When the year started, we had four Democrat candidates and some seventeen Republicans running for their party’s nomination. We are now at a point where the field has been narrowed down to two Democrats and six Republicans. The rest have been voted off the island!
While mud slinging seems to have been the national sport of most elections for quite a few years, this bunch has taken it to new lows. Donald Trump wants to sue Ted Cruz. Jeb Bush and Trump are tossing insults that would put any schoolyard fracas to shame. Jeb and Marco Rubio, two Floridians, are denouncing each other’s accomplishments – or rather perhaps lack of accomplishments.
Poor Doctor Carson is desperately trying to get someone, anyone, to notice that he is still in the race. And then there is John Kasich, Governor of Ohio, who essentially could be labeled on the ballot as ‘none of the above.’
Well, if you don’t like that channel, you could always change to the other unreality show, the Democrat ticket. Here we have A Socialist and a long-standing Washington insider beating each other up with their left wings. The main attraction seems to be free stuff all around! Bernie wants to give everyone free college, totally free healthcare, free daycare, free minimum income, free cell phones. No, wait a minute. Obama beat him to that one. But Bernie is also guaranteeing free huge tax increases to pay for all the other free stuff he intends to dole out.
Then there is Hillary. Yes, the woman who has lied about, top secret emails… sorry, the publisher won’t take a column long enough to list all of her lies. But then, don’t all politicians lie? Our current President sure does. Hillary’s husband was impeached for it when he was President. Hillary likes to point to her accomplishments as Secretary of State. Uh, were there any? Sorry, I’m drawing a blank on that one. Benghazi? No. Russian reset button? No. Maybe you can name one.
Well, Hillary is big on women’s issues… as long as that woman isn’t a fetus all the way up to the time of birth. She has no problem supporting the notion of killing our children at any stage of pregnancy. A strange stance coming from a woman who professes to be a proud grandmother. I have to wonder what her stand would be if her daughter had decided to have an abortion of convenience.
Oh, that’s right there were some other Democrats who were voted off the island. Lincoln Chafee, and Jim Webb went in the first round. Poor Webb couldn’t seem to get the support of the Democratic Party, probably because he went through the first debate talking sense. Chafee, well, he wasn’t sure what party he belonged to. Martin O’Malley finally saw the light at the Iowa caucus and bid adieu to the fray.
A check of the Internet shows that there are actually some fifteen other Democrats running for President, but at this point, who even knows their name. Besides, remember when Hillary told the congressional committee investigating the Benghazi incident, “What, at this point, does it matter?” Yes indeed, at this point, what does it matter how many delegates Sanders can win? Hillary started this rigged election with enough “super delegates” to ensure her nomination. After only two primary elections, (Iowa and New Hampshire) she has 481 while Sanders has a mere 55 even though he won by a landslide in New Hampshire and nearly tied Clinton in Iowa.
And just to add a plot twist to this ‘unreality’ show, let’s kill off a major player that no one has even realized is in the show, Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Actually, no one killed Scalia. He died of a heart attack. But the plot twist effect is the same.
Just how important is this? Well, it just puts your decision right in your face. We live in times where nearly everything seems to be deeply polarized. Democrats and Republicans are, for the large part, completely divided on issues. The Supreme Court is no exception. Many if not most of their decisions are decided by a 5 to 4 vote. One could even say it is a liberal/conservative divide and not be far off the mark. Justice Scalia could always be relied upon to take the side of the actual constitutional wording, rather than try legislating from the bench.
There is a strong likelihood that the next President will be the one to appoint Scalia’s replacement. This could very well have huge consequences both in judicial decisions and in our very lives.
As much as this election process might resemble a bizarre reality sow, folks, it is not. It is time for we the people and those running for office to get serious about this election. The candidates need to show respect for each other and for the office to which they all aspire. Even more, the candidates need to show respect for the electorate, we the people, and show that they are serious about running the country with the largest economy, strongest military, and free world leader. This unreality show needs to end before the electorate turns it completely off.
