Fifty Shades of Politics

NOTE:  The following is strictly my own opinion, although based on the most available facts I can find.  I have been thinking about this for quite a while and the week here off the grid in La Push helped me find my compass.  I welcome all other opinions and do not discriminate against those that disagree.  Just defend it with facts.  We approach another election year cycle and this one is no different, unless you see the criticality of the current temperament.  The boiling point is near and the melting pot is bubbling over at the edges.  YOU WILL NOT OFFEND ME IF YOU READ NO FURTHER. 

       I did not vote for Obama, although I was curious to give the man a fair chance to fixing our then current situation as well as healing our country.  Unfortunately I was disappointed.  I am by no means racist, but he did more to divide this country by race, creed or whatever than any other president in history.  Let's be clear on this.  JUST BECAUSE I DISAGREE WITH A PERSON OF A DIFFERENT RACE DOES NOT MAKE ME A RACIST.  I won't even comment on his foreign policy.  I read his book, The Audacity of Hope and wanted to believe, but his naivete' showed up too quickly and inevitably he resorted to the "Take the lead it's my way or the highway I have a pen and a phone" mentality.  Who would criticize him or confront him without facing the thundering cries of racism?  I applaud President Obama for trying.   Although I have questions about his ties to his Islamic faith in his policy decisions.  I respected the office he represented regardless of any results.  I tried to wait patiently to see the good in what was happening, but in the end I was often disappointed.  Look at him now.  The man who believed in hope is now a multi-millionaire with several homes and not a worry in the world.  I do not foresee he has any plans to pay his good fortune forward.  

      I voted for Donald Trump simply to make my vote count. There was no way I was going to let it slide or have my vacancy be filled by some jackal who voted for Hillary Rodham Clinton.  There will be plenty of people who will criticize and even vilify me for this.  In some small way I feel I helped save the country for at least the next 4-8 years.  I once had a new teacher look disgustedly at me when discussing politics and I said that I have always been Republican as they gave the military our fair share when it came to pay raises. Teaching was a tough profession to navigate as a conservative.
      Donald Trump is not perfect, far from it.  He is the first president to be elected as (to my knowledge) not a politician, but a businessman.  Of course with this comes a certain 'egotistical' attitude.  This has caused a considerable amount of unrest, chaos, and even outright hatred in Washington D.C. throughout both parties.  Businessmen are 'zero sum gain' type of folks.  Fix it, find a way to make it solvent through tax loss, or achieve outright profit.  This attitude confused many fellow Republicans and outright infuriated Democrats.  They didn't know how to deal with him.  So, like many Sci Fi movies when aliens land on Earth...….if you don't know what else to do...ATTACK!   A few (very valuable) Republican colleagues distanced themselves from him out of fear or saw no way to gain for themselves.  The Democrats?  Well they started their plans to 'BOMB THE HELL OUT OF HIM'  remove him from office no matter what the cost.  This however did not take Americans into consideration.  This cost us millions to fuel an assault that never produced any results or facts for that matter.

