I punch Myself In the Face : Election 2016

Sky Falling ©2016 Turtle Heart

editorial opinion

@2016 Turtle Heart

The other day I was watching the news, the coverage of Flint Michigan…sort of grim news that was sneaked in between the Donald Trump coverage. The story of an actual Gov who took away elected officials, destroying democracy in his state (and somehow not being arrested for it)…a wormy, tiny, high-voiced pissy little white man. Flint Michigan with one school nurse for the entire school system. No grocery stores because the “big chain” supermarkets will not build in poor black communities. Thousands of children poisoned with toxic water. Thousands. For two years. The wormy Gov still not arrested.

I wept. I banged my head on my desk and tears poured down my face. My fucking country, the United States.

The Republicans. The GOP. In control of 37 states. They did this. The GOP. A party now so toxic, so stupid, they are dangerous to humanity, a threat to civilisation. Actual monsters. So I wept. In shame and outrage.

I read these stories. These outrages. Often I take the time to read the comments. In the face of so much disgrace, I read comment after comment where people actually support these bastards, these liars, these criminals, these inept, posturing, piss-faced clowns that populate the Republican party.

I write and publish my own words. So I can say whatever I want. I don’t have to be nice. I don’t have to be polite. Maybe Donald Trump has given us all permission to say it as we feel it. Maybe if writers like me scream and curse and weep and call out the GOP something will change.

I don’t live in America anymore. I got out. I would like to say I live in a better place. In many respects, I do. But Italy is very high on the Corruption Scale. It has one of the most inept, stupid, cowardly, over-paid and clueless governments on earth. Yet, even with the corruption and incompetence, every person here has health care. Every person has food to eat and a place to live and a little money in their pocket. In America I have been homeless. I have been sick with no way to see a doctor. I have lived in poverty with not a penny to my name sometimes. In America. But never in Italy, corrupt and inept though it is.

I voted in the last two elections for Obama. I would have preferred to vote for HRC. I think, in spite of everything, Obama has been a good President. I also think he jumped the gun. Was impatient for useless self-confirmation. He should not have run when he did. That’s my could have been take. Has the intervening time broken HRC? Answer: no.

Young People. This fractured demographic apparently likes Bernie Sanders. Bernie Sanders. A bat shit crazy old man. Sanders is a more user-friendly version of Donald Trump. If American voters were disgusted and astonished at the near absolute opposition of the GOP to every word out of Obama’s mouth, with Sanders they have seen nothing yet. If Sanders were to become President, dogs would refuse to bark, champagne would refuse to fizz, the Eagle would refuse to fly and it would snow up, rather than down. Sanders would be an absolute disaster…and perhaps it is in fact the GOP, actual Republican voters who are out voting for Sanders…imitating Claire McCaskill in hand-picking her opponent. The GOP would love to see Sanders as the candidate. I believe republicans are voting for Sanders as the best way to stop Clinton. Otherwise we are left with the conclusion that America’s young people have lost their souls, lost their minds, lost their way and have replaced confusion with reason in this decidedly strange election cycle. 

So. Occasionally, now, before I gather the latest news; I punch myself in the face. To be sure I am awake. To be sure I can feel. To give me the strength to watch more Donald Trump and Ted Cruz…with the sound off…because no way will I listen to these “men” actually speak. One can learn a great deal by watching politicians with the sound turned off. Body language often tells a leaner, more subtle truth. And you don’t end up throwing your TV out the window, at least not so much.