Unfortunately for him, Rubio's best speech, and most honest outing, was his concession/quitting speech. At least he finally said out loud what I have long believed. He put the blame for where we are squarely on the shoulders of those responsible.
The people responsible for Trump, and for that matter, Sanders, are the entrenched elected class in DC. Most of them serving over 15 years in Congress, they have completely lost the American people. I will not ever vote for Trump, because I won't vote for someone that courts violence, bigotry and jingoism. However, he is the future of the Republican party. I think that Sanders is a potential future of the Democrat Party, in the same way.
There is deep and bitter resentment at the leadership of both parties. The ship of state was entrusted to them, and they have wrecked it on rocks that we marked for them to avoid. They have completely ignored and abused the American people, with the condescending air of the elite. More attuned with the lobbyists and money class that purchased their souls, decades ago, they have given up governing for the good of the people, and now govern for the good of themselves and their cronies.
The group scrambling most madly to stop Trump, is the group that created him. Not only don't they see it, or recognize their responsibility, they also refuse to see what has caused the phenomenon. We did not send them to Washington to refuse to govern and playact over every insignificant issue. We did not send them to Washington to look out for the interests of the Koch brothers and the top 1%, at the exclusion of the other 99%.
There is nothing more self serving, than a "NO" politician. It is the easiest role in the world to play and the least worthwhile. If you campaign and govern around what you will not support, you are useless. If you do not have concrete ideas as to what we will change to accomplish our shared goals, it is next to foolish to be against something. Parents talking to their 3 year old can get away with "I told you so." Our elected officials should not be able to use that line, and as the 3 year olds they are talking to, shame on us for putting up with it.
If you do not like Obamacare, that is fine. There are certainly flaws, but what will you replace it with? A Trump pledge to have something so much better, without the lines (whatever that means), that is managed by the free market? Yeah, I don't think trusting Big Medicine to look out for our best interest is a good idea, and it was the driving reason behind creating Obamacare. The companies and entities that make up Big Medicine are not out for the best interest of the patients, they are out for the best interest of the shareholders. Look at the GM ignition switch scandal, the Toyota accelerator scandal, the airbag scandal. Those are example of what happens in a corporate regulated culture that is slaved to the best interest of the shareholders. Do you want that being the driver behind the hospital that operates on your heart? Or worse yet, do you want that to be the hospital you take your spouse or child to?
If you do not like the tax situation, that is fine. But, the American people have learned the fallacy of the promise that if you make it less painful on the richest people, the economic benefits trickle down. It has not worked in a sustained way, yet. I don't particularly want to pay more taxes, but I also don't want to continue to drive on roads that are in as bad a shape as our interstates, or travel bridges that are actually condemned, unsafe for travel, but still in use because there are no alternatives. I don't want to drink water from the Flint water treatment system. I don't want to let Duke Energy have free reign to regulate themselves and their coal ash pits. We have bills to pay, regardless of whether we like it or not. Cutting the revenue to service those bills does not work at your kitchen table, and it will not work in the public sector.
If you don't like the social constructs, gay marriage, abortion, etc, that is fine. Most probably agree with you. However, this is not a reason to shut down the government. Really heartfelt people that are deeply convicted in their faith, will still not support shutting down the government or failing to make progress in government over these distractions. We have litigated and legislated it over and over again. It is time to move on from that dead end debate, and face the actions and task required to make this nation solvent and strong.
Newsflash, there has been gay folks here in America since there has been people in America. (Yes, there were even gay Native Americans, it was not a contamination of the white scourge.) There has been poor and destitute people in American since there has been people in America. There has been sick people, physically and medically, in America since there has been people in America. The only thing that has changed has been our treatment and interaction with them.
For a while, in the late 1800's and early 1900's under the Republicans, and in the mid to late 1900's under the Democrats, we have progressed in our treatment and concern for the less fortunate and non-comforming members of society. Since the turn of the century, we have lost our way. Until the last eight years, where we have worked to make healthcare affordable to all and tolerance the law of the land. The Democrats only claim to superiority is that they have proposed a plan and a path, and by virtue of having a plan and a path, they got it done. Something always trumps nothing, even in River City. I think it is flawed, deeply, but it is progress.
Unfortunately, the Republican Party has managed to refuse to be part of the conversation that moves things forward. In their fit of rage, they have played the obstructionist. They have had a majority of the Congress and failed to put forward alternatives, failed to point a path forward in a coherent way, failed to govern. The one thing I will say for President Obama is that compared to the GOP, he looks sober, sane, concerned and like the adult in the room. Regardless of ideology, in comparison, the GOP suffers. And, it has enraged them and driven them further from the road of governance.
