Have we been duped by politicians for all of these years when they tell us that we are selecting our presidential nominees via primaries and caucuses and then later electing the one that the majority of Americans want to lead America forward? Politicians say no.

They tell us that each political party has long selected the nominee. What they do not tell us is that primary elections exist just to make voters think that we are making the selection, when in reality the party is, and that our selection will stand only if the nominee comes from a pool of candidates that that party feels is worth considering, is worthy to hold the office and stands the best chance of winning in the general election.

Party leaders do this by way of election rules that are so convoluted that very few of their party members understand them and likely many of those who think that they do, do not completely comprehend them. To make matters worse, party leaders by rule allow themselves to adjust these rules at anytime (in the event that the voters’ choice does not meet with their approval) in an effort to assure that a nominee who meets their approval is selected.

My criticism is not to say that this way of doing things is totally unacceptable because I believe that it was originally put into place to prevent voters who are passionate about our democratic system but have become angry and disillusioned by American politics from making kneejerk decisions that could put America on a path from which it might not be able to recover. But, instead, I point this problem out because our system can always be improved upon and we should always be seeking ways to do exactly that.  Times change and we should always be watchful and make real-time adjustments to our system to address that change.  If we do not, we will be run over by it.

Besides, I do not have the slightest inkling of a better system to replace the current one with that would address the nuances of preventing our country from traveling down an ill-fated path from which it might not be able to return while at the same time giving American voters the autonomy to select our leaders that each of us desires and demands.

My mind was jolted into reflecting on how the DNC and RNC handle the stewarding of America’s elections and recalling tidbits of things that I learned long ago about transactional and transformational management/leadership styles by an article that I read in The New York Times. The article was entitled How to Fix Politics and it was written by David Brooks.  Click on the title if you would like to read it.  Anyway, both transactional and transformational styles of management/leadership are needed; the challenge comes in knowing which style is needed and when it is needed.

At this point, American voters seem to be either completely disillusioned by or totally fed up with their party’s transactional management/leadership style of interacting with them. ‘Change’ is here and it is demanding to be recognized.  If it is not recognized then those who refuse to recognize it will be run over by it.

The Republican Party is the first party in America’s two-party system that has obviously been adversely affected and, as a result, invoked voters’ demand for change. This should come as no surprise to any of us since the Republican Party long ago hitched its fortune to extreme right-wing media like Fox News and many right-wing radio talk shows.

Although it has been the recipient of abundant political benefits as the result of this decision, the Republican Party is now fracturing under the strain of a populist rebellion whose roots can easily be traced to extreme right-wing media. This rebellion, if not properly handled, could bring about the demise of the party.  Even if it is effectively handled, at the least, it is likely to set back the party for years to come.

Democracy is messy. And since there seems to be no empirical rules that can be established to completely address all of the nuances that are a part of it and the change that it constantly generates; as voters, we must educate ourselves on politics at least to the point of gaining a general understanding of the power corridors that exist and how to leverage our power.  Since most Americans have neither the time nor desire to try to decipher democracy’s nuances and constant change to ensure that politicians do not abuse their power and dupe us, we should use our power to elect honorable politicians who will do that for us.  Even if we do this, there are no guarantees that things will become better.  But if we do not do it, the odds are very high in favor of things remaining the same or getting worse.

Our democracy requires constant nurturing and our democratic system requires constant monitoring and, when required, tweaking. In order to do these things all Americans must get involved and stay involved in keeping America strong and making it even better than it is now.  Those of us who are of voting age must not become frustrated with the system and give up.

We must instead continue to engage in American politics and make our voices heard while at the same time using our vote to put and keep politicians in office who possess good judgment and who will use that judgment to determine how, when, and for how long to use transactional management/leadership versus transformational management/leadership in interacting with all of their constituents including voters. And as each of us reflects on all of these things and ponder our civic responsibilities as voters, always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

This article was updated on 4/7/2016 at 12:20 AM to include a link to an article in The Washington Post entitled ‘The conservative gladiator from Kansas behind restrictive voting laws.’

