Can you expand on this? The choices are either a floppy haired, bigoted cartoon character or a humorless, shrill clanging gong. What exactly have we done to "deserve" either of those?
I get the passion everyone has for public lands but is that single issue upon which one can decide is the most important? Ever increasing Debt, never ending wars, Trade Pacts written by and for corporations, a broken health care system headed to real crisis in the next 6 to 12 months, policies that will guarantee that my kids and grand kids will be in basically debt prison for their entire product working lives. Both parties are complicity in these things so what exactly is the difference?
Neither of these two are equipped to deal with any of the looming crisises in a competent way. So why would I vote for either because I dang sure don't fee like I deserve either one of these people to be the president of this great nation, regardless of their position on public lands sell/transfer. Political smoke screen or not Hillary cannot be an effective president because she will be so gut shot by the time the election is over that only buzzards will be circling the White House trying to pick over the corpse of her administration. Trump is as bad or worse because he doesn't get politics at all.
Nemont
Unfortunately, it will take a bigger calamity in the White House (beyond the last 16 years) before America will climb out of the R and D trenches and look at WTF they are letting happen in this country. Anyone who votes for either of these two candidates would have a hard time convincing me that they are not a partisan hack. To me, if one uses even the slightest objectivity in analyzing the ability of either of these two people to lead the country, you come away with a solid "NO!" In fact, maybe even "Hell NO!"
Yet, hundreds of millions of Americans will vote for one of them. Either out of party allegiance or they have bought into the "Not voting for A is the equivalent of a vote for B."
As much as I like Trump's son being a hunter and hopefully giving him some balance on our issues, I can't vote for the guy. His campaign has been brilliant in analyzing the landscape of frustration that is out there. They nailed it when they measured the degree of frustration in America.
I completely understand the frustration that causes people find appeal in Trump's message. Too many in America are considered statistical casualties in a global economic war. Coming from the logging world, I saw the "Free Trade" ideas pretty much destroy that economy and how none of the groups driving the wedge really cared about the social costs imposed on the serfs. Most my friends and many of my family were considered to be a casualty, a necessary sacrifice in the global commerce war, left to deal with serious upheaval and social costs, with little regard or concern by the power brokers who made more money or wrestled more political power from the situation.
I see the same "casualty of global commerce" playing out in many other places of America; places where Trump's outsider image has appeal. Whether it is by georgrpahic region, industry, or segment of the economy, there are "statistical casualties" being served up on the alter of globalization every day.
When he talks about "Making America Great Again" it has an appeal to those who once felt they had a future in this country. When you have lost your dreams, it is hard to not listen to a guy who promises to give them back to you. Yet, Trump does not have a time machine. He cannot roll back the hands of time and change the course of globalization in our economic system. He knows it, we know it, but the narrative has powerful appeal to those who see their future drifting further into the ditch.
Unfortunately, the Trump campaign strategy to capitalize on the frustration is one of fear, anger, and all the other negative emotions that do not come from people who are born leaders. I wish he would have used a message that is based on positive emotions, but given he is not a true leader, I don't think he is able to craft a message of change on anything other than negative emotions. Fear and anger are the most powerful emotions in the human mind. His advisers know that. When I peel back the layers of his messages, I see fear and anger as the basis for most of it.
World history is full of tragic stories of cultures reacting to the natural emotions of fear and anger. None of the outcomes history shows us are very good.
All that said about Trump's message being based on fear and anger, there is not a chance in Hell that I would vote for Hillary. So, I find myself in a search for a write-in candidate, knowing that my vote will surely not be for the winner.
I accept that I will not be voting for the winner. That is fine. I expect the next four years to have serious complications, no matter which candidate is elected. If the popularity of Trump and Sanders tells us anything, it is that America is on the brink of some serious upheaval. If history is any indicator, the current "Insiders" will do all they can to hold on. They will hope that throwing a few bones to the peasants will settle the unrest and allow them to stay at the Command and Control center.
What bones they can throw the serfs may buy them some time, but the pot is boiling faster than they can release the steam. I think that a two-party system cannot sustain in the information age of today. To me, that is good, though it will come with some serious unrest. It is just taking a decade or two for the people to realize they don't have to accept the insider BS. In my lifetime, assuming I am not converted to grizzly turds prematurely, I will see the end of the two party system. That in itself will be chaotic. What comes out the other end of the tube, who knows, but I suspect it will be better than the two-party system of today.
When you see a merging of the politicians, the media, and the funding mechanisms that drive it, all fighting to keep the status quo, to the point where they all look to be one in the same, you know the status quo is in big trouble. And they know it.
By voting for neither of the status quo, I hope my vote is one more straw on the camel's back and that the camel's back breaks, sooner rather than later.
Thanks. Well stated!
