Maybe, somewhere, the most rabid, partisan Democrat is
celebrating, but there’s no cause for joy, for anybody, anywhere in this
country. What is happening in the Republican Party right now is embarrassing. And horribly destructive.
As we prepare to elect someone to the country’s highest
office, someone who will be among the world’s most powerful leaders, three of
the Republican Party’s four remaining candidates are making a laughing stock of
the nation. Their grade-school taunts reached a stunning peak recently when (in
events that were televised and remain available online, permanently, for all the world to see), Marco Rubio suggested that Donald Trump
has small hands and, thus, a small “male appendage,” as a New York Times writer
put it. And that he may have peed in his pants during a debate.
And some days later, in a nationally televised debate, Trump
responded with this: “Look at those hands. Are they small hands? And he referred
to my hands: if they are small, something else must be small. I guarantee you
there is no problem. I guarantee.”
This is an example of the democracy we think the world
should admire – the greatness, I guess, that Donald Trump wants to bring out in
all of us.
Way back in the summer, for a brief moment, I subscribed to
the media herd’s conviction that Donald Trump had no chance of being elected.
Now, of course, he certainly does.
And – also “of course” – things got even more troubling this
past weekend: Trump isn’t the only horror we might inflict on ourselves and the
world. Ted Cruz won two of the five primaries and caucuses on Saturday and
Sunday and racked up enough delegates that Rubio, who has become the
presidential hope of the Republican establishment, seems likely to join John
Kasich in irrelevancy.
In appearance, Cruz is a less flamboyant, more “stable”
candidate than Trump. But he would be no less of a disaster as president. He,
too, is a nativist, a bully, a belligerent demagogue. His pledge to carpet-bomb
enemies is no less horrifying than Trump’s swaggering.
Given how intensely Republican leaders dislike Cruz, they
may soon find themselves embracing Trump. That’s how serious the damage is to
the Party of Lincoln.
The bigotry and lust for violence and force that we’re
seeing in the Republican presidential campaign aren’t new. They’ve been
brooding – and breeding – in the United States since its founding. And bigotry among
elected officials has been hovering near the boiling point for years, in such
cutely disguised forms as voter registration laws peddled as a protection
against “voter fraud.”
In this election campaign, though, some of the Republican
candidates have dispensed with subtlety. They’re saying blatantly bigoted
things, urging policies that are anathema to everything this country stands
for. And at campaign rallies, they’re whipping crowds into a nativist,
white-supremacist frenzy. This kind of thing has threatened to tear the country
apart before, and it can do it again.
The United States has serious problems and challenges. To paraphrase
a confession from an Anglican prayer of penitence, we have done things we
shouldn’t have done, and we’ve left undone things we should have done. Sadly,
three of the Republican candidates have turned their backs on the teachings of
their religion and the example of Lincoln, threatening to destroy the nation
from within.
And now we seem to be headed toward a general election in
which the Republican candidate will tell Americans that our future lies in fear-inspired
policies of hatred and suspicion at home and swaggering belligerence abroad,
and the Democratic candidate will try to appeal to what Lincoln called “the
better angels of our nature.”
I was glad to see Hillary Clinton adopting the slogan “Make
America whole again” as a counterpoint to Donald Trump’s patriotic chest
puffing. But at this point, I have no idea which side will win. Do you?
This article appears in Mar 9-15, 2016.
If the establishment wins,….Democrats and or Republicans,…America looses.
Your call America.
First things first, silence those with an opinion.
With a history established in lies and deceit, as per “Whitegate”,the Benghazi tragedy, the mincing of private e-mails with classified information, the cover and acceptance of her husband’s infidelities, etc. there is cause for me to think that the harmless name calling that goes on in the debates, is just a minor distraction from what’s really at stake here.
To even consider that Hillary can make the country “whole” again is absurd.
We’ve got to remove the cancer first, before recovering and becoming whole again. Covering up reality and the truth with a Clinton band-aid will only keep our country wandering in this divided, abysmal state.
Only those who drink that left wing, liberal kool-aid have turned a blind, numb eye to what’s been going on right before our own eyes, with failed liberal policies.
As crass and bold, as Trump is, he is a breath of fresh air to me; I welcome and hope for his opportunity to make this country whole again.
That’s the liberal way. Keep the country in constant turmoil. But wait. We have a solution. This time it’s to “make the country whole again”.
They used to say, “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”
I’ve lost count of how many times Hillary has fooled her loyal followers. Or, even worse, those that know who she really is, but will vote for her anyway.