Will the Republican Party and conservative leaders ever stop feigning their concern for and desire to protect the American people from what they spin as the lawless Democratic Party and its freedom-hating left-wing liberals? They continually do this by making one questionable statement after another to justify their obstructionist approach to governance.  They have done it since the time that President Obama was elected.

And they are relentless in their shameless efforts as they continue to make statements like the one by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell when, according to Fox News, he said that the senate would not meet with or hold hearings on President Obama’s SCOTUS nominee because “The president nominates. The Senate confirms.  The American people should have a voice, not this lame duck president out the door.  All we are doing is following the long-standing tradition of not fulfilling a nomination in the middle of a presidential year.”

Or what about the statement that was provoked when, according to an article in The Washington Post by Robert Barnes, Democratic senator Patrick Leahy said “when the Supreme Court is evenly split… it cannot effectively perform its function to serve the people.”? Based on that article, conservatives responded that a divided court is better than one with five left-leaning justices.

The article went on to say that Curt Levey who is the executive director of FreedomWorks Foundation said that “if President Obama were to succeed in shifting the Supreme court dramatically to the left, with the Senate confirmation or recess appointment of Merick Garland or any other liberal, the court would become a rubber stamp not just for the wishes of powerful labor unions, but also for virtually the entire progressive agenda.” That statement begs the question that since over the past 45 years the Supreme Court has had five conservative Justices, has it been a rubber stamp for the wishes of big business (case in point, the Citizens United ruling) and big money and also virtually the entire conservative agenda?  Or…

What about the response from the Republicans that, according to an article in the Associated Press, Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina gave when President Obama urged Senate Republicans to “give judge Garland the respect he has earned. Give him a hearing.  Give him an up-or-down vote.”  Senator Tillis who is a member of the Senate judiciary Committee said; “the president and Democratic leaders aren’t exactly thrilled with giving the American people a voice…, will they join us in doing our jobs on behalf of the American people?  Or will they instead seek to further divide our nation by turning the Supreme Court process into a blatantly partisan back and forth?  Are they going to resort to blocking and sabotaging important legislation and good-faith efforts to help the American people, all in the name of seeking to score cheap political points in an election year?”

What a masterful turnaround. What a great sleight of hand move: with flawless dexterity that, supposedly, will mesmerize voters and leave them clueless to the switch, hang all of your baggage around the necks of those who are exposing your faults and weaknesses and use it against them.  Wow (I’m rubber you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off me and sticks to you), how innovative!  That is, unless you are an adult who, somewhere around the first grade was either the victim of that move or witnessed someone else who was and then heard the infamous verbalization of it: I’m rubber you’re glue, whatever you say bounces off of me and sticks to you.

But many vintage Republican politicians have used this ploy for so long that it is all but impossible to discard it so they use it anyway. If it works, great.  And if it doesn’t, then they just pretend they never tried it and continue to press forward as if they never said any such thing.

What makes this endless verbalization of great concern to protect the American people and assure that they are not deprived of their constitutional rights so sad is that all the while that these politicians are doing this, they are at the same time working to make it harder for bona fide voters to vote. They do this at the pretense of protecting against voter fraud.  However, it has been proven many times over that this voter fraud that they are seeking to protect America against is all but nonexistent.

The Republican Party has been told that this is the case time-and-time again and that they are doing more to prevent legitimate voters from voting than they are to prevent fraudulent voters from casting a ballot. Yet, they continue to press forward.  It is therefore reasonable to assume that they are accomplishing exactly what they want to accomplish and that is to obstruct legitimate voters who want to vote.  Click here to read an article in The Washington Post by Sari Horwitz that supports this assumption.

A prime example of the kinds of problems that this obstructionist approach is creating was reflected in what happened in the recent Arizona primary election. There were long lines at many polling places and Arizona voters were angry and complained bitterly about the conditions that they were faced with during this election.

