ELECTORAL COLLEGE SYSTEM NEEDS TO BE REVISED WITHOUT A CONSTITUTIONAL AMENDMENT...

The ELECTORAL COLLEGE of the United States met and voted on the next president and vice-president of the United States; Trump won.

Lately there has been a lot of talk about our election system and its fairness and whether each vote actual counts during the election; I feel the system is not fair and needs to be changed.

Last night, I was skyping with a friend in Poland and he asked about our system and if the “electors” did not vote for Trump would a civil war begin.

Obviously, many people do not understand our system, why it was formed in that particular way and what our options are.

The Founding Fathers did not trust “the people” and feared (rightly so) that the people could be manipulated by a smooth talking tyrant; this is a masses are asses belief system. They also wanted ALL the states to have a say in who is elected and not only the states with the largest population; their concerns were legitimate.

In their system, each state had the number of “electors” which equaled the number of representatives in Congress (allotted by population) and two senators so even a state like Montana which has few people would have at least 3 electors.

Currently there are 538 electors and 270 is the number needed to win the election.

In the original idea, the Founding Fathers envisioned these electors as upstanding and educated people that would actually consider the suitability of each candidate in the election and in certain circumstances, despite the votes cast by citizens, could vote for who they felt was more suitable. The idea here was that these electors could and would prevent a tyrant from being elected if they felt the candidate or some other power unduly and unfairly tainted the popular vote through deceit, etc.

The original idea behind our system is not in play today. The electors are chosen by the political party in each state and we, the public, have no idea who these electors are or anything about their background. In fact, being an elector is basically a ceremonial post as each elector has no decision to make except to vote for the person that was elected in their state.

This is unfortunate because specifically in THIS election, information has started to be uncovered about how Russia interfered in our election process on the side of Trump and this is exactly what the original intent of the electors was; that they would acknowledge what had happened and disavow that person from becoming president since it was a tainted election.

This is why you saw a number of protests by people who understand the original intent of our electoral process asking the electors to vote their conscience but our current system does not allow that.

The problem as I see it is that the system no longer works as originally intended and the fact that most states have the winner-take-all electoral system in place (which is not mandated by our Constitution) means that each vote cast does not have equal weight in the election. Hillary Clinton had 3 million more popular votes than Trump yet lost the election.

I am not advocating scraping the electoral system which would take a Constitutional Amendment which would be practically impossible to accomplish when there is such division in the country BUT the Constitution does not say anything about allocating electoral votes based on the state’s popular vote.

Maine and Nebraska already have this system in place. In those states the electoral votes are allocated according to the percentage of votes cast for EACH candidate so if one candidate won 25% of the popular vote in that specific state, he or she would get 25% of the electors allocated to that specific state. In this way ALL votes would count for something.

Just to show how our current system is just not fair imagine a state that has 100 electors and one candidate wins the state by one vote; he or she gets ALL the electors that state has and how in the hell is that fair.

The system has to be changed state by state and will take years because like here in Michigan, our legislature is controlled by the Republicans who will not want to rock the boat since they won.

 Each state needs to have a referendum on the issue and allow the voters to choose if they want their votes to be used in a proportional manner instead of a winner-take-all manner. This is the only way each one of our votes will actually count.

Watching Trump...

I watched Donald Trump being interviewed on 60 Minutes to get a better idea of who he really is and what we can expect from him in the next four years.

The one big thing that I came away with after watching the show was that neither he nor his family EVER expected to win. They believed the polls just like everyone else in America and were certain they would lose just like the polls predicted; they were genuinely shocked that they won.

The other impression that I came away with after the interview and which I have always believed was that Trump said on the campaign trail anything and everything that his followers wanted to hear no matter if what he was saying was absolutely unrealistic or flat out lies.

During the primary campaign Trump said he could shoot somebody on Main Street and the people would still love him and follow him and he was right. Once he learned what these people wanted to hear, he was off to the races and there was no stopping him; he just didn’t realize how many supporters he really had. He knew he had the white trash but he did not realize the many educated and well to do people were also in his camp.

It also became clear (to me) that the campaign rhetoric he used and the things he promised may not actually be how he really thinks and may not even be how he will act. I feel he realizes that he had to say certain things in a certain way to get elected and now that he has been elected, reality has to be considered.

Now this does not mean he will not try to do the things he promised but maybe in a “different” way.

He has already said that he will not appoint a special prosecutor to put Hillary in jail. He has also said that he may not repeal Obamacare but maybe just fix it. Same goes for NAFTA; he will renegotiate some aspects of the deal.

Saturday Night Live has been spoofing Trump on its show every week and I think some of those spoofs are right on. Yesterday they had him googling ISIS and talking to a general wanting to know his secret plan to defeat ISIS which he obviously knows nothing about. The spoof continued with Trump reversing himself on all his promises.

Trump does not know much about any specific issue but it will be interesting to see if he will make an effort to learn. As a businessman he delegated much of the work needed to run his businesses. As president he will have to rely on the people he appoints to run the government and that is why everyone is watching who he appoints.

