There is precious little left to say about the US election. It is time to wait and see, I guess. Despite being a political ‘watcher’ I rarely guess an outcome right, anyway. But I’ll take a weak stab at it. “The envelope, please……..”
It’s Clinton. And , with that choice, you have almost a parody of democracy…Bush, Clinton, Bush, Obama, Clinton….or?
It’s Trump. And with that, you have made a mockery of the presidency, briefly glimpsed the abysmal ignorance that is the American public and launched a walking, talking embarrassment to the American Dream.
I have no real idea who will win, whether it will be close or whether there will be a backlash from the losing side or not. In all likelihood (judging from the fact that the media seem to have chosen a side), Clinton will win, Trump will whine, complain and make a lot of excuses and accusations. And more than just a few nutcases will shoot guns at kids in schools and MacDonald’s restaurants but that will be it and life will go on in the usual crude, stupid and stumbling way – whatever that is.
Or will it?
And that is the real question facing us all today. Will life go on?
Face it: the presidency is really all about what one single, largely weak, likely corrupt, ineffectual person might actually do (while needing the cooperation of thousands of others with which to do it) about stuff, much of which is out of anyone’s control. It is not about who gets to ride in Air Force One, it is about ‘the system’ putting a single face on future decisions that, in obvious fact, are made by hundreds of thousands of others. And often wrongly.
Regardless of who wins the presidency, the major issues facing the world as we know it (TWAWKI) remain and some are growing alarmingly worse. Russia is posturing again. Positioning, too. China is flexing new military muscle to go with their economic abs. Fanatical Islam is still blowing stuff up, killing people and ‘making statements’.
And, of course, we have the ultimate threat in climate change which, it seems, has – along with all else bad and human-caused – already eliminated 60% of the world’s animals just for starters. The ‘innocents’ always die early. Seems we have less than half the wild things we had in the 70’s.
Trump building a wall? Clinton empowering women? Really? You think those are the real issues? Even racism, sexism, and all the other petty little isms pale into insignificance when threats of World War 3 loom and the planet shifts it’s state of being from healthy to sick.
Honestly? Picking the US president is about as significant to solving what ails us as selecting the host of the Academy Awards.
Admittedly, if there was one single person more able to screw things up quicker and worse than would ordinarily happen, it is the president of Russia/USA/China. Those egocentric, power mad, delusional liars can do a lot of damage to a lot of people in a pretty short time. Take your pick as to which one goes whacko first.
In effect, we choose the people most likely to kill us all.
But, when half the world’s animals are dying off, do we attribute that loss to any single head of state? When the climate goes wonky, is there someone to blame?
Really………… the question is what good can they do? Answer: NONE.
With the possible exception of Jesus and Churchill, has any one person made such a hugely unique and significant GLOBAL contribution that clearly altered the course of world history for the better? We have had a lot of small heroes to celebrate (MLK, Gandhi, even Terry Fox) but who is capable of reversing climate change? Who can stop a war?
To my mind, the best president would be a dull custodian, an accountant, a boring middle manager-type who tries only to keep the trains running on time and corruption in check. We need more dull people in charge of things.
Our politicians don’t LEAD anyway, they follow. They let real leaders take the initial risk. When it is safely a trend, our politicians might make a limp endorsement. They are always thirty years behind the times. Example: look at today’s leaders talk positively NOW about solar panels, fer Gawd’s sake!
And they usually follow their own personal historical view (old person’s bias based on a personal fifty year old history spent in some kind of elitist environment surrounded by wealth) supported by sycophants who use reverse-looking analytics.
No one in Ottawa or London, Beijing or Moscow is looking forward except through to the next economic quarter. They don’t act, they react. They are not inventors. They do not go bravely. They are not visionaries. They are just greedy accumulators, inventory managers, actors, poseurs and figure-heads ……..and they are usually sociopaths to boot – consulting other grey-haired power-seekers about what to do while striking just the right pose for the camera.
Seriously? We pick the wrong people.
If you want to find a leader, you have look in any place that is NOT an institution or is part of the establishment. Finding one at the top of a political party is a contradiction in terms. You have to look to the fringes, the vanguards, the movements. Real leaders have their feet ‘on the ground’. There you will find two types of people- leaders and deviants. Irony: neither the leader or the deviant really cares if they are followed or not.
Our Off the Grid Home 
Breaking news from the FBI, Hillory has done nothing criminal with her emails. Regardless of what the first amendment has allowed politicians to say over this 2016 campaign the public has heard many equivocations. “Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble…” You note that, “We pick the wrong people.” Perhaps we pick the wrong ideals to support. Perhaps we pick our politicians to match our aspirations. Something is terrible wrong when Martha Stewart is sent to prison for lying. It is estimated that seventy percent of The Donald’s utterances are proven lies. Martha lies and they lock her up. Donald has first amendment rights to lie, to smear, to violate, to undermine, to vilify, to distort, to dog whistle and spread his purile mocking on the stump. But Donald represent a value that his supporters want and they give him license to undermine the electrol process as long as the ends justify the means.