Maricopa County recorder Helen Purcell, who was in charge of running the election for Maricopa County, said that the situation was the result of a big mistake and apologized. She and other elected state officials said that this would not happen in November at the general elections.  At this point, about all that Arizonans can do is keep their fingers crossed and hope for the best.

This same kind of thing that happened in Arizona has the potential of happening in all of the states around the country with Republican held legislatures because they all appear to be falling in line in support of this item of the Republican agenda. It has already happened in some states during past elections and the strategy is gaining momentum.  Republican politicians and conservative leaders seem to view this as a win-win proposition as long as they can maintain their sleight of hand mojo.

So, is what happened in the recent Arizona primary election just a big mistake, or are Republican politicians just casing the joint, or is this a covert prelude to the inside politician who will set things up so that their Party will walk away with the White House and all of the goods in states throughout the country? It has the makings of a promising template… at least in the eyes of Republican elites and politicians.  Here’s to hoping that it does not work.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

The rise of Donald Trump, the fear, divisiveness, hatred and Nationalist ideology that he espouses and is spouting to Americans and the rest of the world emphasizes the need for America to immediately begin to seriously support the monitoring/policing of its police forces throughout the country and press its elected politicians to not simply remain silent or just provide lip service to the situation for purposes of political gain. Americans should press its elected politicians to establish a meaningful program that will right our listing police forces, help to reestablish the trust between the police and the communities that they serve and help all police officers to do their jobs with confidence without the need to second-guess themselves.

From the inception of this program all of those responsible for shepherding it should then monitor the process and collaborate to make real-time changes whenever needed to assure that there is sustained progress and that the program is successful. When these two phenomenon – the rise of Donald Trump and the need to immediately begin to address America’s policing problem – are juxtaposed, the nexus is obvious and it would be extremely dangerous to continue to eschew fixing our policing problem, especially in light of what Mr. Trump is currently doing.

The Republican ‘establishment’ ignored Mr. Trump’s outrageous antics until it was too late to prevent the kinds of things that are taking place in what appears to be his successful run to become the Republican 2016 presidential nominee. For a long time now, many of those same leaders have been traveling this same path with America’s police forces.  They have been winking at the problem because it does not (yet) directly affect them.  By the time that it does impact on them, whether directly or by way of family or friends, it might be too late to fix it.

Complaints about police injuring or killing unarmed citizens and otherwise abusing their authority and then covering it up is nothing new to American citizens. And the fact that Donald Trump during his presidential campaign is lamenting the fact that the police cannot manhandle protesters with impunity like they use to in ‘the good old days’ is only making matters worse.

A large chasm involving trust and cooperation already exists between police forces and citizens in the communities that they serve. Mr. Trump’s rhetoric of fear, hatred and divisiveness is likely only serving to expedite the culmination of this chaotic, hatred-filled chasm – which is fueled by mutual distrust between police and the citizenry, and lack of cooperation with the police by community members – into utter pandemonium and violence.

Not only are those angry community members who side with police feeling Mr. Trump’s vibes but police officers are feeling them too; and not just the unscrupulous police officers. Decent police officers, who have long felt that they have been swept into the quagmire because – in their opinion – Americans paint all police officers with a broad brush, carry injured feelings that they are unsure how to handle.  This makes them more vulnerable to rhetoric like that which Donald Trump spouts continuously.

Even though these police officers might want to do the right thing it is a never-ending battle for them to do so. They have long been burdened with the so called ‘blue code’ or ‘code of silence’ and now they are hearing a presidential frontrunner that seems to be siding with the unscrupulous police officers yearn for what he calls ‘the good old days.  This makes their battle even tougher.

In the words of Walt Kelly; “We have met the enemy and he is us.” Yes, you the American elected politicians who were elected to represent all of the people are the enemy.  Yes, we the voters who have the responsibility to elect honorable people who will be statesmen who will put America first and do the right thing are the enemy.