His children are playing a major role in his transition team and may continue to play keys roles in the government which will be interesting. He is having trouble divorcing himself from his businesses and this may prove to be problematic as conflicts of interests arise and the Constitution is violated. His charitable organization has already admitted to using donated money for their own benefit.

The most interesting part about Trump (to me) is his continuous use of Twitter at all hours of the day and his childish temperament especially when criticized. This in itself will make him the most un-presidential president in our history.

BUT on a positive note; maybe the country needed a good kick in the ass to shake things up or at least to show all of us how divided we really are and that politics as usual will no longer work and should not work; we need a new approach to politics.

Still Trying To Understand Trump Voters...

I have been trying to understand why certain people are supporting Donald Trump no matter how outrageous his pronouncements and his antics. Many others have also been trying to understand this phenomenon because it defies understanding using basic logic.

The original understanding was of white, middle aged men who were uneducated or under-educated with low employment skills that are just mad that they are no longer considered the cream of American society and believe, with all their hearts, that Donald Trump will somehow restore them to their perceived, former greatness.

This turns out to be not the case even thou some of those mentioned above are definitely in the Trump camp. We now know that many Trump supporters are relatively educated with employment skills that earn them a decent wage. They are still basically all white.

I have to make a note about the education factor. I erroneously thought that a college education conferred some sort of ability to reason rationally about issues as well as distinguish facts from fiction. In other words, I felt college educated people could not be duped as easily as non-college educated people; and I was wrong.

I was thinking of college education in the past where students were supposed to get a well-rounded education whereas now the education is much narrower in scope; concentrating on the skills needed for gainful employment. Nothing wrong with that but it does explain some of my confusion as to how can an educated person support Trump.

In defense of “some” educated Trump supporters who originally saw him as someone outside the current dysfunctional political structure in Washington that could break through the party politics and get something done; I think you now realize that that was a pipe dream as this man has no idea how our government even works.

Also for those that base their Trump support on who he would appoint to the Supreme Court; you now realize that you cannot depend on him to do your bidding because he is unpredictable and swings very widely on most issues including abortion.

Another huge factor emerging is the involvement of emotion in this Trump support. Reports from Trump rallies show people, male and female, beside themselves with rage against Hillary threatening to assassinate her and her supporters using the most vial language. They also attack the media because the media is anti-Trump and spreading lies about him and his record. They conveniently forget that Trump’s own recorded pronouncements are proof of his tendency to lie about almost everything; with no regrets.

Obviously Trump and FOX News are contributing to this rage by supplying non-facts about Hillary that fuel this anger. The constant chant of “she should be in jail” is puzzling because no one has explained why she should be in jail; what has she done that is illegal? A psychiatrist on CNN explained that their brains are programmed to believe what they “feel” is the truth or what they “want” the truth to be and because this is a subconscious thought process, they cannot be open to the truth or actual facts.

It comes down to what I have been saying from the beginning, these are people that make up their own facts, their own reality because that is what they want reality to look like even though it is absolutely does not.

I think we have a case of mass hysteria which has examples in history; nothing else makes sense. These white people have been harboring their racism, sexism and xenophobia for way too long. Trump made it ok to be what they have always been inside. Current political correctness trends in our society have made these people feel marginalized; they long for the days when white meant might and everybody else knew their place in relation to the white class.

I always knew that this racism and bigotry was just under the skin of a lot of whites but I just did not know how many of these types actually existed in this country; now I know.

I have blamed Trump and FOX News for fueling these people’s delusions but their parents and peer groups must all take a lot of the blame. People are not born racists or bigots, they are raised that way.

Many overcome being raised in a racist household through a good liberal education but because our education system is so bad, or so narrowly focused, their learned bigotry remains and in most cases, is passed on to their children.

The only hope is that these Trump supporters are part of a dying breed and that is probably the case because that is what fuels this group to action; their declining numbers and growing irrelevance in our society and in the modern world.

PS. I have to say one more thing about education and this has been brought up many times. We used to have a “civics” class to teach students how our government works and our roles in that government. Now immigrants know more about our nation than people that were born and educated here. Trump is a good example of this atrocious ignorance and yet many want him to lead this nation based on that ignorance. Sad.

More on Trump supporters...in our area

My local paper called THE CANTON OBSERVER ran an article on Thursday October 6^th titled: TRUMP FANFARE: Profiles of supporters at rally in Novi by Susan Bromley.

The author went to the Trump rally in Novi and picked 7 people at the rally to ask a few questions. I found the answers to those questions very telling.

There were 3 males and 4 females ranging in age from 19 to 71. Some had masters and bachelor degrees, one was a student and the rest had some college.

What initially jumped out at me were the answers to the question: What are your sources where you obtain most of your information about the candidates. All the responders said FOX NEWS was their primary source…because it was balanced? Also included were Yahoo News, Trump Facebook Page, Bill O’Reilly, Internet, YouTube, Google, Drudge Report.

As a point of reference, I read the Detroit News, Detroit Free Press, Wall Street Journal and The New York Times and have a ton of other news sources on my IPad (Time, Politico, The Daily Beast, CNN, USA Today, etc.) as well as many other sources on-line. Yes I admit I go a little overboard in my news sources but I do want a balanced look at issues, a real balanced look. Saying FOX NEWS is fair and balanced makes you into a real ignorant and unbalanced person.

