The 2016 Elections

Much is being said about the 2016 elections.  Very little of it is positive.  After years of congressional stalemate, rising social despair as a result of an inept process and the stonewalling of one party against another, one would think we lived in a "cold war" state with one "monarchy forever challenging the other for absolute political power.  Even the Supreme Court has become a bastion of partisan politics.

Only in a deeply dissatisfied nation could the likes of a Donald Trump find audience for his oft offensive and divisive language.  To be clear, we are a deeply divided, scared and worn out body politic.

For decades Americans have been subjected to the same'ole-same''ole come election time.  With politicians rarely answering questions put to them, employing mud-slinging in lieu of debate, and making promises, promises, promises with no obvious plan in hand.

American Democracy has transformed into Hypocrisy--one party against another, with neither willing to give a centimeter of ground.  Whoever is elected to the White House the target of relentless opposition and threats from day one.

Executive and legislative cooperation happens only under threat of political annihilation at the polls.

We blame the Middle East for its strong religious undercurrent, where the Ayatollah is the supreme leader in many countries.  But how are we different, when the word "Evangelical Christian" determines what one party will or will not do.

Religious freedom is one of  many freedoms we enjoy as Americans, but somehow we have raised religious freedom above all the rest.  We have made it a litmus test for making it to the white house.  We have lost out way...we are no longer a government of the People, by the People and for the People.

We have become a government of the few, for the few and by the few.  The Conservative stands on one side, the Liberal on the other.   There appears to be no in-between.  These categories have been tightly defined over time and now they threaten to destroy us.

Rational individuals with a wider world view realize that the U.S. is awash with millions of ideas and beliefs. We are neither a conservative nor a liberal nation.  Nor are we a christian or non-christian nation.  We are an amalgamation of peoples, all of whom came from somewhere else.

America began as a beacon of hope for a new way.  And how we got here is an interesting story, but right now it would be best to focus on where we are and how we move out of this hole we've dug ourselves into.

Donald Trump's popularity is not because he will make a great president.  Donald Trump's popularity owes its appeal to the inability of those running for office to speak from the heart and not from the prompter.  To speak the truth, even if the truth is hard to speak

First, we must accept the fact that no president ever solved all of our problems.  Our form of government does not give him/her that much power.

Second, not every member of congress is a political insider whose only goal is reelection and power.

Third, we have lost the ability to compromise with those who disagree with us.

Fourth, millions do not vote, and yet voting is the best way to express your support for, or you dissatisfaction with, the current state of affairs.

The Government works for Us.  The People.  We do not work for it.  That being said, we as individuals cannot have everything we want.  Only the castaway on a deserted island has that option, and even s/he is subject to the will of mother nature.

In the end, laws, systems, and organizations do not make a better world, people do.  If our government is failing us, then people are at fault.  If your idea of a good president is one who will give You what you want because you believe your way is the best way, then you are part of the problem.  All of us fall into the category at one time or the other.

Donald Trump is a wake-up call for America.  He speaks to our darker side.  He draws it out.  He thrives upon it.

I will tell you now that America's greatness is not lost, we are just looking in the wrong place.  America's greatness is in her actions, not in her words.  Her compassion.  Her stand for human rights.  Her humanitarian generosity.  Her undying, though sometimes faltering, ideal of a better, more tolerant world.

This is, and has always been, our greatness and no one can take it from us unless we give it away!