If we take our responsibility as voters seriously and elect politicians who are more likely to be statesmen (obviously we will not always be right) we will be able to address all of America’s problems, including the problems with our police forces, in a fair and equitable manner. We need to force our elected politicians to do exactly that (address the problems with our police forces, now!) before it is too late to avoid a situation with America’s police forces like the one that we currently have with Donald Trump.

A Donald Trump situation (Trumpism) in police forces around America would be extremely dangerous. We have already begun to try to address this problem by way of body cameras.  But even if every police officer in the country wears a body camera and, for whatever reason, it does not work properly or evidence that it’s recordings contain is routinely purposely destroyed, then body cameras as a tool to help discover the truth are worthless. That is why the police force needs to constantly be policed.

All Police forces already have parameters that they are supposed to work within but if those who are in place to assure that police officers work within them are corrupt and instead of ensuring that police officers observe and work within those parameters they assist them in skirting them, then therein lies the problem. And in far too many cases, this is what is happening in America now (e.g. the Laquan McDonald shooting in Chicago).

If police officers, like those in the Laquan McDonald shooting, are going to ignore the parameters under which they are required to work, purposely destroy body camera and dash cam evidence and openly act defiantly by throwing camera equipment onto the roof of their police station; then it is far past time for strong civic leaders and honorable elected politicians to step in and fix the problem. Unfortunately, this must be done because it appears that those currently in the chains-of-command, from top to bottom, around our country are either unwilling or unable to handle the task of fixing our police forces.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

When a reporter asked Dr. Ben Carson while he was still in the race to become the Republican nominee for president if he thought that voters would make Donald Trump their nominee Dr. Carson’s response meant ‘no’ but he was not that succinct.   What he actually said was that voters are not that dense; they would not make a very, very bad mistake.  Then, after he dropped out of the race, he endorsed Mr. Trump.  That’s right; I said he endorsed Donald Trump.  How congruent is that?  And does it mean that he himself is dense?

Well, compared to his rhetoric what he did is incongruent (I will leave it up to the individual readers to determine the answer to the ‘dense’ question) but it is consistent: it’s consistent with the rhetoric from the rest of the 2016 Republican presidential candidates. During one of the Republican presidential debates the candidates said that Mr. Trump was a con artist who was unfit to hold the office of President of the United States of America.  But when the moderator asked them if they would support him if he became the nominee, all of them said yes.

To put Dr. Carson’s decision to endorse Mr. Trump in perspective and shine a bright light on the difference in the path forward that Democrats are proposing and that which Republicans are proposing; and to illuminate the America that these Republican presidential candidates envision as opposed to that which the Democratic presidential candidates envision, I offer this comparison. While Senator Elizabeth Warren has given an impassioned speech chiding her fellow senators and imploring them to just do their job and hold hearings and any required votes to fill the vacant seat of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia rather than use obstruction tactics, Dr. Carson has endorsed a Republican candidate for president, who is running his campaign based on a foundation of fear, hatred and divisiveness, shortly after saying that voters would have to be dense to vote for that candidate.

The path forward that Republicans see and the America that they envision is closely related to the path forward and future for America as seen through the eyes of their presidential frontrunner, Donald Trump. The path forward that Democrats see and the America that we envision is closely related to the path forward and future for America as seen through the eyes of our presidential frontrunner, Secretary Hillary Clinton and as reflected in the admonition of Senator Elizabeth Warren to her fellow senators during her speech urging them to move forward with the hearings to fill Justice Antonin Scalia’s vacant seat.

As hard as I try, so far, I have been unable to come up with any positive reason as to why Dr. Carson would do this especially when I juxtapose it on the type of campaign that he conducted while he was a 2016 presidential candidate. The only reason that I have been able to come up with is a negative one and that is that he is pandering to Donald Trump for a possible position in his administration should he win the nomination and the presidency.

Dr. Carson, like any other American, has the right to support any candidate to become president that he chooses. But it is beyond me as to why he would choose Mr. Trump.  It is no secret that the Republican Party, for whatever reason, struggles to recruit and accept people of color into its ranks.  Dr. Carson obviously is a person of color, he is obviously extremely intelligent and it appears that he wants all Americans to be treated equally but these things are totally incongruent with his actions as related to his statement regarding Mr. Trump and then his decision to endorse him.

