So, a friend emailed me with this subject header, saying, “So yeah, he’s not. Is he yours?”

Yes, he is.

Seriously.

Doesn’t mean I don’t think he’s crazy, but that’s how democracy works. You’re an American citizen. You don’t get to opt out. You don’t like the president? Do something about it.

Trump is our fault– all of us. We watch way, way, way too much TV and spend way too much time on stupid and wasteful narcissistic pursuits like Facebook rather than studying, reading, praying, and spending time with one another.

As a result, we’re all polarized into our little camps, everybody has their own universe inside their heads and expresses it online instead of just talking to one another.

We are a country that has fallen for the rope-a-dope of mass media marketing, most especially the powerful political tools used to shape public opinion. If we read actual books and actual facts rather than be drones listening to the talking heads on TV, there’d be no Trump.

But we don’t. And Trump is the result. It’s what we deserve.

Ignorance is not a conservative trait or a liberal one. Ignorance is simply ignorance. And ignorance is winning.

The best thing about Trump is that, hopefully, Americans of every political persuasion are now thinking the same thing: “We’ve gone too far. This thing has gotten out of hand.”

And then maybe we’ll start talking to one another again, and “compromise” won’t be a cuss word.

I personally would rather have a flawed First Black U.S. President than no First Black U.S. President at all. I figure, even an imperfect First Black U.S. President at least destroys that barrier, this insidious and ignorant unkillable stupidity about race. That’s good for the country long-term, whether the First Black U.S. President is any good at his job or not (and our president gets mixed reviews from me).

I find it baffling that women, especially white women, seem to be so amazingly ignorant about this first real opportunity to destroy yet another barrier– this insidious and ignorant unkillable stupidity about gender. Were I a woman, I’d rather have a flawed First Female U.S. President than no First Female U.S. President at all. I figure, even an imperfect First Female U.S. President at least destroys that barrier.

Putting all the rah-rah noise aside just for a moment: stepping back, way back away from all the hoopla and rhetoric, it really is hard to argue that Hillary Clinton isn’t the most qualified candidate–of either party–running. Most any argument to the contrary is mostly overheated emotional rhetorical ideology: she’s got the resume, period.

I think Bernie Sanders is the stronger candidate but would make a less effective president. I think Hillary Clinton is a very weak candidate who has astoundingly failed to land a cohesive banner message, and her grating, patronizing “I’m With Her!” and “Get Your Woman Card” ads are a mistake, but I believe she’s be a more effective president because, let’s face it, she’s much more like a liberal Republican than a conservative Democrat. (more…)

Can Bernie Sanders win the general? Seriously, will people vote for a withered-looking Sanders over a vibrant-looking (but, IMO, incredibly empty) Marco Rubio? Will people actually, seriously, cast a vote for Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton–like her or not–in a general?

I’m just a little baffled by primary politics. I love Bernie Sanders, but get serious: the vast majority of American voters are going to vote a personality or a haircut. Martin O’Malley looks and sounds a lot more like a president than anybody running. I don’t understand why people–Dems or Repubs–vote their rabid partisanship rather than vote strategically in the sense of voting for the more electable candidate.

(more…)

So, I’m in Safeway Christmas Day looking for a whistle. Safeway, of course, does not carry whistles. Nor does Walgreens or 7-Eleven or any other retailer open on Christmas Day, but when you’re desperate to finish wrapping the kids’ toys, you’ll waste gasoline driving around anyway. This white male, typical of many white males here in Ourtown, passes me in the aisle. He’s wearing a dark tee shirt, shorts and athletic shoes, and has what appears to be a Glock-18 holstered at his side. Now, what alarms me most about this guy is the outfit, not the gun. It’s about ten degrees outside and this man is walking around in a tee shirt and shorts, which immediately makes me question his state of mind. He is also open carrying in a state where obtaining a concealed carry license is about as difficult as ordering a pizza. There really is no reason to open carry in Colorado other than that you just want to be seen with your gun. Whether for political reasons or other, open carriers have made a conscious choice to raise the blood pressure of everyone around them by wandering supermarket aisles with their pistol hanging off their hip; thus making Safeway not so safe.

They know full well the discomfort and alarm they are causing. I can prove it by wandering the aisles of Safeway with my penis hanging out. I’d be drawing attention to myself, and needlessly so. In Colorado, if you can stand a background check, you can get a Concealed Carry Weapons permit and put your gun away. If you’re open carrying here, you simply want to be seen. That, or you’re trying to make some political statement about background checks leading to gun confiscation or the Apocalypse or some other lunatic nonsense. (more…)

Steve Schmidt. who very well may be my favorite Republican next to New York Times columnist David Brooks, has apparently been commissioned to make the rounds this week explaining the Trump phenomena in surprisingly plain and unemotional, un-wacky sober analysis. Trump notwithstanding, I really wish there were a lot more of this in politics (of all persuasions); a seemingly ethical exchange of views and ideas without all the screaming. My cynicism suggests Schmidt is not out there out of the goodness of his heart but is likely an agent of GOP Chairman Reince Priebus in some desperate effort to bring sanity back to the GOP race. Whatever his motivations, this is a good clip and reasonable analysis of what is happening in Republican politics.

I might also mention how disappointed I am that substantial candidates–as opposed to the more electric clown acts–are being lost in all the noise, most notably Ohio Governor John Kasich and former NJ Governor George Pataki. Snicker if you will, Kasich is a real guy. Pataki is dull as toast but actually ran the state competently. Neither has much of a chance in this environment. Neither does Scott Walker, with whom I violently disagree but also have to acknowledge him as a highly skilled political opponent, or the more flamboyant name brand governors like Christie (who blew his chance in 2012), or Jindal (what on *earth* is he thinking?).

Thus far this political season, this is the best explanation and analysis of GOP politics I’ve seen: