Saturday, May 28, 2016

An Intriguing Alternative To Trump and Clinton

Good Day World!

Are you like me when it comes to being totally disgusted with Donald Trump, or Hillary Clinton, as our next president?
 (Photo-Gary Johnson - AFC-AFP/Getty Images)

Thinking of leaving the country and starting over somewhere else? Canada and Finland are already encouraging disgruntled Americans to move to their countries.

Do you feel like there's no hope? 

Well, I'm going to offer up an alternative that may surprise you at first: The Libertarian Party, with Gary Johnson (senator from New Mexico) as their presidential candidate.

Every four years a third-party scenario surfaces like a submarine and quickly sinks into obscurity. But this year is different.

For starters there's never been a presidential election featuring two of the most unpopular candidates for president in American history. 

According to political pundits the only party with a chance to be a factor is the Libertarian Party. That's partly because they're the only ones whose candidate is likely to make ballot in all 50 states.

Get this; In three recent national surveys, Johnson has cracked double-digits in a hypothetical match-up against Trump and Clinton. 

Nicholas Sarwark, chair for the Libertarian National Committee, feels that the combination of polling and pedigree is the long-promised libertarian moment. 

The point is, for the first time ever, a third party may stand a chance on pulling off the greatest presidential upset in history.

Johnson's entire strategy in 2016 hinges on winning the media attention that prompts inclusion in surveys, then doing well enough in surveys to get more attention. “We’re spot on in terms of message,” he says, “but it’s a message that’s not being heard.” 

His magic number is 15%: the threshold at which a candidate automatically wins a spot on the presidential debate stage.

Think about it. If your conscience can't bear voting for the Donald or Hillary, Johnson could be the ticket. I don't look at it as a wasted vote (or protest vote), but as a vote that may make history.

In this election there are no rules, no traditions, or accurate predictions. Voters are angry enough to seek alternatives to the dreaded-two.

Are you?

Related Story:

2016 Finally Has a Contested Concention, Thanks To the Libertarians

Time for me to walk on down the road..

Friday, May 27, 2016

How To Be A Hypocrite And Still Live With Yourself

Good Day World!

The presidential primaries have been a case study for serial hypocrites. 

The question is how do the hypocrites manage to live with themselves when they publicly flip flop on opinions for political expediency?

Isn't it embarrassing?

Apparently not. 

Remember last February when New York Republican Rep. Peter King said Donald Trump was "not fit to be president, morally or intellectually?"

In early May he changed his tune and endorsed Trump. He's not the only example. There's plenty of others. 

As Trump's competition wilted Republicans who initially thought Trump was unfit to be a president faced a dilemma: willfilly embracing him would mean recognizing that their decisions about whom to support were opportunistic rather than principled.

But here's the rub; they all wanted to be on the winning team. No problem according to psychologist Jeff Malet who said that the human mind has a built-in solution for problems like this: the whitewash.

Malet explained in a recent article that when people are faced with the option to either stand on principal or gain advantage, people tend to do the latter.

And if that means rewriting your preceptions, the mind is more than happy to comply while maintaining the illusion that you were doing what was right all along.

So if you're a Republican, Trump is now your standard-bearer, and the easiest way to come to terms with this fact is to lessen his sins. 

For example, if you were concerned by Trump's initial failure to distance himself from the Ku Klux Klan's David Duke, your mind can soften this blemish. 

That's what Utah Sen. Orrin Hatch might have done once he realized his favored candidates weren't likely to prevail; Hatch told himself, and the press, that "deep down" Trump doesn't tolerate racist organizations, he's just "inexperienced in expressing himself" about it.

Guess what? You don't have to be a politician to be a hypocrite. They come in all shapes and sizes. Just remember to be prepared to spread lots of whitewash over the history your changing.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Thursday, May 26, 2016

A Poem: 21st Century Scream

THE SCREAM -1893
By Edvard Munch - WebMuseum at ibiblioPage: http://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/Image URL: ttp://www.ibiblio.org/wm/paint/auth/munch/munch.scream.jpg, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=37610298


Good Day World!

Every now and then I like to share my feeble attempts at writing poetry.

Today is one of those days.

My inspiration is Edvard Munch's famous painting - THE SCREAM


21st CENTURY SCREAM


Edvard Munch screamed in the 20th century
On the edge of sanity
horrified at the follies of man
throughout the land

If Munch were alive today
what would he say?
insanity and war still stalk mankind
on wisdom, there is no sign

Would he paint the 21st Century in pain?
another era with no gain?
or, would he be seduced by new science
and paint the latest kitchen appliance?
***

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Wednesday, May 25, 2016

That's Outrageous! News That Leaves You Shaking Your Head...

Good Day World!

On any given day you can find news items that make you wonder if the whole world has gone mad.

For example:

You may have heard of George Zimmerman, the guy who murdered a teenager in 2012 and got away with it, but did you hear about what he's doing for money these days?

He put the murder weapon - a 9-mm Kel-Tec PF-9 - up for auction. Supposedly, he got $250,000 for it. There's some who doubt that he got that much. 

Regardless of what he did get for the murder weapon, think about this; what kind of person would pay big money for a weapon that ended a defenseless teenager's life?

We're not talking about General Patton's pearl-handed revolvers. Just a common 9-mm handgun owned by a racist, bad-tempered jerk who had a good lawyer.

Just like O.J. Simpson, who also got away with murder, but is doing jail time for assault, kidnapping, etc.

Just last year, Zimmerman showed the depth of his depravity by tweeting a picture of Trayvon Martin's corpse to his followers. Of course the story was picked up by the mainstream media.

The mainstream news wastes too much time reporting about morons like Zimmerman and not enough on legitimate news. But I know why.

The more outrageous, the more readers/viewers want it. 

There's not much I can do about it but shake my head and hope someday there'll be a return to real news stories, instead of nothing but entertertainment journalism like we have now.

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Tuesday, May 24, 2016

A Political Revelation: It's All Just A Gameshow

Good Day World!

It took me a while to process what's been happening in politics this past year, but I finally understand what's going on.

The assimilation of politics and entertainment is complete. They're interchangeable now. And it's just what the public seems to want.

It's been a slow process with gossip pioneers like Walter Winchell setting the bar for future generations of reporter/personalities that got away with saying just about anything they pleased to entertain viewers and readers - truth be damned.

Once on different roads, politics and entertainment have changed couse to a one-lane highway resulting in an alliance of lies instead of truthful reporting, for the sake of getting readers/viewers.

Candidates like Trump can get away with saying pretty much anything they want without being held accountable so long as what they say is entertaining, and so long as they keep the comments coming.

All the major networks are guilty. Instead of holding Trump accountable they have been giving him billions of dollars in free advertising by reporting everytime he farts or says something outrageous.

The core of this fusion is Americans who are no longer able to tell what's real or what's just a gameshow. There's been a meltdown of minds.

What this means is that our politics are no longer politics in the traditional sense of policy and governance.

Trump is the poster boy for non-political politics - a synergy of the showman and town gossip - fused into what passes off as a presidential candidate in 2016.

My grandfather Baxter use to say, "And the merry game goes on..." So, it does.

Who would have guessed the end game would come so soon for America?

Time for me to walk on down the road...

Blog Break Until Presidential Election is Over

I finally hit the wall today. I can't think of what to say about all of the madness going on in this country right now. I'm a writer...