Based on Dr. Carson’s campaign and how he conducted himself during it, that seems to make him and Mr. Trump polar opposites. In this case where he endorsed Donald Trump, the truth is without doubt stranger than fiction.  And, even if his endorsement is not proof, it is strong circumstantial evidence that if you continuously dance too closely around the edges of fires you will eventually get burned.  Dr. Carson’s background says that he knows this.  Unfortunately, because he did not listen to that still small voice inside of him instead of blindly pursuing his political ambitions, he is now an inextricable part of history as it relates to Donald Trump’s 2016 presidential run fiascos, which will abide with him in infamy.

Mr. Trump’s constant hateful and divisive rhetoric is stirring up anger and hatred in young and older people alike and is the catalyst at his rallies that creates situations that are reminiscent of those that occurred prior to the violence that was unleashed during the Civil Rights Movement. This is concerning and scary and should cause every civic leader and politician, especially Republican politicians since Mr. Trump is running to become their party’s standard bearer, to take pause and contemplate what it is that they can do to nip this potential problem in the bud.  Then, they should address it and address it expeditiously.

I hope that a Democrat will win the 2016 presidential election and, unlike the Republican presidential frontrunner, will work as hard as needed to pull all American citizens together despite our differences, whatever they might be, so that we can make America whole again.   I am among those who believe that America is still great and that all Americans simply need to work together to make her even greater and stronger.  Together, we can do this; so we should get to work.

Even if a Republican is elected president I hope that that person will be reasonable and thoughtful in how they go about leading America forward. I hope that they will be cerebral when it comes to conducting domestic and foreign policy and that all of the tough guy negative rhetoric that is being spouted in the primaries will not somehow seep into the governance of our great country.  And if it does, I hope that America’s new leader will completely spurn it and lead America forward with the dignity and respect that her dedicated citizens, despite our differences of opinion – political or otherwise, have worked so hard to acquire.

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

Do congressional Republicans in Washington, Republican elites, the Republican ‘establishment’ and the 2016 Republican presidential candidates really represent how the majority of the Republican electorate feels about race and class in politics and life in general? And if they do, why do people feel this way?

I pose this question mainly as a result of reflection on the Democratic presidential debate held in Flint, Michigan on March 6, 2016. During that debate, Don Lemon of CNN asked a thought provoking question on race.  The question that he posed to both Secretary Hillary Clinton and Senator Bernie Sanders was; as a white person, where is your ‘blind spot’ when it comes to race?

In addition, I watched Wolf Blitzer interview Senator Lindsey Graham on his show that aired on March 7th in which Senator Graham lamented the possibility of having Donald Trump as the Republican Party’s 2016 nominee. In that interview Senator Graham cited a long list of Donald Trump’s baggage and said that it would be better for the Republican Party to lose without Mr. Trump than to try to win with him.

Among the negative things that Senator Graham cited about Mr. Trump were his misogynistic rhetoric, antagonistic rhetoric toward Muslims and Mexicans and his racist attitude in general. As I watched the interview I was taken aback by the fact that he seemed to be more concerned that Mr. Trump’s rhetoric and views were recklessly overt rather than that he espoused these feelings period.

As I reflected on this, I could not help but to call to mind how miserably the Republican Party had failed on its proclamation and in its efforts to build a larger more inclusive tent. As I thought about this and reflected more on Mr. Lemon’s question and the response that each candidate gave I thought that as Democrats, we – as a party, struggle with the race and class issues too but just in a less controversial way.  That is why I have chosen in this article to focus on the Republican Party instead of both parties.

To expound very briefly about each Party’s dilemma in an effort to help the reader better follow my thinking, from my perspective, the Democratic Party is fighting a human nature battle and the Republican Party, while although fighting a human nature battle, is mainly fighting an ideological battle. Democrats also fight ideological battles but when this ideology involves race, the problem is far less prominent and contentious in the Democratic Party than it is in the Republican Party.