I have stated in the past that people that rely on Fox News exclusively are people that like how Fox presents the news (not the facts) but the news the way they like to hear it or, put another way, the news they can believe in and want to believe in and damn the truth.

These are people that are extremely biased, cannot be persuaded by a logical argument or by the presentation of actual facts; Fox and Trump give them all the facts that they want to hear.

As for the question of why are you voting for Trump, the answers varied somewhat but basically stayed within the circle of misinformation that Trump has been promoting. They think he is a good businessman even though most of his companies tanked. Another answer is that we are no longer number 1 as a nation and we need to be just that. He is pro-life and a good Christian…total bullshit. Get the wall built and keep us safe. He is no Hillary and my vote is against her. Etc.

So what did I get out of all this? Well these people are not open to actually learning the facts about issues. Trump has not revealed any details about any issues; he just spouts off populist slogans and phrases like I will make things great, you just wait and see. So these people seem to have formulated specifics about issues that he has never revealed.

They firmly believe that he will address THEIR main concerns even though he has said nothing about THEIR main concerns.

I think this phenomenon of total delusion in such a great many people will be studied for years by professionals of every scientific discipline. Obviously history has many examples of this type of behavior including Hitler’s Germany and Mussolini’s Italy, just some that pop into mind.

The danger here is that these so called deplorables are extremely emotionally involved with Trump and the message they think he is sending to them, to the point of total blindness to the reality on the ground and I have seen this up close and personal and it is personally very disturbing.

Banning burkinis will not help anyone...

Yesterday the French High Court overruled a town’s ban on burkinis at the beach.

A “burkini” is what Muslim women wear to the beach. Yes it does cover their bodies and is meant to be swum in.

The French contingent of my family believes that banning the burkini is a means of liberating the women from such oppressive rules of dress and I respect that view but what is really the result of such a ban on burkinis is keeping Muslim women from the beach which they have a right to enjoy just like everyone else.

I understand that the French are trying to bring these Muslims into their society; to assimilate them and have them enjoy the enlightenment that comes with joining a modern, western style culture. This is a great goal but the problem is that to join this French society, they are expected to give up some of their traditions like Muslim dress traditions; when French Muslims refuse to do that they are segregated from the greater French population.

This segregation leads to communities that seethe with anger due to lack of opportunities for advancement and this invariably leads to social unrest and riots or even worst, young people joining radical groups like ISIS.

Here in the United States we do not care how people dress for the beach. Yes, you cannot cover your face when getting a license photo or testify in court, etc. but we do not object to what they choose to wear in public.

This has worked out quite well for us through the ages as immigrants usually blend into our American society quite well especially after a few generations.

I think France would do well to emulate our system of assimilation which is a natural system as opposed to a forced system.

The subject of why men want to tell women how to dress and have for ages, is a subject for another time.

Saw the movie BEN HUR 2016...

I went to see the movie BEN HUR 2016, a remake of the 1959 classic which was a remake of a 1929 silent classic. The movies were based on an 1880 novel by Lew Wallace called: BEN HUR: A TALE OF THE CHRIST. The novel was a huge success in its day even getting blessed by Pope Leo XIII.

Yes, Jesus does play a role in these movies but he is not the main man or even the main story BUT the religiously biased producers did try to inject their religiosity into the movie at every turn which was annoying.

It is hard to review a remake especially when you have seen the original and cannot help but compare the two.

I did not like this movie mainly because it disappointed me; my expectations were just too high.

The story was disjointed and characters were not developed sufficiently enough for us to care about any of them, especially the women.

What makes a movie great is obviously a compelling story with a hero and a really bad, bad guy; in this movie the bad guy was someone you felt sorry for; his evilness was compromised.

There were no romantic interests and after a while I could not tell one woman from another.

The main character Judah Ben Hur was played by an actor who I remember very well from his role in Boardwalk Empire; I kept seeing him in that role throughout the movie because he sounded just like that character he played in Boardwalk Empire.

The chariot race was well done but since the hatred between the two rivals was compromised, it was just a race.

The ending also sucked because it was a feel good ending, a kumbaya moment, instead of a satisfying ending where good won out over evil. The song at the closing was just stupid and totally did not fit the story line.

The fact that this movie bombed right out of the gate has me puzzled. I though the subject matter as well as the historic era (Roman) would have attracted at least a crowd to the first showing after which word of mouth would have killed it; but it did not. Is it just me and my wife that love a good Biblical type story? I noticed that most people watching the movie with us were old.

Oh well, they blew way over $100 million in making the movie and in the first weekend it made a paltry $11 million and came in 5^th even behind The Weiner (sausage) Story.

THIRD PARTY POSSIBILITIES?

There was a thought-provoking article in POLITICO by Justin Gest titled: WHY TRUMPISM WILL OUTLAST DONALD TRUMP.

It is thought-provoking because the author poses the question: Is the Trump campaign about the man or the message? Saying that if Trump loses, will the Trump supporters continue to be united and looking for another leader.