All I can say is “What a shame”.
And now I’ll leave you with one of The Who’s biggest hits…
An amoral, bigoted clown, wanna-be war criminal buffoon serial liar is a “breath of fresh air”? Seriously? They said he same thing about that other demagogue, George Wallace, back in ’68.
Earlier today after Towler posted, it was announced this past winter was the warmest on record. There is only one major party in the US that is reality-based on climate change. Only the GOP – unique among the Western democracies – are still in their absurd denial of the single most important issue facing all of us.
It’s not that far from Sarah Palin, the inheritor of Nixonian politics of resentment, to He, Trump, or Cruz or Rubio. From Tailgunner Joe McCarthy to Tailgunner Ted Cruz, to Newt Gingrich (who was explicit about polarizing to gain power); Patrick Buchanan’s vile 1992 RNC speech where he called for a culture war (viewed as the most hateful speech ever given at a major convention) to Lee Atwater and Karl Rove . . . it’s quite a list of not-Democrats.
And anyone who posts a link to a crypto-fascist website (Front Page Mag, whose by-line is a smear in itself) and then complains about *liberals* being divisive is a long, long way from the fact-based world. But again, evidently facts have a known liberal bias.
That was very “Putinesk”. Other wise, well written to the point that your English teacher would be proud. Other than that, pure hatred. What is with America these days? Think about it,…in this rather small readership,…there is no gray, there is no compromise, there is no middle of the road, there is no reaching across the isle. This election appears to be a “to the death” political joust.
Ah yes, Putin: Trump’s hero. That you attack and impugn a writer, but completely avoid the content of the writing,is very telling. Seriously, Dutch, as one who claims to read history, fill us with your wisdom on a party that denies basic science; that has spent 50 years stroking racial animosity; that by its own leaders are seeing an implosion unlike . . . you have to go back to the Whigs.
Ms. Towler, this is the second time you charge that “rapid partisan Democrat(s)” are somehow celebrating the disintegration of a once-great party. Again, you provide no evidence. Even a casual glance of left-of-center online and paper publications show no joy in this turn of events, although the more intelligent writers note this was a long reckoning coming. What you subsequently write is quite true.
For the uninitiated, Ms. Towler, who was old enough to witness the left boycotting Hubert Humphrey, voting for Dick Gregory or otherwise staying home in ’68 – thus giving us Nixon, and all the disasters that followed. Then, 32 years later Towler and City Newspaper bought the Ralph Nader snake oil there were no real differences between Bush and Gore. Who in his right mind would think that even one year later? How did that work out, Mary Anna? For our country? For the world? Even Nader supporter, Michael Moore, said two days after the November election, “Wait! We’ve made a terrible mistake!” No. Kidding. Michael. By this column I hope it is understood we cannot afford another debacle like those.
So much to say and so little time. First of all I sign my name to whatever I respond to, or initiate for that matter. Troll Whisperer? As Jeff Dunham would say “What the frig is that”? Ok, so much for the introduction.
Yup, I do have some knowledge on the subject of history. Have some on the subject of immigration, Health Care, the military and raising a family and now, enjoying grandkids, who are a blessing beyond words.
Immigration, guess what, I am one. Yup came here from The Netherlands at the age of 13. My family left it all behind, language, culture and relatives. Started anew and never regretted it for a day. It took a while to get approval to come here, but our turn finally came up and we crossed the big pond.
HealthCare, Spent 28 years as a medical imaging director. Patient care was my passion and providing the managerial leadership to keep a large private practice as well as several hospital departments going and focused on that mission.
Military-Yup Marines. Best decision I ever made. Yes, I joined during a very difficult era, but I gave my time on this side of the border. (as opposed to Canada)Viet Nam, Tragic. Politically and militarily.
The family-All good, as a matter of fact, fantastic.
History, you want historical knowledge? I’ll use that in my responses. I do have an in depth knowledge on the history that The Netherlands and America have enjoyed over the years. From the Revolutionary war, to John Paul Jones, to it’s contribution to the US government constitutionally and to the fact that The Netherlands was the first nation to recognize America as a sovereign nation. Yup, Americas first ally. (Obama overlooked that, but considering what is and is not being taught these days when it comes to history and the fact that he was probably high on something in that class,…not surprising)
So, that said,… I would like to see if we can start a trend in the comments submitted. When you criticize and or bash something or someone, give equal time to a solution. You know SOLUTION BASED COMMENTS. That would go a long way toward accomplishing something, you know, gaining some understanding. And heaven forbid reaching across the ilse.
