PUBLISHED IN THE AUGUST 4 EDITION
Posted: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 2:24 pm
With the primary election over in Missouri, we’ve earned this brief vacation from the assault on our eyes and ears from television and radio. Enjoy it, voters – it won’t last long.
Maybe we can use this brief cease-fire from the political wars to consider what we’ve just witnessed with both national conventions and parties.
While we have little opportunity to know statewide candidates personally (Gov. Jay Nixon being the exception in these parts), there is virtually no chance to really “know” national candidates. The best we can do is compare some of their obvious characteristics with those of people we do know.
Yes, that could work.
We’ll dispense with the most obvious characteristic, sad as it is – they’re all liars.
They have to be. No one could stand up to the microscopic scrutiny of a national campaign, as conducted by the press, the other party and all the political action committee hit squads. None of us could do it, either. We’d all be liars, too.
Here’s why: Every statement they’ve ever made became a public record. If they’ve ever contradicted one even slightly in a later statement, this will be offered as proof of being a liar. They are not allowed to misremember; they are not allowed to change their minds. If they do – as all humans do at some point – they are branded as liars because someone will have the goods from a college term paper or a grainy video of a speech from 1983.
Even the most pious, well-intentioned person will be lumped in with baldfaced liars. So for those of us who don’t know the candidate, it can be hard to sort out what kind of liar we have.
We can, though, identify some traits based on our experiences with people we have known.
For example, who hasn’t known a schoolyard bully? You remember, the guy who picked on littler people, either physically or verbally. Remember how he mocked people, maybe made fun of kids with physical imperfections? Remember how most kids would just avoid him, but usually – hopefully – there would be one or two who would stand up to the bully, who then inevitably would back down. Remember how you admired the kids who stood up?
Would you vote for that bully for president?
How about the rich kid, the one who lorded his parents’ wealth over the others, who showed off his cool shoes or clothes or car? You know the type – the braggart who’d been born on third base and went through life telling people he’d hit a triple.
Would you vote for that guy?
How about the swindler who cheated kids out of their candy or lunch money, either by force or trickery? This wheeler-dealer always had a scheme, but when the scheme blew up, it was always his friends or creditors who took the fall, not him.
Would the swindler get your vote?
As we get older, we run into this guy in different settings. How about the bigmouth at your club or in your softball league, at work or at your favorite watering hole? There is nothing this guy doesn’t know. He is his own best adviser and doesn’t need any information or alternative opinions because he knows it all. He’s always right, and anyone who disagrees with him is a moron. Collaboration is for wimps, compromise for sissies.
Good presidential material, that guy?
How about the macho man? He’s the guy who puts a huge premium on physical appearance, a skin-deep sort of dude. He brags about his attractive third spouse, his own sexual prowess, about how he’s going to kick ass on his enemies. He lives in a world where brute force rules. He’s a man of action who doesn’t seem to consider the aftermath because his main thing is to show strength and be a “winner.”
Want to put that guy’s finger on the button?
We’ve come to a moment in our history, friends, with two really unappealing choices. The best summary of the situation I’ve seen was an editorial cartoon that ran a couple of weeks ago. It showed a man, looking slightly puzzled but thoughtful.
“I’m not crazy about Hillary,” the man said, “but I’m not crazy.”
Exactly.
I’m going to take a hard look at Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor and Libertarian candidate for president. Both the major parties will claim a vote for him is a wasted vote or a vote for their opponent.
Baloney. As a person who has voted for a Libertarian presidential candidate before, I’ve never bought that argument. It’s especially galling to come from the major parties, considering the tragically flawed candidates they’ve nominated.
If you buy into the “wasted vote” theory, you are ceding permanent control to those two bands of bunglers – and yes, this year they’ve earned the title.
If there’s ever going to be change, it might take a third party to do it. The movement’s been afoot for more than a century – Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 with the Bull Moose Party, Henry Wallace in 1948, George Wallace in 1968, John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot in 1992.
Considering the lousy choices we have this year, there is a more urgent need for a viable third party candidate in 2016 than in any of those other years.
But whatever you do, don’t put the egomaniac bully’s finger on the button. Don’t let America sink that low, or that dangerously crazy.