The author studied “white working class politics” and asked Trump supporters as well as other whites in this class, if they would be willing to support a third party dedicated to “stopping mass immigration, providing American jobs to American workers, preserving America’s Christian heritage and stopping the threat of Islam” – basically a protectionist, xenophobic, Christian based party?

The author states that 65% of the white working class would and this is a huge number.

I have also heard of the term NATAVIST PARTY bandied around. Nativist, by definition, means protecting the interests of the native population against immigrants. The irony here is obviously that “real” American natives are the American Indians and everybody else is an immigrant.

This group believes that if you were born here, you are a nativist. But it is not as simples as that; you also have to be born into a white, European community to belong to this party.

According to the author, people in this group are usually white males, of lower socioeconomic status, without a university education and ideologically conservative. Interestingly these males are usually under 40 years of age which means they will be here for a long time.

Members of this group are angry, angry at their loss of social status, loss of political clout, loss of middle class status where once they were “somebody”; the backbone of America.

It is hard to convince this group that globalization and other factors have shifted and changed the economic landscape in this country just like the industrial revolution did years ago; and the country and its people adjusted…for the better.

There are many things that the government can do to help these people adjust to the new landscape but today, our government is locked in an unproductive ideological party war and cannot seem to address real issues and real needs.

So this group turns to people like Trump who promises to bring back the good old days and restore these people to the status they used to enjoy. People like Trump among others in world history, tend to put the blame for this group’s malaise on others; on immigrants, on Muslims, on Mexicans, on non-whites, on liberals, etc. and once these factors are addressed (in some undefined way) the good times will roll again.

This large group of whites has made its presence known and therefore this group cannot be ignored. Their anger is real and it cannot be slaked by logic or reason; they believe what they want to believe no matter what the reality on the ground is.

Republicans can alter their ideology to embrace this group and Democrats can offer plans to address some of this group’s needs or a third party will be formed to specifically reflect this group.

I have long called for a VIABLE third party straddling the ideologies of both current parties and producing its own ideology based on fiscal conservatism and social liberalism but this “Trumpist” party will only serve as an election spoiler and not a stand-alone viable political party.

We are heading into uncharted waters and as exciting as it might seem (history in the making) it is also very dangerous.

Note: Bernie Sanders is not a Democrat but an independent. He garnered huge crowds at his rallies and, I think, had and has a huge following. These people, just like Trump people, will remain a force looking for a new leader because they will not be absorbed by Hillary’s Democrats. This group also can and might make up a base for a third party.

Young Trumpists...

A recent article in the New York Times was titled DONALD TRUMP IS MAKING AMERICA MEANER by Nicholas Kristof.

In the article Kristof talks about how our young people feel they can abandon politically correct behavior and practice their racism, bigotry, xenophobia, etc. in an open manner because ostensibly, Trump gave them permission or at least validated that type of behavior as normal and OK and actually appropriate for this time in our nation’s history.

My question is if that type of behavior lies just below the skin in many of our young adults and is basically intrinsic to their being, where does it come from?

The usual answer is basically that it is learned and learning comes from parents, family and/or peer group/ community.

I have noticed that these same people had their bigotry kept in check by a growing attitude of tolerance or shall we call it political correctness (PC) prevalent in our country; it is not cool to be a bigot so they hide their bigotry.

In my own personal experience, I have seen people (mostly guys) express some inappropriate comment to me but quickly laugh it off when they see that I am not of their ilk. Trump also laughs his comments off when the nation is stunned by their inappropriateness.

As I mentioned before people can tell by your reactions if you are or are not, part of their ilk. The word “ILK” just means group, class, kind, sort, etc.

Young people tend to gravitate to like-minded individuals or groups and in some cases individuals may not share the group’s beliefs at first, but are persuaded to share them by wanting to be included in the group hence the adage that young people are very impressionable and can easily be turned one way or another.

There have been a number of books written about the people who support Trump and the books make it a point to weed out of the group those intelligent “normal” people that support Trump as a means of changing the environment in Congress or in politics in general; they want to blow up the current system and start from scratch and they think Trump can do just that.

The group that remains is generally called white, uneducated, blue collar, European descent but not necessarily poor. I think this is the group that produces the children who are copies of themselves and now feel emboldened to practice their racism and bigotry out in the open.

I will be looking at why this group exists and why they behave like they do in my next blog as I am learning on a daily basis about this Trumpism phenomenon as is the rest of the country.

By the way, this Trump group that I am talking about includes friends and family.

Voting for Trump to fix Congress?

Talking to more people about who Trump voters are and why they are voting for him, I was introduced to another reason that I did not know about.

It appears there is a group of Trump voters that are voting for Trump for the express purpose of “blowing” the government up. By “blowing” I do not mean literally but to “dramatically” alter the government as we know it because the government in its present state is just not functioning in our best interest.

I will agree that the Tea Party Republican Caucus has rendered the Republican Party totally impotent but strong enough to block any attempts at governance by the Democrats thereby making Congress a worthless institution.

The rest of the government appears to be working as usual so when they say they want to blow the government up I assume they are talking about Congress.

