As a nation, we have a very important decision to make come November. We will decide who will lead us for the next four years. We will decide who will be the face of America. We will decide who will determine how the rest of the world sees our country. We will decide whose core values best represent America’s. We will decide who can best defend our interests worldwide and protect us at home. We will decide who can best help heal the racial and social divisions in our country that have become so pronounced over the recent years. We will decide whose policies will best serve our economic interests. We must pick a leader that will work well with other leaders, both foreign and domestic. We are electing our next President!
Most likely, it will come down to deciding between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The Libertarian and Green parties both have candidates with a lot to offer, but they simply don’t have the votes needed to make a real difference. Of course, that could change, and maybe it should. But for today, I’ll focus on Trump and Clinton.
Never before have two candidates been so well-loved and universally-hated as these two. Trump supporters think he can do no wrong, and see Hillary as the most evil person who have ever run for office. Clinton supporters think just the opposite.
If you are one of these fanatical supporters, STOP RIGHT NOW. Take your head out of your ass, and actually give some thought about what you are doing.
The biggest argument I have heard from Trump fans, and from Trump himself, is that Hillary is the most crooked, lying politician ever to run. Now, if that is not the pot calling the kettle black, then what is? Almost everything Trump says is a lie to some degree. I am not going to debate who lies more. The bottom line is that they both lie, so get over it. If you are voting for Trump simply because Hillary is a liar, or are voting for Hillary because Trump is a liar, STOP RIGHT NOW. Take your head out of your ass, and actually give some thought about what you are doing.
Each party continually brings up scandals from the other’s past. But all we really have are innuendos and allegations. I don’t care how many times they have been repeated. Saying the same thing over and over does not make it true. They may be true, or they may not be true. But neither Trump nor Clinton has ever even been charged with a crime, let alone convicted. Both candidates have multiple closets full of skeletons. So, if you are voting for Hillary or Trump because of the allegations against one while ignoring all of the allegations against the other, STOP RIGHT NOW. Take your head out of your ass, and actually give some thought about what you are doing.
We need to pick our next leader based on what we feel they will do over the next four years. While we can, and should, look at their past behaviors, this is only a very small part of the entire decision process. What is much more important is what they are planning to do, and can do it.
There are three important things that must be considered when choosing our next President: Experience, Temperament & Capabilities, and Policy Positions.
As far as Experience is concerned, there is only one choice: Hillary Clinton. Over the past 15 years, she has served as a Senator and Secretary of State. She has personally visited and met with the leaders of over 100 countries. And that does not count the experience she gained from actually living in the White House and seeing the daily demands put upon a President. She has more experience that any of the previous presidents during the last 100 years. On the other hand, Donald Trump has no experience whatsoever. He has never held ANY elected office. His repeated gaffes when asked about foreign policy further demonstrate his lack of experience and qualifications. It’s one thing to elect a Representative, or even a Senator, with no prior experience. After, experience has to start somewhere. But not at the top! We have NEVER elected a President without some prior government or military experience. Almost all have held prior elected offices as well.
I understand many people want fresh blood in the White House to bring about change. If that is what is needed, then we need to bring in somebody that has experience in foreign affairs; somebody that has some experience as an elected official. If you need surgery, and you do not like your surgeon, you don’t hire a plumber as his replacement. You hire a different surgeon.
Temperament & Capabilities are also even more important when considering our next President. This is arguably the most stressful job on the planet. We need someone who is mentally stable; someone with thick skin; someone who can make proper decisions quickly under pressure. Keep in mind that no matter who wins in November, roughly half the people in the U.S. are going to despise that person. We cannot afford to have someone that can be effected by every criticism thrown their way. Not only is that unprofessional and childlike, it takes away valuable time needed for Presidential duties.
We also need someone that understands being President is a FULL-TIME JOB. It is not something akin to being “Chairman of the Board”, where you meet occasionally to set broad polices. It’s much, much more that that. The President is the CEO of the country. Remember, CEO stands for Chief EXECUTIVE Officer, and the President is the head of the EXECUTIVE branch. Certainly, the President must delegate, but, as Harry Truman famously stated, “The Buck stops here!”.
