by Pa Rock
Citizen Journalist
Citizen Journalist
Yesterday a majority of Republican voters in Indiana cast
their ballots for Donald Trump causing Senator Ted Cruz, the last remaining
real obstacle to Trump’s GOP coronation, to suspend his campaign for President. The Republican race is over, and while the
Grand Old Party now finds itself saddled with a narcissistic, racist, sexist, homophobe
as its potential candidate – things could have been far worse. It could have been stuck with Ted Cruz.
Columnist Frank Bruni writing in today’s New York Times had
this to say about the junior senator from Texas: “Sour, smug, and nakedly ambitious, the Texas
senator was never built to go the distance.”
Ouch! Bruni’s entire column, a
flaming indictment of the repugnant Joe McCarthy lookalike, is well worth seeking
out and reading on the Internet. I’m
going to save a copy to remind myself four years from now just how crazy that
Texas loony tick really is.
So Trump remains, and he, like both Hillary and Bernie, is
too old to be President. Ted Cruz liked to talk about America teetering
on the edge of an abyss, and now it would seem that abyss is a senility chasm on the order
of the one that the country fell into during the Reagan administration.
Can Bernie Sanders, the only one of the three remaining
serious candidates who seems to possess any interest at all in the well-being
and future of the American people, prevail against the Clinton machine? Probably not.
Can Hillary manage to attract Sanders’ supporters to her cause and
defeat the egomaniacal Trump? Possibly
- but if she takes them for granted, it will be at her own peril.
It’s too early to declare flatly that someone as
intellectually shallow and self-absorbed as Donald Trump could never be elected
President. Sadly, I remember saying the
same thing about Reagan.
There is an old saying that God protects drunks and the
United States of America. Well, She has
apparently saved us from Ted Cruz – this time – but from here on out Her good
choices look exceedingly slim.
We are bound for interesting times - with the key word being "bound."
1 comment:
Sometimes there are blessings in disguise.
Ted Cruz is not as far as good legal thinking a “natural born citizen” as required by U.S. Const. art. II, § 1, cl. 5. He probably is by virtue of his mother having been a United States citizen, but he was not born in these United States. Some think the founders would have followed England's patrilineal law. The English Common Law was adopted in whole cloth as the Organic Law of our new Republic. The courts do not engage in hypothetical questions, due to the Article III Case and Controversy Clause. That clause means the federal courts can only address actual, not advisory, issues stemming from cases and issues before them. State courts do not necessarily have that limitation because the constitutions of some states do not impose the limitation.
Donald Trump’s presumptive nomination sent seismic tremors through the establishment of the Republican Party. Eight years of hate radio and FOX NEWS propaganda opened the door to the worst elements of American society to advance the least qualified person ever to contend for the White House. Neither George H.W. nor George W. Bush will endorse their party’s nominee this year. The Republican Party is moribund.
Over the next four years real Republicans will have to decide whether or not to remain with the remnants of the GOP and fight for its resurrection, seek to form a new party, or to join the Democratic Party. As a Democrat I prefer they choose one of the first two options. Democrats need to get back to being a populist party and an influx of disaffected, conservative, business-loving, low wage paying Republicans won’t mix. My Evangelical friends ought to remember the teachings of Christ and the early Disciples. Christ’s kingdom is not of this world. The mixing of religion with politics has soured, becoming bitter in their mouths. My Catholic friends should heed the message of the Pope about toning it down on abortion. Christ did not advocate for a theocracy. His followers, if they are His followers, will give up this folly.
Finally we have the Bernie or Bust crowd which comprises a significant number of persons new to the Democratic Party. If they are Democrats they will vote for the nominee, and more importantly stick around to build the Democratic Party into their vision of a dynamic populist force. If not, then aren’t they the counterpart to Trump’s minions who would never have joined the GOP except on a gambit? If you want to be a member of a political party then go in whole hog.
Finally the largest blessing is that big money wasn’t able to buy a candidate of their choice for the highest office in the land. Not to be done the Emperor of all Special Interest Groups – EVER, the American Legislative Exchange Council, or ALEC, has lowered their sites to now include capturing local government to do its bidding.
Big Money is a cancer on the body politic and it is metastasizing.
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