I don’t readily see why electing Trump would somehow “fix” the do-nothing Congress. Obama has tried his darnedest to get things done or move things along so it seems a president does not seem like someone that can make Congress function so am I missing something?

Now if Trump gets elected Congress will have to wake up to protect the country from whatever Trump dreams up to do.

If this group of Trump voters thinks Trump, as a nominal Republican, will make the Republicans in Congress do his bidding, well they are mistaken. Trump is not a Republican and does not think or act like a Republican so why would real Republicans in Congress follow his lead.

Republicans have been known to be hypocrites so maybe just being in power could persuade them to join Trump. This I do not know but maybe this group we are talking about is counting on that happening.

The normal way to handle our current do-nothing Congress is to get rid of all those Tea Party Republicans that were elected as a protest move that backfired badly and some states are actually doing that already.

Once you get “true” Republicans into Congress, business may actually get re-started but maybe people are just totally dissatisfied with politics as well as the whole political system and prefer to blow things up and start from scratch.

I agree with that sentiment; is Trump the grenade they are throwing in?

Normal people for Trump?

So what I am hearing, in my search for why “normal” people are voting for Trump, is that they would rather Trump appoint the next Supreme Court justice than Hillary.

These are people that feel both candidates for office are “bad” but are willing to overlook Trump’s obvious severe idiosyncrasies and total lack of experience in politics as well as basic knowledge about any and all issues pertaining to governing the country. They are also willing to overlook Hillary’s long and extensive history in national government…

To these people, having a conservative nominated to the Supreme Court is reason enough to vote someone like Trump into the presidential office.

Obviously, these people are deathly scared of a liberal Supreme Court.

And obviously, these people believe that Trump will nominate a conservative to the Supreme Court when elected president.

Donald Trump is not a Republican or a conservative if we are to judge by his actions in life to this point. Trump is not religious either and if anything, he tends more in the liberal direction on social issues. Trump is an opportunist and has already demonstrated that he will do anything and say anything and promise anything, to get elected; after that all bets are off.

On the other hand, “these” people know Hillary will nominate a liberal to the Supreme Court if elected so taking a chance that Trump “may” nominate a conservative because he said he would, seems like a chance they are willing to take.

So why are “these” people so desperately wanting the Supreme Court to be conservative that they are willing to sacrifice the welfare of this country and its citizens by electing a Trump character to the presidency?

Ironically or maybe not so, it is for the same reasons as the not so normal, uneducated white trash have; they want things to be like they used to be and to hell with this progressive politically correct shit.

They do not want an activist Supreme Court they want what Antonin Scalia was, a strict constitutional constructionist which is to say, interpret the Constitution as it was written and preserve its original intent.

Well Scalia called himself a strict constructionist but he was not. The Second Amendment is a good example. The language in the amendment is short, clear and concise; you have a right to own a gun IF YOU ARE PART OF A WELL REGULATED MILITIA and yet Scalia and others read it as saying everyone has a right to have a gun which it plainly and clearly does not say.

So a conservative court will apply its own conservative prejudices to cases no matter what the Constitution says, so I do not buy their constitutional constructionist bullshit.

So as I see it, the people voting for Trump, whether educated normal whites or uneducated abnormal white yahoos, all want the same thing; for the president as well as the Supreme Court to think and act like they do and believe in what they do.

So maybe these educated normal adults may not appear at Trump rallies screaming their hatred for all to see and hear but they are, none the less, cut from the same cloth.

Thoughts on our current political situation...

I have been ruminating lately about the state of politics in this nation. I think we are all in agreement that a sea change has occurred in our political system and we are now entering a new political system that cannot be compared to anything else that has happened in our entire history and therefore we are flying blind!

Technology has changed so many things in our lives and continues to effect those changes at a rapid pace with many of us having no idea how tomorrow will look or how our lives will be in the very near future.

Technology has changed politics. Politicians no longer need to spend millions on promoting themselves and their message; they can now do that instantly, cheaply and continuously and they don’t need a huge party apparatus backing their efforts. The money they do need they can collect on-line quickly from millions of supporters contributing a few dollars at a time; it adds up fast.

What this does is enable individuals to propel themselves into the public eye without the support or even blessing of party leaders or of party money thus, in essence, diminishing the power of political parties.

We are still scratching our heads about how a non-politician with no real party affiliation or history, managed to become the Republican candidate for president of the United States.

Donald Trump does not give a shit about religion but is backed by fundamentalists. He is pro-choice and anti-free trade and calls himself a Republican. Most top Republicans do not support him or even attended the Republican convention…WTF?

In 2016 we have, for all intents and purposes, two democrats running for the same office; there are not many differences between their views except one is using a “the sky is falling because the government is not working” approach and the other “let’s keep the progress we have made so far going”.

It is interesting that neither candidate is attacking the do-nothing Congress. The old Republicans have been beaten up by new Tea Party Republicans into a solid obstructionist model that prohibits anything meaningful in Congress to move forward. Trump is running as a “Republican” so he cannot justify attacking his own party. Hillary on the other hand should attack the Republican led Congress but has not so far.

The attacks from both candidates have not been party vs party but candidate vs candidate; Trump vs Hillary and not Democrats vs Republicans.