Last, and certainly not least, we need to look at the plans and policy positions of each of the candidates. Very few of us will agree with every one of Trump’s or Hillary’s policies. But each of us should look at their positions on the major issues, and to those issues which are important to each of us. Not only should you look at their position on each issue, but at their actual plans to follow up on their proposed policies. Are their plans even feasible? Do their plans have general support in Congress? Remember, we are not electing a King. The President may suggest new laws, but it’s Congress who must pass the laws. A President who cannot get his policies through Congress will not be an effective President.
Bottom Line: If you are planning on voting in November, make sure you are basing your vote on the totality of your candidate’s Policy Positions, Temperament, and Experience, and not just on what you have heard about their past. If you are basing your decision on character only, and not taking into account experience, temperament, capability, and policy positions, STOP RIGHT NOW. Take your head out of your ass, and actually give some thought about what you are doing.
Choose wisely.
Monday, August 8, 2016
Sunday, July 10, 2016
The disgraceful, national disrespect for Law Enforcement reach a new high (or low) point this week with the tragic death of 5 police officers in Dallas. Unfortunately, this tragedy was just a symptom of a much larger disease. That disease is our mistrust and hatred of those who are not like us.
Our law enforcement agencies are made up of millions of honest, hard-working people who put their lives on the line every day in order to protect us. They do this for very little pay and even less gratitude. This has to change. We must treat our law enforcement agencies with the respect that they deserve. For too long now, every time some part of our justice system acts in a way that we do not agree with, our first response is outrage, disrespect, and accusations of corruption.
Case in point: Last week, Republicans attacked the FBI, which is the most respected law enforcement organization in the world, simply because they did not like the outcome of an FBI investigation. Regardless of the thousands of hours of painstaking work done by the top detectives in the country, they were immediately labeled as corrupt and rigged. The Republicans’ blind hatred of Hillary has clouded their minds so that reason and rationality have been thrown out the window.
If we want respect for law enforcement, it has to start at the top. We ALL have to respect law enforcement if we expect anybody to respect them.
Holding a Congressional hearing and questioning Comey about the investigation was not out of line. It alone would have been a proper response. What was disgraceful was the immediate outrage expressed by lawmakers and other political leaders, who had NOT seen all of the evidence, calling the result corrupt and the end of the “Rule of Law”.
Let’s look at this from another angle: The Email Controversy has not directly affected any of us. No one has died as a result. (That we know of). But look at the outrage and mistrust of the FBI the result of this single investigation has generated. Republications’ hatred of Hillary is so intense that they cannot even entertain the possibility that she is not guilty of a crime.
Now, put yourself into the position of a Black person, who sees real people die at the hands of police again and again. For many blacks, their entire life experience has been shaped around a mistrust of police. If you, as a Republican, refuse to trust and respect the FBI over a single issue, how can you expect black people to trust and respect the law enforcement on levels that they interact with on a daily basis?
If we are to bring this country together, we must stop hating. And we must start at the top.
ALL OF US: We must let law enforcement do its job. Accountability must be maintained, of course. But any oversight should be formalized and conducted with respect and impartiality, and never look like a witch hunt. Whenever an unfortunate event happens, we need to stop rushing to judgement based on short, out-of-context clips of videos. Let’s wait for the results of the ensuring investigation and see what light is shed by the totality of the circumstances. If the officers in question violated the law, then (and only then) they should be prosecuted.
MEDIA: Stop worrying about ratings and put some journalistic integrity back into the system. If you are going to report a story as “news”, report it fairly and completely, without bias. If you have an opinion, label the article as an “editorial”. Ask yourself, “What would Edward R. Murrow do?”
POLITICIANS: This is a political election year, and we have two strong candidates running, each of them hated by the other party, and even hated by members of their own party.
If you are a candidate running for office, focus your campaign ads on what YOU can do to fix the problems we face. Tell us how YOU are going to make our lives better. We do NOT need you to tell us what our problems are. And we really don’t need you telling us who to blame. Just tell us how you can help make it better. Don’t run attack ads labeling the other candidate as corrupt and unfit for office. When you make speeches, stop telling us how bad your opponent is. When you do, you are just pandering to your own audience. Instead, make your speeches about how you can make our lives better. Tell us how you will bring us back together as a nation.