The human nature part of the battle is something that we as humans have been dealing with since the beginning of time. Inside, we want to treat everyone the same in every way but there is something constantly fighting to imprison those feelings, keep them imprisoned and prevent them from breaking free and getting outside.  That same something fights just as hard to prevent them from remaining on the outside should they somehow manage to break free of our human shell.  From time-to-time when they manage to break free that something keeps fighting until it again imprisons them.  Freedom for those feelings at times may last for a long period of time but most of the time it is likely very brief.

I have yearned for a long time now for people to relate and interact with one another – in the words of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., based on the content of their character rather than the color of their skin. Although far too often that seems like a pipedream and something that exists only in the misty world of fairy tales, I still long for people to see me based on the content of my character.

And I have longed to see them based on that same premise; but too many times that same something – at the slightest provocation, which plagues all humans and fights to imprison those feelings inside of us that want to treat everyone the same in every way and prevent them from escaping to the outside, crops up in me. No matter how brief the period of its appearance I know that it is there and all I can do is suppress it and continue to fight to completely rid myself of it.

Although to rid ourselves of it might be a lifetime process, the quicker we suppress it each time the better off we are as a person and the greater is our opportunity help others to suppress it and, hopefully, rid themselves of it. When all is said and done, perhaps the cumulative affect will have been that we have made America better and stronger for everyone.

Even if we cannot eliminate the proliferation of hatred and divisiveness we certainly should not encourage it by electing leaders, especially someone who will lead our country, who regularly spout words of hatred and divisiveness. To shout from the rooftops that people should not openly discriminate against anyone yet condone it if it remains in the shadows makes the messenger nothing better than a hypocrite.

We should adhere to the words of the late author, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou; “When someone shows you who they are, believe them.” If the 2016 presidential candidates are conducting themselves in the manner that they are because they are pandering for votes by playing politics, they should not be.  They are showing us and the rest of the world who they are and we should believe them.  And as voters, any of those candidates that we consider to not be the kind of people we want to lead us we should not vote for them.

Finally, always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

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

The 2016 presidential primaries race should be a real eye-opener for both Parties. It should cause them to see that the American people are demanding an immediate change to how politics work in America.  However, since this is politics, it is probably too much for us to expect that, as a result, politicians will change their ways and begin listening to the voice of the many people rather than simply continue to cater to the expectations of the Party elites, special interest groups and billionaires and millionaires.

This phenomenon is both good and bad for America. It is good because the rich and powerful are finally being forced to see that all of their money and power is powerless against the people when they stand together and say enough is enough; no more!  It is bad because the people are stepping forward, resisting and demanding change out of anger.  As a result, they are oblivious to the great damage that can be visited upon our country if someone who does not have the best interest of America at heart; someone who is not selfless when it comes to love of country above self aggrandizement is voted into office.

For too many of the candidates who are still in the race and have a strong chance to win, the above mentioned qualifications are questionable. If any candidate who is questionable should win their Party’s primary and goes on to become president this could be a devastating blow to our country.

Those politicians that have been elected to office should have begun long ago to listen to the people and work to foster a system that will work for everyone and not just the few. This is what Senator Bernie Sanders is saying and that is why his message resonates so strongly among the many.  If what he says about the amount of wealth that has been accumulated by the top 1% over the past two years is more than that of the lowest 100 million Americans combined, this is shameful and the American people are right to be angry.

As I have said before, I am among those who believe that Senator Sanders has a strong message and believe that the approach that he is suggesting – a political revolution, is needed now because the only thing that politicians and the political elite seem to understand is power. Based on the current situation that we find ourselves in with the 2016 primaries, they are even slow to understand that.  Perhaps it is because this power is being wielded by ordinary American people and this is something that is foreign to them.