The American electorate is also strangely divided and not by party affiliation or preference but by perceptions as to what each candidate stands for and promises to do. It is hard to know what Trump stands for since he changes his mind so frequently but his followers love his one-liners, promising in the most general and vague terms, to make them happy by making America great again…whatever that means.

It boils down to the fact that Trump presents America as deeply flawed and in desperate need of his leadership while Hillary says America is already great and she will keep that greatness going.

Trump followers are described by the media as angry white, uneducated or under educated white men. These men feel unloved and unappreciated and basically forgotten as all the attention is going to minorities and immigrants.

They want their manufacturing jobs back from Mexico and China not realizing that those jobs no longer exist and cannot be brought back and that new technology in automation has replaced the need for their manual labor. Younger workers are developing the skills needed in this new economy but the older guys are just stuck looking for the old economy that needed their labor to somehow come back.

Obviously Trump cannot make good on his promises but his followers do not believe that since his promises are all they have to rely on to make the past come back again.

Trumps blatant xenophobia against Muslim and Mexicans has hit their sweet spot, sadly reminiscent of Hitler’s use of Jews as scapegoats. Again Trump cannot make good on his promise to stop Muslim and Mexican immigrants from coming to this country as he also cannot deport them all as well.

Populism by definition is pitting the common man against the establishment; starting a revolution of sorts. Bernie Sanders used this approach when he rallied his supporters against the Wall Street manipulators of the economy who are creating unacceptable levels of poverty, hardship and privation in the country.

Sanders was an independent running as a Democrat and did not win the primary process; Hillary, his establishment target, did win but Bernie was a great example of the new politician playing in the new political system of our age; he had great success garnering a huge following.

Demagoguery on the other hand, by definition is an appeal to people based on their emotions and prejudices rather than on their rational side. This term is often associated with dictators and “sleazy” politicians. This term is used to describe Donald Trump and fits him to a T.

As in past history, demagogues knew how to inflame the population by giving voice to their emotions and prejudices which, as we have learned, do not have to be based on rational thought and in most cases contradict reality on the ground. BUT these emotions are based on a belief that these people hold to be true and no amount of logical persuasion will dissuade them from these beliefs.

This fact has been made clear to me as some family members and friends are part of this group.

I do detect some underlying racism as well as xenophobia in those emotions and, as mentioned before, a feeling that they are being held down and used and abused by forces out to do them harm or forces that do not have their best interests at heart.

To them, Trump presents a very forceful figure that will save them from those forces and make life better for them even if he has not said how he would do that; the fact that he says so is good enough for them.

There is also a touch of nationalism in this group. As the mightiest nation on earth, we should behave as such and “carry a big stick” as Teddy Roosevelt once said and not take any guff from anyone.

These are all very understandable feelings and emotions and Trump has got his fingers on their pulse.

Some in the media are saying that the Republican party, the party held hostage by Tea Party members and a party hewing to an ideology that no longer resonates with the common folk but is steeped in conservative darkness and an unwillingness to work for the betterment of their country but only for the political aspirations of their party and of the individuals in the party, created a TRUMP character and I think they are correct.

The daily news of silly political bickering in Congress and non-action on issues that need action has the public looking at congressmen as childish cartoon characters who no longer represent America or Americans. Is it any wonder that politics and politicians are held in such low esteem?

Trump promises action and even though he is a demagogue I think he and Bernie Sanders have brought to the surface the issues the country wants addressed.

I am not a fan of Hillary but I feel she has heard the outcry and will act accordingly but she will not be able to address the issues we want addressed if we elect the same people to Congress; that needs to change or all is for naught.

Many people have said that in this election “we have no real choice for president as both candidates are unacceptable for many”. This fact heralds the need for a strong “third” party like the Libertarian Party. The Libertarian Party exists but only nominally; most people have never heard of it.

Using today’s technology, third party candidates can bring their message to the people without the millions of dollars it used to take to get the public to recognize who you are as a person and your party as a political force.

Trump hijacked the Republican Party by gaming the primary system which was opened to non-party members to help the party gauge their candidate’s popularity. This was obviously a mistake in this election cycle because he took control of the party away from party stalwarts and now the party is forced to support someone who is not a real Republican and does not toe the party line.

I firmly believe that in the future, you will have to be a “registered” party member to vote in that party’s primary election. In this way you will prohibit people like Trump from taking over the primary election by getting people that are not Republicans, to vote for him. It will also prevent people like Bernie from getting a bunch of non-Democrats to vote for him.

Yes, it will push people like Bernie and Trump to run as independents or join another party or even start their own party. In this way, we the American voter will get a real choice among candidates and not, as in this election, we really do not have a good selection of candidates but rather a ‘none of the above” kind of choice.

Well enough ruminating; let’s see where the future takes us.

GUN CONTROL ISSUE: No discussion allowed and no common sense either!

After the Orlando shooting we have the customary call for gun control and the same customary reaction by both sides of the issue. I think what really bothers me is that there is NO real discussion of the issue; each side just affirms their age old beliefs in defending their positions, end of story.

