Trump Wagon

Give me a break! Trump this, and Trump that. Reports everyday throughout each day about Trump and what he said, did, or didn’t say or didn’t do. This is not a Trump Report. This is Trump Frenzy. And it didn’t start with the Donald. No. It started with the media.

Why? Because it is worth ratings which equal money. Simple as that. Doesn’t get any simpler.

Perhaps the best discussion of this is contained in a slice of Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show with guest Rachel Maddow. Their discussion of the Donald and what ‘it’ means is priceless. And funny. In fact, it’s comedy at the highest echelon.

Bless Rachel Maddow. She is brilliant and intelligent. A winning combination.

But there is more to this ‘story’. Sad but true. Seems 57% of republicans now believe the Donald is destined to win the party’s nomination and will be the standard bearer of the party in the 2016 Presidential election. Now that’s a turn to note. A few weeks ago the republicans were downright embarrassed by Trump. They did not want ownership of him, nor his ownership of the party label. Still, the happening is taking shape.

There is plenty of time for this to become undone and The Donald to slip into obscurity well before the nominating convention. But will the damage have been done? Might that damage be too much for the party to repair in time to win an actual election?

There’s two ways to look at this actually.

First, Donald wins the nomination and runs against the Democratic ticket.

Second, Donald loses the nomination and someone else runs against the Democratic candidate.

Both are not good for the republicans. And here’s why.

First, Donald only gives quick snips of issues. Christmas? Don’t we have more important things to think about than Christmas and keeping the religious message in the holiday? Give us all a break. Ours is a diverse society. We have Christians, Jews, Muslims, evangelicals, nut jobs, atheists and agnostics in our mix. Each has the freedom to believe as they do. It is not up to the rest of us to insist anyone follow our lead in supporting one religion over another. In fact to do so would be downright un-American!

Second, so you don’t like gay and lesbian issues to talk about? Then don’t. No one is making you talk about these themes. But Donald wants you to. It is easier that way so you don’t realize he doesn’t have anything substantive to chat about.

Third, immigration reform? Please! Neither party has been able to wrestle this issue to the ground and solve it. Both parties working together haven’t been able to do so either. So at some time or other we as a nation have to determine if immigration reform is an issue or not. Right now it is not. It does pose political grist for nonsense distraction. We will not build a large wall between Mexico and the USA. Mainly because we have thousands of miles of coast line that are even more permeable than the land border with Mexico. Given that reality, what’s next to do? And don’t forget we have that other border to the north with Canada that is entirely land locked. What do we do there? If we do one thing to the south and another to the north, doesn’t that make us look more than a little ridiculous.

Fourth, job creation is not all about the private sector. A kajillion jobs (technical term, look it up) are with the federal and state governments. Military for one. National Guard for another. Road maintenance, college teachers and professors, clerks, court personnel, police, fire, park employees and millions of library workers. Who do we think does all this work? It isn’t done by companies. They say they want profits. So the public sector is left to do the heavy lifting. And that takes employees, careers, dedication, professionalism and all the rest. To attract those workers we need to pay marketable salaries and offer competitive benefits. Would you work for nothing and with no benefits? Well neither to public employees. They are not feeders as the public trough!

Fifth, economic improvement comes when risk takers are willing to take risks for the attractive paybacks offered in such undertakings. No one is guaranteeing success. It is their task to assume. Government policies can help in this arena. Stimulation of risk taking often is the subject of government policy. It is not a bad thing. Just look at the Koch brothers. They lobby for government policy so they can earn more money! They also lobby for more risk coverage by government so they have less to lose. That’s what all the lobbying is about!

OK. So we have covered the above 5. When we all realize that the above are distractions to the really big issues we need to attend to, then we might actually get something done.

You begin to see? The republican party has not provided the country with a viable plan or set of ideas for 40 years that would make a good difference in all of our lives. Why then do we allow them to play in our playground? Bullies? Maybe that’s it.

Whatever, it’s time for serious people to talk seriously about the issues that truly matter to our well being, quality of life, and world peace. If the only thing that turns you on in these matters is “Making America Great Again”, then realize that is through power, force and military might. That does not bode well for world peace. So drop that line of thinking and get back to work.

Only the serious need apply. So far that is Hillary and Bernie. Maybe we should move up the election and get this over with. Then let Obama finish out his term and let Hillary and Bernie team up and prepare for their administration.

Oh. One last thing. Let’s get rid of the political party labels. No more republicans and democrats. Let’s just call them the good guys and the bad guys. After all, the bickering demonstrates that’s all the media cares about anyway. So let them.

Meanwhile, serious people will be at work getting things accomplished.

Yea team!

August 26, 2015