I am a political junky but these
election debates have really appalled me.
For the past 8 years the right has preached against the Black Muslim in
the White House. They have preached the
“birther” lie, called the President and his family nasty racial names and tried
to convince everyone that the President’s mother actually traveled to Kenya to
deliver her baby but put the birth notice in the Honolulu press and falsified
his birth certificate in preparation of his becoming President. Now, they are concerned that the most
vociferous of these preachers is the front runner for their nomination.
The most recent “debate”
partially centered on the size of the candidates’ genitalia. I expect at the next debate they will drop
their pants to end the debate! Of their
candidates, the leader is a braggart and liar, the second is the reincarnation
of Joseph McCarthy, who promises never to compromise with the Democrats in
Congress, and the third claims that the American government was founded by
devout Christians who did not believe in the separation of Church and
State. I am sure that Washington,
Madison, Jefferson, Franklin and Adams are simultaneously rolling over in their
graves. Of the founding fathers, only
Alexander Hamilton was religious and that became stronger later in his life,
particularly after his son died. The
rest strongly believed that the rights of man were part of being human. The government was derived from man giving
the government authority but that authority could not take away their rights!
One of my fellows once said that
one becomes conservative when he has something to conserve. John Dickerson in 1776 says that the
poor will follow the conservative wealthy men to “protect the possibility of
becoming rich rather than face the reality of being poor.” I will not stereotype conservatives. However, the supporters of the GOP front
runner tend to be white, middle aged xenophobic people who are threatened by
the changes that are occurring in the world.
A significant percentage of South Carolinians who supported the front
runner do not like the Emancipation Proclamation, believing that the document
was an illegal power grab by the President.
They also believe that the Confederate battle flag should still be
flying over the state capital.
Conservatives try to use “state’s
rights” as their buzz word. State’s
rights really is a cover for little regulation of industry thereby allowing
water, soil, and air pollution; limiting the voting rights of minorities,
limiting health care, limiting education, limiting the social financial safety
net, and trying to claim that Christians
are being persecuted. Instead, they use
their Christianity to persecute others and limit the rights and actions of
others by limiting women’s access to health care, including abortions. Their claim to support “life” ends, when the
baby is born. It also does not apply to
the use of capital punishment.
The other buzz words are that the
military needs to be increased. Our
military budget is greater than the next several countries combined. We spend an enormous amount of money on our
military. Yet these conservatives claim
we need to spend more.
Mr. Trumps claim that he wants to
“make America great again”. As Mrs.
Clinton points out, America was never not great! Also we need kindness. She was criticized for saying that it “takes
a village to raise a child”. However,
that is true and now many people agree with her. Parents do not raise their children in a
vacuum. They need the help of others:
teachers, doctors, nurses, and police and fire, etc. Similarly people don’t start and run a
business in a vacuum. They use all of
the resources of the community from power and water to roadways, etc. This solitary “John Wayne” American image is
just wrong!
I am a liberal. I do not believe
that the word is a dirty one as GHW Bush tried to claim. I do not trust the states to administer laws
fairly and equitably. The Federal
Government must protect the rights of all citizens at all times. I do believe in the social protective safety
net. I do believe in the separation of
Church and State and don’t want anyone to push their religion on others. However, they have the right to practice
their religion in their own way without infringing on others. That distinction is the important one. Your relationship with GOD cannot affect my
relationship with Him or lack thereof.
I do believe in climate change
and believe that we must protect the environment. I am not afraid of immigrants and believe
that the 10 million illegal immigrants who are working here and raising their
family should be granted asylum. I
believe that America has a responsibility to care for its Veterans after
sending them to Afghanistan and Iraq repeatedly. I believe that we must help with the Syrian
and Iraqi refugees since we caused much of the problem. I believe that all corporations should pay
taxes and not get federal subsidies as so many do. I believe that Social Security can be fixed
by increasing the top salary taxes. Mr.
Koch should not pay as little as I did toward social security. I believe that the health care should be a
single payer like Medicare, which is the most efficient insurer in the country.
I believe that Liberals support
the Constitution as much as Conservatives do. The Constitution may have been
written in 1787 but since then it was explained in the Federalist Papers,
amended almost 30 times and interpreted and re-interpreted hundreds of times by
the Courts. The Constitution is not a
static document but has changed over the past 229 years, since it was written. Chief Justice John Marshall outlined the power
of the Supreme Court to interpret the Constitution. Conservatives only agree when the ruling goes
in their favor. They oppose the Supreme
Court when it decides in favor of abortion rights or marriage quality. If one supports the Constitution and the 3 equal
branches of the Federal Government, then one must support the decisions
whichever side they favor!
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