It is beyond shocking to them that something like this could happen. Fresh off of the Supreme Court’s Citizens United and Voting Rights Act rulings, the fact that to litigate anything cost a fortune so the richest person among the litigants all but always wins even if it is obvious that they are guilty as charged, and with all of the rules and regulations that they have put into place to tilt the field in their favor it is no wonder that they are shell-shocked, paralyzed by brain freeze and were slow – and may prove to be totally unable – to react to the Invasion of the Trump (Power) Snatchers.

Is the system rigged? You bet it is!  And although both Senator Bernie Sanders and Secretary Hillary Clinton are promulgating that message now in their campaigns, both of them knew that this was the case long before now and did not aggressively work to fix the problem.  The American people have been saying this and pleading for help from our elected officials for years to no avail.  Perhaps they ignored us simply because they are politicians, politics is difficult, or a combination of the two but the fact is that they ignored us.

Senator Sanders is saying let’s fix it now by way of a political revolution and large numbers of young Americans agree with him and are being drawn to him and supporting him as a result of that message. However, all of us know – and I assume that this includes the young people who support Senator Sanders, that even with a political revolution change will not come overnight.  But it will come because this suggested revolution is backed by power, which is currently being demonstrated by way of the untenable situation that the ‘establishment’ finds itself in, and which – again, is the only thing that the politically powerful seem to understand.  If common sense prevails, they will not simply wink at the demands of their constituents as they have always done in the past.

On the other hand, Secretary Clinton is acknowledging that the system is indeed rigged and needs to be fixed. But it appears that she wants to take a softer approach to this change via the political ‘common ground’ route, although America’s current situation with the primaries would suggest that it has not worked in the past, because she believes that conventional politics will be required to accomplish this task.  She is banking on the fact that common sense will prevail.

Which approach will be quicker and more effective is anybody’s guess but my take is that, if elected, she believes that politicians and the political elite have been jolted enough by the existing situation that they will be more receptive to working with her to find common ground. She must also be aware though that what has been perceived as ‘common ground’ in the past is a non-starter and that any solution must go a longggggggg way toward leveling the playing field in order to be acceptable to those who are demanding change.

To be for Secretary Clinton does not have to absolutely equate to being against Senator Sanders nor should it make him the enemy of Clinton supporters. That slight nuance that says that one can be for Secretary Clinton instead of being against Senator Sanders or be for Senator Sanders instead of being against Secretary Clinton is extremely important to Democrats’ end game.  It is important because in order to give our very best effort to assure that a Democrat wins the general election we must be united and stand together as one.  Let’s keep working until the 2016 Democratic nominee is in the White House!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line

Back in November of 2014 while Senator Mitch McConnell was still Senate Minority Leader he said that just because there is a divided government “I don’t think it means [the American people] don’t want us to do anything.”  He then vowed that once he became the Senate Majority Leader he would fix the Senate so that it operates again.  The senator who had worked so hard to break the Senate in an effort to fulfill his commitment to make President Barack Obama a one term president was a changed man!  Or was he?

Within hours of finding out that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died, Senate Majority Leader McConnell announced publicly that the vacancy left by Justice Scalia should not be filled until after the 2016 presidential election; because, he said, “the American people should have a voice in the selection of the next Supreme Court Justice.”  He was officially back!

My thoughts are that he was not back but that he had never left; he was never a changed man.  Instead, he had gone into covert mode or – to put it in terms of what the modern world has long accepted as the ‘legitimate’ business and method used by those involved in the spy business of deceiving people, ‘deep cover.’  However, the fact is that it wasn’t quite as scary – although just as duplicitous – because it was solely political smoke and mirrors and politicians are seldom held to account for this sort of thing even when they are caught red-handed.  He was trying to dupe the American people.

Anyway, the only way that the word ‘back’ could appropriately apply would be to say that now he was ‘back’ to openly doing what he and his fellow Washington Republicans know how to do best; point fingers and obstruct.  To justify Senator McConnell’s decision to not allow the Senate to consider any candidate to fill this vacancy even before President Obama had offered up a single nomination, all of the Republican presidential candidates, Republican senators – including Senator Chuck Grassley who is the chairman of the Judiciary Committee – and other Republican leaders began to publicly state that the president should not nominate a replacement.  They said that the person that replaced him should make that nomination.

