Tag politics

Oh dear, who to vote for?

JT Twissel 21 Comments

Here in California we recently lost one of our longest serving senators, Diane Feinstein. Regardless of your political leanings, I remember the Milk/Moscone murders and how she stepped in and took control. She was not a woman to be trifled with. Now we have to replace her.

Our “voter’s guide” arrived yesterday and the first thing Joel said was: “Holy Cow! Thirty people are running to replace Feinstein!” He hadn’t read the pamphlet; just the list of “certified candidates.” We’re actually having two elections: the first to decide who will replace Feinstein for the remainder of her term (until Jan 2025) and the second to decide who will serve for the following 6 years. Feinstein would have been up for reelection this year and so it didn’t make sense for someone to be appointed and then have to immediately start campaigning.

Only twenty-two of the certified candidates bothered to submit position statements for the guide. I guess the other eight figured that people don’t read anymore so why bother. Or maybe, like Ms. Gilani, they want to save the trees.

But … hasn’t she already betrayed the tree by submitting a photo to be printed and distributed to millions of people? So why not also include a statement instead of leaving a blank space? Doesn’t make sense to me but I have a pretty good idea where she stands on issues.

Some candidates submitted a statement but no photo. If you read through Mr. Grundmann’s diatribe you can figure out why. What do you suppose NO QUALIFIED PARTY means? Is the MAGA wing of the republican party changing it’s name?   

Mr. Early was a lot braver than Mr. Grundmann (he worked on the GI Joe television series!!) but I don’t think there’s any doubt what he’d be spending his time doing in DC. Investigating that nasty old Justice Department and rooting out the Marxist threat. Is there a Marxist threat?

This lady is practically a god in Biggs California (population 1,700) and good for her but I have no idea what sort of “grassroots transformation at the National level” she’s talking about. I doubt she does either but she is a beacon! 

Am I going to go to the trouble of checking out Liew’s website? Hell no. It’s probably a porn site.

Hey – this guy is balanced! But no telling what will happen if he gets elected and has to serve in the Senate. Think he’ll be able to remain balanced? Doubtful.

There are three highly qualified candidates running for Feinstein’s seat on the democratic side: Katie Porter, Adam Schiff and Barbara Lee. Our dilemma is to choose between the three. But it was my civic duty to at least read the statements of the others, right?  Yeah, right. It’s California, land of almonds and other nuts. Probably the only state whose voter’s guides can be amusing. 

First, Do No Harm

JT Twissel 26 Comments

Recently a number of bloggers I respect have started writing opinion pieces stating basically that  Trump should not be blamed for the rise of the Neo Nazis and their ilk, as he is only a “symptom” of the problem and not the cause.  They admit  that  he’s a despicable and vile human being but… 

I don’t know about you, gentle readers, but those “buts” always get me.  My first thought is always “Oh no, they’ve drunk the Kool-Aid.” But then I realize those bloggers have shied away from political rhetoric in the past, perhaps not wanting to offend potential readers. Thus, when they do leap to his defense, they must add a caveat to their statements such as “he’s slime but he’s not filth.”  Okay, he’s not filth but he’s also not a symptom.

A symptom is the dead canary in a coal mine, a high fever on a child, dark spots on rose leaves, or a sinister rattle under the hood. The cause is not yet known and must be acknowledged and then analyzed. Hate groups have been analyzed for a long time.  We’re way past canaries.

I think of the president as a doctor hired to heal the country.  It’s important for him to understand the country’s many open wounds but it’s equally important – if not more – to first, DO NO HARM. 

If we think about the political parties as doctors proposing cures, if you were coming down with a cold in the ’70s, Dr. Democrat would prescribe bed rest, chicken soup and plenty of liquids. Generally he wouldn’t blame you for the excessive smoking, drinking and carousing all night long that brought on the cold. He would prescribe a cure.  On the other hand, Dr. Republican would tell you that sickness was for weaklings and hospitals were for the dying.  But, if you didn’t have insurance and got pneumonia, he’d work out a long-term payment plan for his bill.  Both sides were different but not enough to confuse voters.

Fast forward to the Obama Era. If you’re coming down with a cold, Dr. Democrat would tell you to make healthy choices in your diet and exercise routines but if you did require medicine, he’d try to make sure it was affordable. 

On the other hand, Dr. Republican would tell you that you’re at liberty to live however you want, and that admonishing you to live a healthy lifestyle (as Dr. Democrat has done) violates your Constitutional rights.  If you did get pneumonia, Dr. Republican would  demand your insurance card.  And if you didn’t have one, he’d tell you that you shouldn’t be buying iPhones. But he’d also tell you to have more children because birth control is a sin.   

By 2016 the intensive squabbling between the two doctors caused patients to look for other opinions and along came:

  • Doctor Feelgood:  His cure was free healthcare for all, free higher education for all, and stricter controls on financial institutions.
  • Doctor ToughLove: His cure was to burn down all the institutions and go back to living in a log cabin. If you did get pneumonia, get a church to take care of you. 
  • Doctor Greenie: The only patient he cared about was Planet Earth, because once she was diagnosed as terminal it really wouldn’t matter how healthy the humans of the world were.
  • Doctor Denier:  You don’t really have a cold. 

Good Grief!!  It’s no wonder the country lost all confidence in doctors. So it’s no wonder that when a new doctor flew into rusty towns and villages on his magic carpet, and with all the right mojo, claimed he alone had the answers, they believed him because they’d seen him on that great altar of truth, reality television. They’d seen him in his golden tower, with his golden children and his barely clad exotic bride. Unlike other doctors, he didn’t warn them of the complications of the medicine he would prescribe if they hired him. No, there’d be no complications, there’d be no poisoned water to drink, there’d be no draft of their young sons for his wars to fight, and, best of all, political correctness would be a thing of the past. 

From Disney’s The Princess and the Frog

And when he saw those cancer cells growing in his crowds, he violated that first rule of being a doctor: first DO NO HARM. Trump isn’t a symbol of anything. He’s the Voodoo Doctor.

*The images in this post are all from Bing Images.