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So here I sit on a Friday evening. A good friend’s spouse just got a positive back on a cancer test–now it’s more tests and hoping and praying it’s curable. There’s all those flowers and prayers for deceased moms on Facebook. I’m not one prone to depression so I guess it’s just the age we’ve attained when loved ones are gone and some of those left face the shadow of the Grim Reaper.
Then the news feed beeps and there’s a new story about the race to succeed Barack Obama.
Take a sip of wine. I guess I really need to address this farce. The presumed Republican nominee is a real estate trader and reality tv star. Likely he’ll name a Kardashian/Jenner to his cabinet (Secretary of Health and Human Services or Education?) if elected. The Democratic front-runner has already occupied the White House for eight years as first lady. She made a total hash of health care reform. She defends her husband’s positions on trade, mass incarceration, de-regulation of the economy. We all know what that got us, don’t we??
There are alternatives. Senator Bernie Sanders still has a (very) long-shot at the Democratic nomination. The cards are stacked against him by the party leaders but…..maybe we voters might win one?? Dr. Jill Stein of the Green Party is even further left than Mr. Sanders. She has my vote if the choice in November is Hildemort or The Rump.
And I am sorry, people. That is most emphatically NOT throwing away my vote. I’ve pretty much voted third-party my entire adult life. Obama was the first major party candidate I voted for and, to be honest, I feel he did not live up to all of his promises. Sure, the other party, for whatever reasons (racism?) did all they could to make him a failure. And his administration has been a success despite that (don’t believe me, just look at the Dow Jones since 2007, the unemployment figures, job creation numbers, whatever metric you choose). Add in the Affordable Care Act, and the Obama presidency, on the domestic front, has been a success. But Gitmo is still open, our young people are still dying in Iraq and Afghanistan. The drone program is too aggressive. And now we, the people, stand on the brink of trashing our domestic progress with the election of either Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump.
Either of them would take us back to the good old days of de-regulation at home and intervention abroad. That’s worked out so well for us, hasn’t it? Or do you not remember the financial melt-down?? Maybe if you make as much as Trump or Clinton you’ll be okay. But for the average person—-more economic inequality as the banks prosper and we can’t save enough to retire. Intervention overseas will lead to another Iraq–ask that veteran sitting by the freeway with his dog who doesn’t get services for his injuries or PTSD how that worked out.
Please, Amerika, wake up before November. There’s still time to either nominate Bernie Sanders or, failing that, elect a third-party candidate. I’ll support Jill Stein of the Green Party but Gary Johnson the Libertarian is a good man as well. Just spare us from four years of Trump or four more of Clinton! Please!!!!!
