I have always been a political junkie. I grew up during a time of change and unrest in this country and I was paying attention even at a young age. The civil rights movement was happening and Martin Luther King, (as well as many others,) gave his life for the cause. Our involvement in the unnecessary Vietnam War was escalating and the young, (non-rich,) people who were being drafted were protesting. Many innocent people gave their lives there as well. Nixon started the war on drugs to “put the niggers and hippies in jail,” and then had to resign his presidency in disgrace because of Watergate. I was paying attention then and I am still paying attention now. I'm a life-long observer of the crazy world of American politics and I find this election cycle particularly fascinating.
This election differs from any in my lifetime and I believe any in the history of the country. First of all the Republican Party has been forced to nominate a candidate that even they do not like so watching their convention was entertaining as hell. It wasn’t business as usual. It wasn’t a matter of "saying what they want to hear" this time because the party itself is so divided. The inner circle of the Republican Party doesn’t even like their own candidate!! He's not saying what they want to hear. He's saying what scared, under-educated, bigoted, racist white men want to hear.
The Democrats on the other hand were pushed further left than ever by the Bernie Sanders camp. I myself was a Bernie Sanders supporter and felt that he was the only one running who would move this country in a better direction. He was saying things that I have believed throughout my entire life. Unfortunately he did not get the nomination and his supporters are not happy campers after getting proof that the DNC secretly supported Hilary and possibly rigged the primary election. Business as usual in the, “Good Ol’ Boy," established political parties I guess. So the attempt to unify the party at the convention is interesting. As an aside, I’ll bet the RNC now wish that they had had that kind of control over their primary process. I’m sure they would have but they just did not suspect in a million years that Donald Trump had a chance of winning the nomination. Well surprise, surprise!!
In addition to all of that, this election cycle provides a glass ceiling being broken with the first woman in our history being officially nominated by a party as the presidential candidate. This follows another unprecedented glass ceiling being broken by the election of the country's first African American president. An election which basically brought about the formation of the not so subtly racist, "Tea Party." Their infiltration into the Republican Party in the Congress and Senate forced our first African American president to have to deal with the most obstructive, do-nothing Congress and Senate in the history of the nation. They admitted that they would not cooperate with him under any circumstances. They admitted, just after he was elected, that their goal was to make him a one term president. For eight years they did everything they could do to obstruct his efforts and smear his image and despite that President Obama took the high road, maintained his focus and accomplished many good things. I can only imagine what would have been accomplished under his presidency had we had a functioning Congress and Senate.
The great irony in this election cycle is that that same Tea Party infiltration was the beginning of the end for the Republican Party. Their infiltration, which was largely funded by the NRA, The Christian Right, The Fossil Fuel Industry, Koch Brothers, etc and the subsequent non-function government that followed opened the door for Donald Trump!! They created Donald Trump!! They hate him but they created him!!! By catering to the NRA and the religious right and demonizing our first African American president to all of the blue collar, under-educated, racist, stupid white men out there through Fox News and hate talk radio they created the candidate Donald Trump. Frankenstein lives and the people who created him hate him!!! It's just completely fascinating!!!!
I have watched every night of both conventions and look forward to the debates. I’m sure they will be very entertaining to say the least. I have particularly enjoyed watching the Democratic Convention, not so much because I obviously lean toward the left ideologically but because of the overall political climate and the historical glass ceilings mentioned previously. Last night's main speeches were by the potential incoming vice president and the President and Vice President and it was definitely worth watching. Not to mention Lou Panetta, who has served under both Republican and Democrat administrations giving him a unique perspective on things and what he had to say was worth listening to.
Both President Obama and Vice President Biden gave great speeches. I love Joe Biden too and would have voted for him as president had he chosen to run. The talking heads are saying that they think it was Obama's best speech ever, which would be saying alot. I'm not sure I agree with that but watching him speak as an outgoing president that I deeply admire and hearing the way he endorsed Hilary Clinton was great. It was a moment in history that I did not want to miss.
I am a registered independent. I changed my affiliation to Democrat during the primary just so I could vote for Bernie Sanders and have now changed it back to unaffiliated. I will always vote for the candidate I feel is best for the country but at this point in time I could never vote for what passes as a Republican these days let alone vote for Donald Trump. I’m all for having a candidate that is not a career politician but Donald Trump isn’t it. Do I want an unstable, highly erratic, egotistical, bigoted, science denying, isolationist who grew up wealthy as the president of the United States? I think not!!! So in November my vote will go to Hilary Clinton. She may not have been my first choice but she is now the best choice. Once in office I only hope that she immediately nominates Barack Obama to fill the Supreme Court vacancy. I don't know if he would accept after just coming off of eight years as president but it would certainly be fun watching the minds of Republicans being blown!!!
Bruce Myers
07/28/2016
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