Regardless of how you personally feel about the other candidate, roughly half this country supports and believes in that person. If you want to convince people to vote for you, attacking the person they trust and believe in is NOT the way to do it. Attack ads just further divide us. Let’s focus on the positive, and we all will be better in the long run.
Just as distrust breeds distrust, honesty and fair-dealing will trickle down as well, and that is what it will take to heal our country. We are the greatest country in the world because we are UNITED. It is the unity of our diverse population that gives us our strength. The only thing that will ever defeat us is when that unity is destroyed. Remember the adage: United we Stand, Divided we fall. It’s more than just words.
Our law enforcement agencies are made up of millions of honest, hard-working people who put their lives on the line every day in order to protect us. They do this for very little pay and even less gratitude. This has to change. We must treat our law enforcement agencies with the respect that they deserve. For too long now, every time some part of our justice system acts in a way that we do not agree with, our first response is outrage, disrespect, and accusations of corruption.
Case in point: Last week, Republicans attacked the FBI, which is the most respected law enforcement organization in the world, simply because they did not like the outcome of an FBI investigation. Regardless of the thousands of hours of painstaking work done by the top detectives in the country, they were immediately labeled as corrupt and rigged. The Republicans’ blind hatred of Hillary has clouded their minds so that reason and rationality have been thrown out the window.
If we want respect for law enforcement, it has to start at the top. We ALL have to respect law enforcement if we expect anybody to respect them.
Holding a Congressional hearing and questioning Comey about the investigation was not out of line. It alone would have been a proper response. What was disgraceful was the immediate outrage expressed by lawmakers and other political leaders, who had NOT seen all of the evidence, calling the result corrupt and the end of the “Rule of Law”.
Let’s look at this from another angle: The Email Controversy has not directly affected any of us. No one has died as a result. (That we know of). But look at the outrage and mistrust of the FBI the result of this single investigation has generated. Republications’ hatred of Hillary is so intense that they cannot even entertain the possibility that she is not guilty of a crime.
Now, put yourself into the position of a Black person, who sees real people die at the hands of police again and again. For many blacks, their entire life experience has been shaped around a mistrust of police. If you, as a Republican, refuse to trust and respect the FBI over a single issue, how can you expect black people to trust and respect the law enforcement on levels that they interact with on a daily basis?
If we are to bring this country together, we must stop hating. And we must start at the top.
ALL OF US: We must let law enforcement do its job. Accountability must be maintained, of course. But any oversight should be formalized and conducted with respect and impartiality, and never look like a witch hunt. Whenever an unfortunate event happens, we need to stop rushing to judgement based on short, out-of-context clips of videos. Let’s wait for the results of the ensuring investigation and see what light is shed by the totality of the circumstances. If the officers in question violated the law, then (and only then) they should be prosecuted.
MEDIA: Stop worrying about ratings and put some journalistic integrity back into the system. If you are going to report a story as “news”, report it fairly and completely, without bias. If you have an opinion, label the article as an “editorial”. Ask yourself, “What would Edward R. Murrow do?”
POLITICIANS: This is a political election year, and we have two strong candidates running, each of them hated by the other party, and even hated by members of their own party.
If you are a candidate running for office, focus your campaign ads on what YOU can do to fix the problems we face. Tell us how YOU are going to make our lives better. We do NOT need you to tell us what our problems are. And we really don’t need you telling us who to blame. Just tell us how you can help make it better. Don’t run attack ads labeling the other candidate as corrupt and unfit for office. When you make speeches, stop telling us how bad your opponent is. When you do, you are just pandering to your own audience. Instead, make your speeches about how you can make our lives better. Tell us how you will bring us back together as a nation.
Regardless of how you personally feel about the other candidate, roughly half this country supports and believes in that person. If you want to convince people to vote for you, attacking the person they trust and believe in is NOT the way to do it. Attack ads just further divide us. Let’s focus on the positive, and we all will be better in the long run.
Just as distrust breeds distrust, honesty and fair-dealing will trickle down as well, and that is what it will take to heal our country. We are the greatest country in the world because we are UNITED. It is the unity of our diverse population that gives us our strength. The only thing that will ever defeat us is when that unity is destroyed. Remember the adage: United we Stand, Divided we fall. It’s more than just words.
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