Politics – (As Usual), 2016 Presidential Candidates – (Politics), Unhinged – (2016 Presidential Candidates), Leadership – (Unhinged), Vacuum – (Leadership), Honesty – (Vacuum), Politics – (As Usual), Full circle – (Yes), sick and tired of all of the bulls*** from all of the politicians who are playing politics instead of getting serious and working to solve America’s problems so that America can become better and stronger and its citizens can feel safe? You’re damn right we are!
I would not be surprised if you found the first paragraph of this article hard to follow. Neither would I be surprised if instead of trying to figure it out, you just gave up on it and moved on with reading the rest of the article. Further, as a result of that first jumbled paragraph, I would not be surprised if some of you chose not to read the article at all even though you might have read other articles by me that you found interesting and informative. PLEASE, allow me to encourage you to read on because that paragraph was meant to be confusing; but there is a point to it, which epitomizes the very essence of this article.
The point is that politicians tend to love confusion because it helps them to avoid being straightforward and honest with voters. They might not lie but they do not exactly tell the truth. They relish using smoke and mirrors tactics during these periods of confusion because it enables them to give each voter or group of voters the illusion that they are focused on doing that voter or group of voters will. It usually works for them and if it doesn’t, like with paragraph one, voters usually either do not have the time or do not want to take the time to figure things out. Instead, they place their trust in those politicians if not believing, hoping that they will do the right thing.
Politicians are hardwired to play politics and they do so incessantly without regard to the negative impact that this may have upon those constituents who elected them and the American people as a whole. Most of them thrive on doing this and when they are doing it they completely discount voters, yet, they never have a problem with invoking the name of the American people in their mindless games. They play these games, for the greatest part, in deference to the Party’s elites and ‘establishment.’
A striking example of this is reflected in the March 3, 2016 Republican debate and how all of the 2016 Republican presidential candidates attacked Donald Trump, called him a con artist and said he was unfit to hold the office of President of the United States of America. They did this because they know that the Republican ‘establishment’ wants to derail his campaign. Yet, when they were asked if they would support him if he became their Party’s nominee they all said yes.
It does not matter that they did this because of politics and because the Republican ‘establishment’ and all of the Republican elites have completely soured on Mr. Trump and mounted an all-out attack on him. The fact is that Republican primary voters, up to this point – and for whatever reason, have said that Mr. Trump is the person that they want as their nominee to run against the Democratic nominee in the general election. I am not a Donald Trump fan but in this case I am compelled to say that this is a situation where the Republican ‘establishment’ is trying to thwart the voice and will of the people and dictate who the nominee will be.
These candidates, from day one – when the primaries began, have been playing politics. They have been saying what primary voters want to hear, in sparsely measured doses, so that they can quickly and smoothly migrate back toward a more moderate politics once they secure the nomination and the general election begins. They have been doing this while trying to avoid confronting Donald Trump and possibly offending his supporters; supporters that they will likely need further down the road in the primary election and also in the general election.
The problem is that Mr. Trump has not been moderating his politics in any way and his doing that, so far, has not hurt his chances to become the nominee. Now that the ‘establishment’ and Republican elites have realized this, come to accept it and realized how late it is in the game everyone has come unhinged. It is now all hands on deck and hit ’em with everything you got; even a brokered convention if necessary!
Although a brokered convention is without doubt a scary scenario for the Republicans – if this should occur – after the convention is over, there is blood on the convention floor and all of those left standing are battered and bloodied, they will try to pull things back together so that they can remain a viable Party and win the general election; not necessarily in that order. Once again it will be,’ hit ’em with everything you got’! And they will unleash all at once and unmeasured the full range of tactics delineated in paragraph one of this article on all of the Republican voters; those at the convention will be among the first to be bombarded with this politics as usual.
Every American is a victim of ‘politics as usual’ and if our political system is not reformed so that power and money are removed from it (e.g., the rich and powerful have an outsized say in how things are run in America) then this is unlikely to change. How will removing money and power from the process change ‘politics as usual’ you might ask. It will change things because everyone will have an equal voice in how the country should be run and the collective voice of the majority will rule because elected politicians will not have to kowtow to the rich and powerful so that they can constantly raise money for reelection.
It is hard to see poor people of all colors being treated the way that they are being treated in Flint, Michigan and watch their predicament be glossed over and treated as an afterthought during questioning of the candidates; it is hard to listen to Senator Marco Rubio defend Michigan governor Rick Snyder – who created this problem – and say that he has stepped up and taken responsibility and then blame the problem on eight years of the Obama administration; it is hard to see unarmed black people targeted, injured and sometimes killed by unscrupulous police officers who act with impunity; it is hard to watch those affiliated with the Ku Klux Klan and other white supremacist hate groups who support Donald Trump physically and verbally assault African Americans -young and old – and throw them out of Trump rallies while Mr. Trump – the front runner Republican candidate for President of the United States of America – shouts “throw them the hell out”; and it is hard to watch as Senator Ted Cruz, also a Republican candidate for President of the United States of America – who happens to be in second place, stare directly into the camera in his closing statement after a debate and say (I paraphrase here) “I want every police officer out there to know that when I am elected president, I’ve got your back” without even mentioning those innocent lives that have been lost at the hands of the police: Is this synonymous with telling every black person and anyone else in America that if an unscrupulous police officer abuses his authority and injures or kills you, oh, well…?
Politics – (As Usual), 2016 Presidential Candidates – (Politics), Unhinged – (2016 Presidential Candidates), Leadership – (Unhinged), Vacuum – (Leadership), Honesty – (Vacuum), Politics – (As Usual), Full circle – (Yes). My ‘yes’ answer to ‘Full circle’ is based on the response from Republican primary voters, which reflects their outlook and preference for the path forward for America. But I still have hope that this outlook and preference for the path forward for America does not reflect the thoughts of the majority of Americans; Americans who know that solving problems is complicated but it can and should be done. These reasonable Americans must stand up, speak up and vote for the candidate who will put country first and do the right thing.
We do not need politics as usual and we do not need anyone as president who will make a mockery of the United States and/or who will have other world leaders either laughing at us or questioning our ability to continue to lead the world. Neither do we need to revert back to something that we have been trying to correct for almost 150 years and that has been an ugly blight on America’s historical record. As a country, we should not be working to eliminate voting rights, women’s rights or any other rights that American citizens deserve. What we need is someone who will recognize the severity of the problems that we are faced with and will work hard to bring us together, not divide us and pit us against one another, to solve them.
Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line