Posted: Wednesday, August 10, 2016 2:24 pm
With the primary election over in Missouri, we’ve earned this brief vacation from the assault on our eyes and ears from television and radio. Enjoy it, voters – it won’t last long.
Maybe we can use this brief cease-fire from the political wars to consider what we’ve just witnessed with both national conventions and parties.
While we have little opportunity to know statewide candidates personally (Gov. Jay Nixon being the exception in these parts), there is virtually no chance to really “know” national candidates. The best we can do is compare some of their obvious characteristics with those of people we do know.
Yes, that could work.
We’ll dispense with the most obvious characteristic, sad as it is – they’re all liars.
They have to be. No one could stand up to the microscopic scrutiny of a national campaign, as conducted by the press, the other party and all the political action committee hit squads. None of us could do it, either. We’d all be liars, too.
Here’s why: Every statement they’ve ever made became a public record. If they’ve ever contradicted one even slightly in a later statement, this will be offered as proof of being a liar. They are not allowed to misremember; they are not allowed to change their minds. If they do – as all humans do at some point – they are branded as liars because someone will have the goods from a college term paper or a grainy video of a speech from 1983.
Even the most pious, well-intentioned person will be lumped in with baldfaced liars. So for those of us who don’t know the candidate, it can be hard to sort out what kind of liar we have.
We can, though, identify some traits based on our experiences with people we have known.
For example, who hasn’t known a schoolyard bully? You remember, the guy who picked on littler people, either physically or verbally. Remember how he mocked people, maybe made fun of kids with physical imperfections? Remember how most kids would just avoid him, but usually – hopefully – there would be one or two who would stand up to the bully, who then inevitably would back down. Remember how you admired the kids who stood up?
Would you vote for that bully for president?
How about the rich kid, the one who lorded his parents’ wealth over the others, who showed off his cool shoes or clothes or car? You know the type – the braggart who’d been born on third base and went through life telling people he’d hit a triple.
Would you vote for that guy?
How about the swindler who cheated kids out of their candy or lunch money, either by force or trickery? This wheeler-dealer always had a scheme, but when the scheme blew up, it was always his friends or creditors who took the fall, not him.
Would the swindler get your vote?
As we get older, we run into this guy in different settings. How about the bigmouth at your club or in your softball league, at work or at your favorite watering hole? There is nothing this guy doesn’t know. He is his own best adviser and doesn’t need any information or alternative opinions because he knows it all. He’s always right, and anyone who disagrees with him is a moron. Collaboration is for wimps, compromise for sissies.
Good presidential material, that guy?
How about the macho man? He’s the guy who puts a huge premium on physical appearance, a skin-deep sort of dude. He brags about his attractive third spouse, his own sexual prowess, about how he’s going to kick ass on his enemies. He lives in a world where brute force rules. He’s a man of action who doesn’t seem to consider the aftermath because his main thing is to show strength and be a “winner.”
Want to put that guy’s finger on the button?
We’ve come to a moment in our history, friends, with two really unappealing choices. The best summary of the situation I’ve seen was an editorial cartoon that ran a couple of weeks ago. It showed a man, looking slightly puzzled but thoughtful.
“I’m not crazy about Hillary,” the man said, “but I’m not crazy.”
Exactly.
I’m going to take a hard look at Gary Johnson, the former New Mexico governor and Libertarian candidate for president. Both the major parties will claim a vote for him is a wasted vote or a vote for their opponent.
Baloney. As a person who has voted for a Libertarian presidential candidate before, I’ve never bought that argument. It’s especially galling to come from the major parties, considering the tragically flawed candidates they’ve nominated.
If you buy into the “wasted vote” theory, you are ceding permanent control to those two bands of bunglers – and yes, this year they’ve earned the title.
If there’s ever going to be change, it might take a third party to do it. The movement’s been afoot for more than a century – Teddy Roosevelt in 1912 with the Bull Moose Party, Henry Wallace in 1948, George Wallace in 1968, John Anderson in 1980 and Ross Perot in 1992.
Considering the lousy choices we have this year, there is a more urgent need for a viable third party candidate in 2016 than in any of those other years.
But whatever you do, don’t put the egomaniac bully’s finger on the button. Don’t let America sink that low, or that dangerously crazy.