      The last year of his office has been laden with continual accusations, investigations, and unfounded rhetoric.  Again, this will draw lots of criticism from friends that DO NOT like him as well.  I have lost several close friends over the past two years due to the political climate.  We are, after all, at the age where we feel it is important to speak our minds and vote as responsible citizens.  THERE WERE NEVER ANY ACCUSATIONS THAT WERE PROVEN TRUE OR HAD ANY SHRED OF  LEGALITY.  NO RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE.  I do find it interesting that immediately before the elections President Obama commented that there was no outside Russian interference in our electoral process.  But, when HRC lost ……….oooops, there it is.  As for UKRANIAN INTERFERENCE.  They have miles of second hand testimony that POTUS said this or promised that...…while Joe Biden is actually on film bragging that funds would be withheld unless the Ukrainian Prosecutor was removed.   He is referring to the one that was investigating his son.
      The Impeachment Proceedings only took place as Democrats had majority in the House of Representatives.  They had their own agenda and NEVER let Republicans provide their own witnesses and very little of their own testimony.  Of course when the HOR impeached the president and sent it to the Senate for trial they were incensed beyond civility that the Senate was able to call their own witnesses (finally) and acquitted POTUS for the alleged crimes.  My disgust rose even further when I watched as the leftist, liberal, citizenry aligned themselves with this self serving verdict as a 'crime against the rule of law'.  It has only strengthened my resolve that far too many citizens fail to have a working knowledge of the very Constitution they wish to overthrow.
      Well, here we are, a nation more divided than ever over issues so very few understand.  There is no respect for the president or the office, which to me is unconscionable.  In my opinion President Trump had done 80% of what he promised to do.  The exception would be to FINALLY fix health care which is still a very HOT BUTTON issue.  I am afraid that he looks at this as a business and without the support expected he couldn't get it through.  I won't say that health care is a 'human right', but is should at least be looked at as an agenda for all mankind.  I also wish he would work at becoming more presidential.  The arrogant, tough guy bully persona in government has run it's course and then some.  Governing is choosing, governing is deciding what is best for the country as a whole, no matter what.  Have we gone so far down that we don't realize that what is promised from the Socialist platform is a placebo that will contradict everything our country has worked for 244 years!  IT IS NOT THE ANSWER. Much like the lottery, much of what Bernie Sanders says sounds good.
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     I tire of hearing the terms 'patriots' or 'nationalists' as they only diffuse the issue from what the majority of Americans are feeling.  Most of us want the government to get off their collective asses and work harder towards what is best for our country.  This DOES NOT include sanctuary cities, DOES NOT include taking care of and providing benefits for undocumented or illegal aliens before we take care of our own including veterans and homeless.  There have always been avenues to immigrate here for a better life.  There is no fast lane, much as I imagine it is for the life you currently find yourself in.  Our country is founded on the basis that all immigrants are welcome.  This does include that you work hard to better yourselves, obtain citizenship, and assimilate to our laws.  Nobody is trying to rob you of your customs.  I urge you to become better educated, more self informed.  Fact check the stuffing out of what you see online and then make an educated decision.  I myself have been the victim of sharing posts I didn't fact check.  No one is exempt from the hatred that is being created here, not even me.

       It goes without saying that 'The Squad' in the HOR has been getting a lot of air play due to their refreshing new views.  Examine closely their rhetoric.  Ilhan Omar was elected from a district comprised strictly of the 70,000 Somalis that President Obama insisted Minnesota allow to settle there.  This created an atmosphere of hate from the citizenry that some of our servicemen died trying to feed and protect.  Rashida Tlaib elected from the Detroit area, is the largest concentration of Muslims outside of Tehran.  She declared from the day elected that 'now we can impeach the (insert expletive here).  Alexandria Ocasio Cortez is a Democratic Socialist elected from New York  whose ideas, although bold, are far fetched, uneducated, or unrealistic at best.  All three of these women have butted heads with the Democratic leadership (Pelosi and Schumer), both so unresponsive to America's needs that they don't even realize how uninfluential they really are anymore.  Senator Schumer's recent threats towards the Supreme Court are vile and he should be held accountable for them judicially.  With such disrespect towards members of their own party as well as admitted open hatred towards our country it really should make you think about where their values are and how much they hate ours.  But, they have gotten some attention as they once again preach the old liberal mantra...….what DON'T you have because of the rich?
     The Democratic Party is a mess; not that mine is much better, but if that is your feeling then I encourage you to vote for the candidate you believe will help lead us back along the path we so successfully negotiated for over the past two centuries.  Vote with a clear heart and mind, not hatred and anger.  Please vote for the good of all American citizens.
     I don't know quite what to make of the Corona Virus.  We have weathered viruses before; the list is hearty.  This time has a different feel to it.  People have been easily panicked by the reporting of it.  Toilet paper shortages?  Give me a break.  The lack of civility and respect for one another in the grocery store only weakens us. I refuse to believe it's the end of days and the safeguards being all that I assumed we all did all along.  Regardless, POTUS has acted very presidential and although it is his business acumen protecting our country I find his actions admirable.  I'm also quite sure that the 'left' will find a way to somehow blame this on POTUS or through whatever campaign they can conceive as far as budget and debt.
     There has never in my memory been a time of greater conflict, larger divide, and lack of respect for one another as there is now.  There is no civility to this kind of politics.  What many don't see is that what we're teaching our children is that an ever increasing view is to create unrest, havoc, and violence, ala Antifa.  It is never been about peaceful protest or negotiation for them.  My mantra? "......to defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic."  I will still vote for the most qualified candidate this coming fall, but still haven't made up my mind.  There are no great choices, but I will vote my values as I was raised.  I fear for our future more than ever, no matter who wins in November we may all lose.

"No man will ever bring out of that office the reputation which carries him into it.  The honeymoon would be as short in that case as in any other, and it's moments of ecstasy would be ransomed by years of torment and hatred."  

Thomas Jefferson

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