Even those predisposed culturally to hang tight to the GOP, have lost faith in the federal ruling class of the red states. They have refused to just do what the leadership thinks is good for them, and have supported a buffoon, because he was man enough to say things out loud they wanted to hear. Not so much, in my opinion, because the people are bigoted or close minded, but because they want rid of the folks that claim ideologic purity, say the right things in the right way, but have no ideas, no governance in them and no plan and path forward for the nation. The people are convinced that just cutting taxes and making gay marriage illegal is not an adequate plan forward for our nation any longer, and they don't trust people that are predicating their entire campaign on that. Likewise, most of the voting people in the nation claim they don't like Obamacare, dispute it bitterly, but are not going to vote for the guy that wants to turn their health care and insurance over to Big Medicine. They know how well that has worked for us in the past.
These are the realities, born out in state after state. This is especially true in the Republican Party, because its leadership, and the vision and candidates that they have put forward have been tremendously flawed. Rubio was an empty suit. Cruz is a lying, egomaniac. Bush was another 4 years of the buffoonery that caused most of our misery. Carson was a brother from another mother, and the mother was an alien from a galaxy far, far away. The rest were an alphabet soup of stirred up, incoherent crazy. Trump is all of those things, but he has put his thumb in Congress' eye and gouged and gouged and gouged. We believe, falsely, that he is not driven and controlled by the money class, that he is immune to big money.
Trump is big money. He doesn't need to let them in his circle, nor does he have to have them on his PAC. The billionaire class is not rebelling against Trump because Trump is one of them. They know they will be just fine if he is elected. The ones that are making noise are the smart ones, that realize he may struggle in a general election, he is too loose a cannon. They do not worry about what he will do, he is one of them, they know what he will do. Somehow, hard working folks, out of work due to corporate greed and graft, have gotten the notion that this guy is going to be on their side.
If you are one of them, and you think you hated Obama, wait for a Trump administration. It will make America crumble, like other Trump properties in troubled economies. If you measure your candidate by business success, realize Trump makes money where the economy is good, and folds and declares bankruptcy when the economy is bad. Hopefully, we never have a President with those tendencies, because there is nowhere for American to sue for bankruptcy, nor to make someone else pay our bills without a hefty penalty to the entire world.
And, I will not let Hillary slide. The Democrat Party has rigged its system to make sure the establishment picks the candidate, she is going to be the nominee, unless she is indicted, and maybe even so if she is. And she should be indicted. As a 26 year old E6 in the Navy, when I got my first government email address, I knew that having classified material in my unsecured email, whether it was marked or not, was a crime. It was my responsibility to know it, report it if I saw it, and make sure it did not get disseminated. Anyone that has ever served in the military in the email age will tell you the same thing.
Do not tell me that as Secretary of State, she did not recognize the classified nature of any of those emails at question, whether they were marked or not. Simply because the property is not marked that it belongs to someone else, does not prevent it from being a crime if you take it. As one of the top 5 people in succession to the Presidency, you should be required to be held to a higher standard and a higher responsibility than an E1 in the military at 18 years of age. If not higher, than at least the same standard and responsibility. And if she is, she is a criminal and should be prosecuted. If this was some functionary at an embassy in Dubai, they would be prosecuted as a potential spy.
I don't care that she has a vagina, or that she was married to Bill Clinton, or that she has a resume. The activity I avoided at my menial, functionary level in the government for 12 years, because it was illegal, was illegal for her too. I don't care about Vince Foster and Whitewater and whatever other shady nonsense you pile up on her. She is a criminal, who practiced activities potentially detrimental to the safety and security of the United States and that should disqualify her from running for President.
But, trust me, it is a toss up in a Trump/Clinton general. Their sleaziness kind of cancels out. The scary part to me is that angry might win, and Trump might become President. A character that only Jim Carrey could play in film, might become our President. Everyone better get straight and get smart and get on board. After last night, we are going to have a straight up traitor and criminal as President, or a sideshow barker with no scruples as President. This is what we have given ourselves.
It just sucks. Thanks. I have said it over and over again. But, we deserve what we ask for. We just have to touch this stove to see if it is hot. I just hope the burn is not so severe that it is deadly. It could be. I am praying for us, for America, and for God to make it okay. We sure as hell are not.
GLYASDI
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