I had vowed not to write about the circus that the political scene in the United States has become over the last few years but I feel that I must, if only to let off some steam, to constructively direct my passion (which might be construed as ranting by some, but so be it) and to perhaps spur a critical mass who will join with me for a #StopTheMadness movement.
So where do I begin? I won’t dignify Donald Trump (as an extreme narcissist he loves the attention) with starting with him. I will start my rant with Mitch McConnell who is leading the unprecedented charge to block ANY candidate that President Obama might nominate to replace recently deceased Supreme Court Justice Scalia. No matter who it is, McConnell and his followers are hell bent on saying “no.” Why? They say it is because they know that the President will nominate a liberal. Is that the real reason or is it because ever since President Obama took the oath over 7 years ago, the conservative Republican block vowed to stop everything and anything that the President might propose. Do we not think that race has something to do this this? The press has admitted that Obama is the most criticized president in history from questioning his citizenship, to his patriotism to his religion.
The Republican candidates continue to bash anything that Obama has accomplished during his presidency. One of the most common criticisms is that the economy has suffered greatly under the Obama administration. What about the decline in unemployment rates that were at a high of 12 percent during the recent recession and are now down to about 6 percent? What about gas prices that are historically low? Even Warren Buffet has recently said that the economic doom and gloom being touted by the republican candidates as “dead wrong.” He claims a bright future for the economy.
Vadim Liberman, regular blogger for The Inclusion Solution, wrote about Ben Carson’s assertion last week that President Obama does not really represent blacks because he was raised in a white environment? As Liberman said, I don’t think the POTUS ever claimed to represent blacks. And Ben you think you do? Please!
My biggest “I don’t believe this is happening” is that some religious leaders support a candidate like Donald Trump who displays such egregious behavior that is the antithesis of what Christians are supposed to be about. His endless insults and just plain nasty behavior is not what the Bible teaches.
A recent Wall Street Journal article that posited that Donald Trump is dividing households because husbands are more likely to support Trump than wives. The article said that men support Trump because they are tired of political correctness and feel that Trump represents their positions and their frustrations of feeling marginalized as white men. I hope that feeling is not related to Trump’s reluctance to denounce an endorsement from the KKK.
It is shameful that none of the candidates, Democrats included, have focused enough on the real issues facing our country and our world. And it is more shameful that the general public does not seem to demand that they do so. It seems that all of the candidates have fallen prey to Trump’s tactics of slinging personal attacks and it seems like what I hope is only a significant minority rally behind the candidate who can dig the deepest barbs. I guess the other candidates see Trump’s strategy working and in desperation are following it.
I think the Presidential candidates and many of the Republican legislators who are blocking all of Obama’s proposals are all acting like a bunch of twelve year olds (and that is a stretch…maybe 9 year olds) who don’t have the maturity to know how to engage in mature and civil discourse. They are behaving like bullies, telling falsehoods and polarizing the country even more. I don’t want to use stronger language and suggest that they are behaving like racist, sexist, Xenophobic, homophobic morons (oops, I just did). Please #StopTheMadness…This is not who we really are as a country, is it? I am really afraid that we are losing ground on the inclusion movement. Let’s make sure that our voices are heard.
PS. My dad was a Republican and he was a kind, gentle, loving person. A God fearing man, dad did not drink or use foul language. He was a hard worker, read his Bible daily and lived Christian principles. Conservative, yes, but mean spirited, never. My dad is the kind of Republican that I remember.
