach.

It's bad enough getting old and losing abilities like a slow dripping faucet.  I don't need the government sticking it's nose in my business, especially between me and my doctor, looking for information for what purpose?  So they, who one day will be in the same boat but aren't yet, can impose what they think is best for us?  Of course all those government types are well taken care of on our dollar so why should I expect understanding whats more common sense.

It isn't just about who can and who cannot buy a gun or who or who doesn't have to fill out mindless forms that will end up in the cloud waiting to be hacked.  It's about government sticking it's nose into every aspect of our lives whether or not we want it or need it but had best toe the mark or suffer the consequences.

It's going to be a very long year.

A Not-So-Civil War A-Brewin'?

If you think the skirmishes we're a part of in the Middle East are messy you haven't seen anything yet!  If it comes to fruition as many expect it will be more bloody than anything we've seen.  You see, those folks don't fight nice.

The war will be a continuation of the religious one that has been going on for centuries.  Shia versus Sunni. It's all about who the rightful successor of Mohammad. The Shia belief the Prophet designated his son-in-law as his successor, the Sunni do not.

Here's the problem.  Saudi is Sunni, Iran is Shia and they hate each other.  So Saudi executes an esteemed Shiite cleric along with 46 other "terrorists". Oops!  Not to mention the rather callous method of execution, beheading, carried out in public in a place known as Chop Chop Square. And we worry about condemned prisoner in this country being excited by lethal injection!  I can't say I'm crazy about that either, but that's another post.

Needless to say Shia Iran is furious. Everyone is re-calling their diplomats and unrest is escalating.  The problem is even though technically individual countries, both sects reside in most.  This makes war more complicated than usual.  Iran is helping Iraq against ISIS because they are Sunni and actually want the same thing, to be the power in the region.

Saudi fears a Shiite crescent that could run from Iran through Syria to the sea giving the strongest of them vast territory and power.

Okay, nice history lesson - of sorts.  The problem is two fold.  One, the relinquishing of our power has left our allies in the lurch.  Those who, however imperfect they may be, were staunch are no more. More important I fear that we are in a most untenable position for having made the nuclear "agreement" with Iran who will be getting billions of dollars to put to whatever use they so desire.  It won't be helping the poor nor cleaning up their version of Chop Chop Square!

With all of this going on, somehow I feel the name calling and sparring among candidates wanting Obama's job to be childish and non-productive.  I also fear that having a President as self-serving as Hillary would be totally ineffectual with these patriarchal countries who think of women more as property than people.

So the game has begun in earnest.  Just remember while the candidates are worrying about how many women Bill Clinton has had his way with questionable consent, there are those caught between Shia and Sunni who are being tortured and killed for the most odious of reasons.   This is the real war on women!

It is not our fight? It shouldn't be but a Republican set the stage and a Democrat dropped the curtain before the drama had the chance to play out. This whole fiasco needs a rewrite and since we started it we had best finish it.

That won't happen by playing the two sides against one another and hoping the audience (us) doesn't notice.