Sempr Fi,
“Is it possible to make America whole again” you say?!?! Like Obama has been doing for seven and half years? Here’s a man who has pounced on every instance of conflict between white policemen and blacks or “white Hispanics” and blacks, not waiting for any factual evidence to justify taking one position or another, to exacerbate a racial divide that was well on its way to healing before he took office. Here’s a man who touted a non-existent gender-based wage gap. Here’s a man who is harming low-wage people, especially blacks, by allowing un-regulated immigration. Here’s a man that constantly pits race against race, ethnicity against ethnicity, gender against gender, well-to-do people against poor, antagonizes hard-working job-creating businessmen with a “you didn’t build that” and you talk about “making America whole again”? Is Hillary or Bernie going to do better? Trump has demolished political correctness. I approve of that. Trump has had his security people eject disruptive interlopers from his rallies. I approve of that. Trump wants to build a wall on the border to control immigration. I approve of that. I find touching your concern for the Party of Lincoln. Let me remind you that it was that party abolished slavery. It was that party that gave LBJ the votes he needed to pass the Voting Rights Act and the Civil Right Acts. How is that for making America whole again/ Your party supported both slavery and segregation.
Trump reminds me of the “Wizard of Oz.” Here is the scene where the dog, Toto, exposes the Wizard: (2min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZR64EF3Op…
Perhaps showing voters this scene would help them to cope with fear of the Donald.
Maybe if we see Trump as a Wizard, we can find ways to expose him, so we can find our way back to the reality of “Kansas.
http://www.SavingSchools.org
Trump reminds me of the “Wizard of Oz.” Here is the scene where the dog, Toto, exposes the Wizard: (2min)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZR64EF3Op…
Perhaps showing voters this scene would help them to cope with fear of the Donald.
Maybe if we see Trump as a Wizard, we can find ways to expose him, so we can find our way back to the reality of “Kansas.
Jeez, Harry. Trump is an illusionist? You want to know who Trump is? Look around. He’s a builder. He’s a doer. Go to NYC, Chicago or dozens of other places and look at some of the grandest buildings and properties. Not only does he build things, but he builds the best things. Look at his family. Capitalism works.
Contrast that to Bernie and Hillary, who even collectively have done nothing. They offer illusions of free stuff. Nothing is free. Eventually the other person’s money runs out. Then what? Socialism doesn’t work. It’s been proven every single time it has been tried.
Harry, you’re all about rebuilding the school system. How about restoring history classes?
The ‘big picture’ is as important as the details that sparkle in the news. Politicians are always going to be politicians, never perfect (who is), and always at the mercy of the illusionist press. So which bad behaviors are seen by our eyes and which are illusions? The question of the day.
We are all disappointed in various candidates’ behaviors, like when our child makes a bad choice, but we don’t throw our child out with the bathwater! I understand that my child will not always please me, but at least (s)he was raised to be kind and tolerant of humanity. If my child adopts the good ‘ole boys mindset of (her)/his great grandmother’s generation– speaking sexist, elitist, racist, bellicose or gratuitously inflammatory comments, then my child might be disowned. (What happens is we insert the word “president” or “candidate” in place of “child”? Do you agree or disagree? And why?)
Fear is a sad tool and hate is the path to misery.
This comment board is easy proof of that. Those who are looking at this election from a distance mostly realize they don’t need to hate, just to make good decisions. Vote! I will make my choices and you will make yours, and that is the point of Democracy. Politicians are politicians, but voters are voters.
WE NEED NOT fear each other; (fear is different from caution) feeling fear when your life is not physically threatened is usually proof of being abused, manipulated or misled. That is a tactic and we can all rise above tactics. The ‘big picture’ is as important as the details that sparkle in the news. What do you think of the big picture this election?
I will just have to paraphrase my friend who summed up this whole issue pretty nicely
” What gets me about this ‘Washington is broken’ explanation that Trump supporters have is: then why not reform the political institutions that incentivize such suboptimal collective decision making by politicians, rather than support someone who is less likely to understand how the system is suboptimal?
If we think that there is an issue with the manner in which kids are being educated, we don’t propose having inexperienced or ill-qualified teachers come in and teach as ‘outsiders’ – we instead work towards fixing the system so teachers are incentivized to work for the best interests of the education system. The same would go for policing or firefighting reform – it would be ludicrous to suggest we should simply hire ‘outsiders’ to fix the problem.”