A good example of this INTRANSIGENCE is the non-debate about the Second Amendment which is interesting to explore.

The Second Amendment, if read in its entirety and with an open mind, does NOT, in any form, guarantee Americans a RIGHT to bear arms.

The Founding Fathers did want each state to be able to protect and defend itself against Indians, British, French or whatever enemies were around at the time. To do this, each male resident of a state was asked (obligated to) have a weapon handy (musket) in case an attack was imminent and the governor of that state “called out the militia” to defend that state.

The Second Amendment guarantees the right of individuals in that militia to have and to hold weapons at the ready. This makes absolute sense when read in the context of history as it was in the days the Constitution and the Amendments were written and placed into force and the Second Amendment stresses the fact that these individuals must be members of a “well regulated” militia.

Since those days, the citizen militia morphed into THE NATIONAL GUARD that each state has under the governor’s control. The National Guard acts in the same fashion as the citizen militia of history.

So the Second Amendment as far as it goes, does not pertain, in any way, to citizens of today that are not members of a well-regulated militia, which means it is not valid in today’s world.

The fact that intelligent people (Supreme Court judges, etc.) can read the Second Amendment in any other way is very troubling since they are basically willing to believe in and promote a blatant LIE.

I asked some friends who are staunch gun rights advocates what they thought about the MISREADING of the SECOND AMENDMENT. They agreed that it probably does NOT guarantee individual Americans the RIGHT TO BEAR ARMS but as long as it is MISINTERPRETED to do that, it cannot be taken away from them…?

In other words, if a law was passed allowing Americans to bear arms, it could be revoked at some future date whereas an Amendment cannot easily be revoked so they will continue to misinterpret the amendment.

So to me this is like the emperor’s new clothes story, people pretend to see something that does not exist because that is the way they want it. To me this is a national intentional delusion propagated by the NRA, the Supreme Court, our judicial system and the American public in favor of free for all gun availability and to me it is WRONG!

You want the freedom to bear arms, you pass a law saying that or you add a new clause to our Constitution guaranteeing the right to bear arms but don’t fuck with the Second Amendment that our Founding Fathers wrote for a reason, their reason not yours.

Another sore point about non-discussing gun control is the fact that even common sense precautions that would at least help the exploding gun violence situation in this country, is non negotiable or even up for discussion.

Recently a proposal to ban people on the national terror list or under investigation by the FBI for possible terrorism intentions, from acquiring guns was defeated.

Requiring better and more accurate background checks before selling guns to a buyer was defeated.

Limiting bullet clips to a small amount of bullets instead of 30-50 per clip was defeated.

Requiring gun shows to do background checks was defeated.

Banning assault style weapons as having no other purpose but to assault the general public was defeated.

THIS IS MADNESS ON A NATIONAL LEVEL.

What I have been hearing is that the courts will have to handle this issue because obviously Congress cannot and will not and the president just can’t.

I already see a ray of hope in the recent Supreme Court decision to allow states to ban assault weapons and massive ammo clips.

Also I am seeing lawyers go after gun shops and gun manufacturers for selling to people that later commit horrific crimes. I never believed that suing gun shops and gun manufacturers made any sense but now I do.

If you manufacture an AR-15 that can only be useful in a mass shooting situation; you are helping the shooter do his dirty deed and therefore you will pay.

If a gun shop sells tons of ammo to a young person without asking any questions, it is liable for whatever crime that youth commits. Still want to be in the gun shop business; get ready to be sued.

If we cannot discuss this issue as responsible adults, than we need to find other ways to affect change.

Bernie Sanders...

As far as Bernie Sanders for president is concerned, I will admit that I have never considered him as a possible candidate I could vote for. I know this is dangerous ground as so many of my friends and relatives (the ones NOT voting for Trump) are totally enamored of him and what he stands for.

The huge crowds he draws (many young people) shows us that his message is a message many want to hear and act on. That message is basically an economic message based on taking from the demonic rich and giving it to the angelic poor; a true Robin Hood story.

As an entrepreneur and former business owner, I see nothing wrong with trying to get ahead and in the process becoming wealthy or at least comfortable. I also believe that we as individuals are responsible for our welfare and our future and not depend on or demand from, others to somehow help us get ahead.

I am not naïve enough to believe that our system of capitalism is perfect but think changes should be made to the system to get it back to its original form; the system has been corrupted over time and mainly to satisfy interests that are not always good for the general public.

Yes, socialism has worked great in other countries but those other countries are not like us, the world leader, the world power, the country everyone else wants to live in, the country where dreams really can come true. So why do we want to change what made us great?

Bernie is similar to Trump in that he is a populist, espousing ideas and goals that are popular at this time but with no realistic way to achieve those goals; they are mouthing what the masses want to hear.

Yes there is dissatisfaction in the country and yes, people have legitimate gripes they want addressed by the government. But our government is a dysfunctional government which the president cannot fix; only voters can fix that by electing a functional government populated by statesmen beholden to voters and not their own party hags and rich donors.

Our economy is changing and therefore people’s lives are being affected by these changes. The old middle class is disappearing and a new middle class is forming. The natural inclination is to fight change, any change and not to adapt. Bernie and Trump are telling people they will fight change and bring back the good ole’ days and make us great again…really, what does that mean?

