Electing a President – 2016
My what a cycle. Donald Trump is way out in front in inane media attention and with good reason – he’s a perfect fit. It’s hard to guess what the ultra elite want this time around, but we have quite the spectacle. If you understand your role as a citizen, you will not just be a spectator.
Quickly passing all the hyperbole and spin of this election [it’s very deep, run], we see the likelihood of at least one contested convention, and possibly two. On the Republican side, Trump continues to dominate primaries, and the number two option is ideologically driven Ted Cruz. The most likely scenario in Cleveland is for the establishment to challenge Trump’s legitimacy and try to insert Ohio’s John Kasich as the ‘adult’ in the room. I live in Cincinnati, I know Kasich’s legacy and it’s not pretty.
o there’s that mess, and a spirited contest between Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders for the nomination in Philadelphia. Who knows what that might bring. Hillary has a substantial delegate lead, as is to be expected with the wholehearted effort to keep the establishment intact after November and a primary schedule that favors a less progressive candidate.
But Bernie won five states, losing only Arizona which had all sorts of voting issues. His margins were yuge, but he may not have the time to build his revolution before Philly.
What a summer and fall we face. Propaganda. Manipulation. A barrage of bullshit. Stark choices.
We just learned that attendees to the Republican convention will not be allowed to carry firearms, even though such ‘rights’ are part and parcel of the pile they’re pushing. This group of zealots wants nothing more than the 1950s to return. One must question their relationship with reality.
On the Dem side, we know where each candidate finds its strengths. Hillary among tradition-minded, things are not so bad citizens, mostly older, while Bernie finds his strength in Elders long suffering in this fight for truth, the disengaged and the dissident, and in a massive way among the younglings, the Millennials.
Another underreported aspect [besides Bernie] of this year’s election is that 43% of citizens define themselves as independents. They don’t support either political party, but they still support this country. How they turn in November is potentially more impactful than how either party’s adherents vote.
What is certain is that these are desperate times, Our country and countries everywhere need a new way forward. The military/industrial/media complex and our government has given our country to the 1/10th of 1 percent – quite literally. And now seems the time to begin taking it back. We already know the reasons why.
Another slight. Little attention has been given by bullshit media on the effects of each candidate on down ballot races. How the House and Senate, how state and local politicians will be affected by each party’s candidate for president.
Which brings us back to Bernie Sanders. Susan Sarandon just mentioned on MSNBC that she’s so enthusiastic about the Sander’s campaign because such a chance won’t come around again in her life. If you don’t get it a few more words here won’t change you.
Which brings us back to Life. We are finding ourselves more clearly these days. We are learning we are all together here if life, and the sooner we focus here the sooner we learn to be happy. These are crazy times, as one might expect in the passing of an age. And Bernie Sanders may or may not be our next president. It may be as Sarah Silverman said tonight as well, if Trump’s elected, the revolution begins in earnest.
What is clear is that this election cycle is like none we’ve seen. And equally clear is that the process of electing our final candidates and the next president is going to get no less messy in the next several months. Finally, only one candidate is offering ‘a future we can believe in’.