Only time will tell if this line that Senate Majority Leader McConnell has drawn in the sand is a serious one, which if crossed will only bring President Obama a humiliating defeat or if he will reconsider his preemptive move to prevent the president from moving forward on his own announcement that he will nominate someone to replace Justice Scalia.  Since the day that he was elected the Republicans have completely loathe this president and worked tirelessly in their effort to assure that there would be an asterisk by his name in the history books that would somehow identify him in the eyes of their children and as many of the American people as possible as someone who was not actually a legitimate president.

Why would these elected officials choose to do this rather than focus on conducting the business of the American people and govern them based on the Constitution that they constantly tout?  No one really knows beyond a doubt what the answer to this question is except those elected officials themselves.  However, with the way that they have treated President Obama from the time that he was elected and the unprecedented disrespect that they have shown for him and the Office, if there is more than one reason why this has occurred, high on that list is the fact that he is African American.  By making such a strong accusation it is only fair that I reiterate that only those elected officials themselves know beyond a doubt if such an accusation is warranted and/or correct.

President Obama would likely be the first to say that I am wrong even if that proclamation was engendered more by his heart than his head because, from the time that he was elected, he so obviously longed to bridge that gap that separated white people and people of color based primarily on the color of the other’s skin, which thereby prevents them from hearing each other even when they espouse the same principles and values.  Politics as usual too often motivate our politicians rather than the collective voice of the people whom they are supposed to represent.

Senator McConnell is obligated to the Constitution, the American people, those others who support him (e. g. his donors and fellow senators) and his Party.  As Senate Majority Leader he has the additional responsibility of using good judgment to determine, whenever all of those just mentioned do not unanimously agree on how to move forward, which of those groups and/or individuals should be subordinated to the other in order for him to effectively do his job and conduct the people’s business.

The system is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful and all politicians know this but they do not have the courage to work to fix it even when they know that the odds are that a fair system will make a massive improvement in America and in the lives of her citizens.  In addition to considering the desires of their rich and powerful donors politicians must also navigate the pressure that is applied to them by special interest groups and their constituents back home.

But despite all of the pressures that our elected officials have to deal with we must still demand that they do the job that they were elected to do.  We should always give them credit for doing their job and reward them by voting them back into office when they are up for reelection.  On the other hand, we must always hold each and every one of them to account for the things that they fail to do by getting the facts and voting them out of office when they are up for reelection if what they failed to do cannot be justified to our satisfaction.

Yes, Senator Mitch McConnell’s hollow words of reconciliation that he made prior to becoming Senate Majority Leader were indeed just that and this is being borne out by his decision to deny the American people the right to a nine member US Supreme Court in order to secure political gain for himself and the Republican Party.  You can, and should, read the article that I wrote in 2014 on Senator McConnell’s words of reconciliation and you can do that by clicking here.  Should you choose to read it; you will find that it provides additional insight into this article.

Senator McConnell’s decision casts a bright light on the pecking order of politics versus the will of the people in our political system.  The obvious order for him is politics first and then the will of the people.  As voters we, along with these politicians, bear some responsibility for the untenable mess that our political system is in.  The good news is that we can still do our part to help fix it but we must begin to fix it now.

We can do this by getting informed, doing our part to select a candidate to run in the 2016 general election and then voting, based on the issues and who can and will best address them, in the 2016 presidential election.  But we cannot stop there if we really want to fix the system and make things better.  Instead, we must get engaged and remain engaged in the election process from the local levels all the way up to the federal level because they all ultimately impact on our country and our way of life (e.g. Flint Michigan’s water problem).

So whether you are a Democrat, Republican or Independent be sure to always vote.  And always remember, your vote is the most important one of all…unless you don’t use it!

Eulus Dennis – author, Operation Rubik’s Cube and Living Between The Line