One of the things that made this country great is that we adapted to change, to progress, to new technology, to an evolving new economy that includes globalization and we need to continue doing that and going back to isolationism is not the way to go and history has proven that to be true but that is what people want to hear so Bernie and Trump will keep telling them what they want to hear.

What about Hillary...

I was never a fan of Hillary Clinton. I think when I saw her defend her husband over his MANY sexual transgressions when she knew full well they were true, made me think of her not as a real woman or wife but a hard, ambitious politician that would do anything to reach her political goals; this was a flawed individual as far as I was concerned.

I do not deny that she is smart and can hold her own with any man she came up against including Trump. I think she has loads of experience and would be the “safe” candidate for the presidency mainly because she would step into the role as if she never left it.

I say she would be the “safe” candidate because as president she would not “shake” anything up but continue in the footsteps of her predecessor. If Congress remains in the hands of the so-called Republicans, it would mean another four or eight years of stalemate.

She appears to be the presumptive Democratic nominee and will battle Trump in the fall. Her victory is not assured as she is not a very well-liked woman and she is after all a woman, which in itself carries a lot of negative implications for some male voters and believe me, Trump would definitely play that up as much as possible.

If it was her against Trump, would I vote for her? She is the safe candidate with a verifiable history, Trump is not and we know next to nothing about him and his “real” agenda.

Would Trump be a disaster for the nation if elected? I don’t think so and in fact he may bring fresh thinking to a stagnating government. The fact that he is not really a Republican or Democrat actually is a plus for the nation which has seen nothing but dirty party politics for way too long.

A strong third party candidate could change everything. I kind of expect the GOP or what is left of the core party, to try and run a candidate on the Libertarian ticket.

Trying to understand Trump support...

The political discussions among family members and friends must be getting pretty interesting at this stage of the game; I know they are in my circle.

Everyone admits that they have never seen an election season such as this one. I love listening to all the so called experts try to analyze what is going on and why while admitting that all their expertise failed them to even see this coming.

Trump’s primary victory was partly based on the failure of the primary system and mostly on his unique and new use of populist and reality show rhetoric (bullshit) to win over primary voters (who were Republicans, Democrats and Independents) voting as cross-over voters.

Some reality shows are all about winning and to win you need to destroy or defeat your opponents by any means possible and that is exactly what Trump did.

What interests me the most is how and why his populist rhetoric is resonating so much with certain people and I mean a lot of people some of whom happen to be my family members and friends.

I am perplexed by the fact that Trump really does not stand firmly for any ideas and/or principles but constantly flip-flops on practically all issues. When asking people I know why they will vote for Trump, I get a lot of different answers which makes me think that people will believe about Trump what they feel like believing or what they make themselves believe because that is what they want to believe.

People watch FOX News because FOX News reports the news the way they want the news to read and not be bothered by facts; they hear Trump say what they want him to say even though he is not saying anything.

I guess what attracts all these people to Trump is his bravado, his confidence in all matters and his answers to all problems…don’t worry, I will take care of it!

What does this say about his supporters? Some are calling them plain stupid for reacting to populist sound bites from a clown who really has no answers just promises.

I think Trump has tapped into disgust among Americans towards our ineffective political system in Washington and a genuine disgust with politicians in general, who make it ineffective. These people have also had it with political correctness at all levels of society and don’t want the tail (minorities) wagging the dog (majority).

They want a dictator albeit a benevolent dictator to cut through the crap and get things done and make the nation and its people great again…whatever that means.

If Trump picks someone for his vice-president with political experience and knowledge making up for Trump’s lack of both, then I think Trump has a good chance of winning the election and then what…

More on Hillary, Bernie and a Trump win later.

THIS IS ONE CRAZY ELECTION YEAR...

Many people in the know are scratching their heads and wondering why and how DONALD TRUMP ended up a Republican nominee for the office of President of the United States.

Many, if not all, predicted that Trump would never become the nominee; never in a million years and yet, here we are.

I assumed that Jeb Bush would be the nominee as did he. He had everything going for him and then he got hit by the Trump freight rain.

This presidential primary and election will go down as a historical event no one foresaw but why did absolutely no one foresee this outcome.

The people in the know are very slowly analyzing what has happened.

I think the Republican Party has become a party that no one likes anymore, not even Republicans. I blame that on the Tea Party and the idiots they helped elect. These idiots scared the rest of the Republicans from doing what was right and basically just opposed everything Obama and the Democrats tried to do; they became the party of NO which made them WORTHLESS to the nation and its citizens.

Also, the primary system in this country is flawed. The system was intended to help each party select the most popular candidate with the best chances of winning in November. It failed to do that because people did not vote within the party they support; it was a free for all which allowed Trump, who is not really a Republican, to win in the Republican primary.

Trump does not support Republican principles so the Republican Party has to change or Trump has to change…good luck with that.

Most Republican leaders and supporters are turning away from Trump and probably will not vote at all in the election. What has this done to the party? What will they do now that Trump is the leader of the party?

These are really interesting times…