Trump vs. Clinton: How did we come to this? Nightshade or arsenic? Wake up!
We have come to this because we are a nation of extremists and demonizers.
There is no compromise left in most Americans thanks to major media, big business, the government and our own stupidity.
How can so many on both sides of our political spectrum feel so disenfranchised?
Because, as I've said many times, these parties only differ in rhetoric and now the vote-grabbing politics of the last 60 years or so has caught up with us. We should use this election as a lesson in blindly voting for people because they have an R or a D behind their names or because the media tells us to hate and distrust our fellow Americans.
Few people look at outcomes rather than rhetoric and we always want the government to solve every problem, usually by restricting someone else's personal freedoms.
Let's review some of our most divisive issues.
POVERTY
In the War against Poverty, Poverty didn't just win, it wins in a blowout of Secretariat-like proportion. So why do poor people and liberals continue to elect Democrats who dispatched more than 50 years of public assistance as poverty levels rise?
As I've clearly proved before, poverty is not an issue of race or location. There are more white people living in poverty than all other races combined and just as many in rural areas as in inner cities.
So Republicans say they want to cut or limit certain benefits so poor folks can gain their independence and self-confidence. Democrats say letting kids starve and live in squalor isn't humane and the rich should give "their fair share."
Yet both politicians do this for one reason: To get re-elected in their gerrymandered districts, which they both agreed upon beforehand, while demonizing the opponents and keeping their perceived powers to help people.
SOCIAL JUSTICE
To hear it from those who believe they are discriminated against, they are as victimized now as they've ever been. I often point out that in my early lifetime, bigots in the South were still lynching blacks, gays were still in the back of the closets, forget about the LGBTQ group, and many cities still had Sundown Laws.
Yet based on behavior of many people of color, racism is raging across the country and seems to be worse than when we started this Great Society.
So, like all other issues, the media gets the most extreme people on either side of an issue to allow them to speak for the rest of us. Meanwhile, the rest of us are just trying to stay out of the way.
So, again, I ask, why do people in protected classes harbor such abject and overt hatred for anyone who even remotely disagrees with the solutions to these problems and continue voting for the same Democrats for decades?
I mean, if it's not working, they are just voting for the rhetoric.
GUN CONTROL
Please, my liberal friends, stop it! You only make it worse for those who believe in gun control when some extremist comes out and threatens to confiscate guns from Americans who simply want to protect themselves against bad guys and The Government, which is the real problem. (Too bad we can't shoot Big Businessmen.)
There are simply too many weapons in the country and too many weapon owners to believe any limitation or confiscation is practically enforceable. We already have a strong underground economy for weapons and making that worse by threatening to pass laws limiting access to guns. Sorry, that's just how it is.
I've written many times that we need to treat the disease and not the symptom. Mental health programs, zero-tolerance bullying policies, school reform, improved parenting and other programs would be much more effective.
So, why the lack of thoughtful compromise? Why is there no attempt to look at alternative solutions? Why doesn't the NRA, instead of just digging in, offer up some alternative solutions?
Because that would eliminate our perceived need to vote for a politician to solve the problem.
Instead of talking to each other, we elect surrogates who can do the screaming for us.
ENVIRONMENT
Liberals, you can't have it both ways. We've been passing aggressive environmental laws for decades now yet still the claims of Climate Change and deforestation are tossed around like the world is ending tomorrow.
If that is the case, why are you voting for the same Liberals and their failed policies for the last 50 years? The fact is, most of our environmental problems are caused by densely populated urban areas that place a huge load on a micro-ecosystem.
You want heating, cooling, water, food, cars, houses, etc? You gotta make it somewhere else and drag it into cities.
Then there are rural folks who are told they are ignorant and need to reduce their impact ion the environment - while they are surrounded by mountains, rivers, lakes, prairies, clean air, open skies, limited traffic and fresh food.
REPUBLICANS
You are on the hook, as well.
I am sick of Republicans saying we treat our veterans so poorly and our entitlement programs are screwed up and class warfare is so ugly and the IRS needs an overhaul, schools are failing, Social Security is doomed, Obamacare stinks and business is stifled by regulations, taxes and unions.
Yet the Republicans have held majorities on both sides of Congress for some time now. In fact, It was their complete and utter lack of change that turned me from a Republican to a Vlivertarian during the "Republican Revolution" of the early 90s.
If they really wanted to change these problems, do it!
RELIGION
Our founders basically wanted us to worship however we wanted - or not. I am constantly amazed at how much vitriol there is towards people of faith - usually Christians.
A handful of Christian zealots get exposed on TV and millions of non-believers condemn a religion of millions. Yet anywhere between one-third to two-thirds of Americans say they believe in Christ. If you think they are all so evil, better tell off the person on either side of you because chances are, they are Christians.
Then again, the same people who despise Christians actually believe there is something noble about mainstream Muslims that should be protected before American Christians and Jews.
COPS
One of my most conflicted issues regards how our law enforcement officers interact with American Citizens. One one hand, I want our officers to be tough on crime and criminals. On the other hand, I want our officers to leave law-abiding citizens the hell alone.
So we now have cops who are so terrified of some bad people, they over-react when confronted with passive and law-abiding citizens. Then we have these knee-jerk reactions filled with hate and epithets from Conservatives who support cops no matter the incident and Liberals who demonize cops, even if they're helping Girl Scouts across the street.
There are other issues like Vaccinations and GMOs, but we get the picture.
I have warned against a Trump-like politician and political revolt against the P.C. crowd for years now so that we are here doesn't surprise me at all.
We are here, facing a lesser-of-two-evils choice between a Democrat who is all the things she claims to hate and a Republican who isn't really a Republican, or a member of any other party.
That leaves out Third Party candidates who, I believe, only serve as spoilers.
So, why are we here? Why not listen to each other and try and understand - not agree with - but empathize with the other American's point of view.
Otherwise, it's Hillary, who has been in power or near it for more than 25 years and hasn't accomplished anything or Trump who could be our savior or the Antichrist.