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To be fair, the Donald is just a product of avarice, greed and ‘lawyers’. He does what he does because he can. And the system is at fault for allowing it. He gropes pussy because ‘they allowed me to’……he didn’t pay taxes because the rules ‘allowed him to’. He is just an immoral, greedy, retarded person….doing what we allow him to do. It is truly our collective fault that this man is not 100% rejected at every turn. Instead, because he has money that he cheated for, he is ‘respected’. America may deserve him.
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“He does what he does because he can.” More than most The Donald has benefitted from a system that rewards Donald type conduct. The aspirational goal is to legally make like a bandit. The saps, the rubes, the clowns cheer on their victimizer and worship at the shrine of sleezery. They had eight years of Obama, now the prospect of a first women American president is galling. Trump identified many of the deficiencies in America but mainly blamed the Democrates. Who had the power in most of the last eight year? So why blame Hillory?
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The Republicans rule the house of representatives and the senate – together called the Congress. THEY have had much of the power these past eight years. Actually, Congress has most of the power every year. Basically, the president is NOT as vested in the affairs of the country as the Congress…he is empowered to act in many ways to ‘enforce’ laws passed by the Congress. But Congress has to pass ’em first. Americans HAVE a president to deal primarily with foreign matters, not domestic issues like the economy (except law enforcement). The Republican president (BUSH) was the Gomer Pyle of foreign relations while running the White House all while the subprime criminals had a field day. Why? Because Congress repealed the Glass Stegal Act under Republican Regan. Bush (and Regan) was catastrophically stupid but what did he have to work with – even if he knew what was going on? There were no checks and balances after the repeal of Glass/Stegal. Obama came in but didn’t clean house because that was NOT his primary job description nor did he have the tools. He SHOULD HAVE JAILED THE BANKERS (if he could have) but Republican led Congress did NOT pass laws like Glass Stegal. They turned a blind eye. Still do. Goldman Sachs is the winner here. If Clinton gets in without getting a majority of Democrats in Congress to work with her, she, too, will be ‘neutralized’ and obstructed on every initiative.
Plus she will likely be pre-occupied with foreign affairs.
And Goldman will make out like the bandit it is.
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Excellent points. So how would a Trump make that better?
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Trump is pro cheating, he is a big shark. He sees being President as just playing a blood sport with more teeth to back him up. He is Putin. He would not fix anything. He would simply feast. A cheatin’, lying Congress would be his accomplices in crime. It’s why the GOP is still behind him. They hate the lone , crazy, orange shark but they will all get to eat more with him than Hillary. BUT Hillary played cosy with Goldman so….it’s not clear that restraint and enforcement is on her agenda either. There is a lot of evil genius in finance. It’s dark. And it has been set free. Someone has to get that snake back in the box. I doubt they will even try.
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Glass-Steagall was repealed in 1999 under President Bill Clinton, not President Reagan.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass%E2%80%93Steagall_legislation
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“…the Donald is just a product of avarice, greed and ‘lawyers’…” And so is Fascism. Trump talks about bleaching emails. What else would he bleach if he could?
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Agree with the characterizations of Trump Land.. Still puzzled by the 1% who want most of the wealth, all the cake at a birthday party, feel entitled to whatever they get. Are they mostly sociopaths unable to see the suffering? Love playing a suborned social system.
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I don’t get it either unless they are playing a game amongst themselves. Clearly they all believe ‘he who has the most toys and money when they die, wins”. I see it as a life wasted. Frankly, I see ‘extra’ as a burden. I want ‘just enough’. Admittedly, ‘just enough’ varies a bit from time to time, but only by the odd Yamaha outbard…no more than that. ‘Just enough out here is poverty line in Vancouver. So, I am no threat to the 1% or the 1% of the 1% who are billionaires and I am way, way happier.
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The millennials agree with you. We have had the gen xers, and the gen Ys both disadvantaged and like the millennials discontented but only the millennials seem prepared to turn over the apple cart and tie their futures to The Bernie. Sadly the Americans are a few generations away from a dramatic change towards a European style democracy.
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Someone agrees with me…..?
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Head shaking! Who knew?
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pls articulate your difference between gen y and millennials, I read that gen y was a temporary holding name til millennial arrived
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Dear Aldo,
You are correct that Gen Y, Gen Millennial, Millennials are as Shakey would say, “A rose by any other name…” Now let us turn our attention to Gen Z, those born after the year 2000.
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