Election Thoughts And The Sorry Sorry State Of Politics

This Is Part Of Why Americans Are Angry!

While pondering the sorry state of politics in America as the presidential election draws ever nearer it occurred to me this contest may very well be decided in the last waning days of the process. Several reasons feed into why many voters may pivot at the last moment and even surprise themselves. Like it or not, in reality, America is governed by a flawed two-party system that insulates the established government elites This underscores the fact that those not voting or writing in protest entering the name of someone with no chance of winning is like shouting at the wind. Overall our political system has proven very resistant to change, evolution over revolution does have some benefit, however, it often means things must get very bad before those in capital city hears the cry of the people.

History shows that Americans have a rather short memory and are skeptical of a media that spins everything. With this in mind as this week's polls show Trump's popularity flagging it should be noted polls often fail to accurately reflect the mood of the people. It was not long ago when the people of Britain shocked the world by voting to exit the European Union. In the weeks going into the vote all stops were pulled out to convince the fickle people of the United Kingdom the rejection of a Brexit was all but reassured. Poll after poll confirmed that when push came to shove they would choose to remain in the unpopular union that most leaders felt provided their best hope for the future.

Someone should tell the media that Trump bashing by any other name is still Trump bashing, and the public is able to recognize it. Making voters dislike Trump will not result in causing us to love Hillary more. The blatant bias of the media is so obvious that it is difficult to even call it news coverage. This is highlighted by more attention being placed on the antics of the candidates and their campaign staff or their party rather than the issues. Questions as to the depth of Hillary's corruption are vastly overshadowed and dominated by questions of Trump's temperament on the media controlled airwaves. The media seems hell bent on not reporting about important issues such as the growing national debt, foreign policy, jobs, and healthcare. To top all this off like some kind of Whack A Mole the big man himself, President Obama, keeps taking time off from his busy schedule to berate and belittle Trump raising into question whether he would even be willing to turn over the country to the Donald if he is chosen over Clinton.

Obama Attacks Trump Time After Time

In the 2015 ABC debate only Trump raised his hand saying he would not pledge to support the Republican nominee, now we have found not only have several of those sharing the stage with him failing to keep their pledge but going much farther and coming out to solidly slam Trump, often on multiple occasions. This is all being played out at the same time anti-Trump forces continue to ramp up efforts to parade establishment Washington insiders and Republicans who do not support Trump before us. To make matters worse it often seems the parade is routed on a loop, meaning they are not being presented or passing by us just once but the same people are being run by us time and time again.

If this is not the dirtiest presidential campaign in history most Americans will concede it is scummy enough to rank up near the top and most likely it is going to get far worse in the final days. Efforts to tie Trump to the "Russians" because he seems less interested in promoting war by making Putin a punching bag and blaming him for all our woes have increased. This can be added to claims he defrauded thousands with Trump College and is a con man who has exaggerated his net worth that he gained hypocritically by play by the rules he now says are unfair to the middle class.  I have watched entire interviews or a speech to later see a small clip taken out of context and spun to change its meaning. Remember just because the media or someone says something does not make it true.

Voting For Nobody Is A Poor Option

Meanwhile, the same media is busy downplaying questions about the powerful Clinton foundation and how the Clintons have amassed a fortune of nearly 100 million dollars since leaving the White House "dead broke" in Hillary's words. With more concern aimed at who hacked the e-mails than their content claims the Russians are trying to undermine our election seem to trump the corruption, they might reveal. Even the growing list of people associated with the Clintons over the years who have had untimely deaths is poo-pooed as bad luck.

I have found that when we look at a performer we often see them only as good as their last gig, Hillary's gig as Secretary of State was not great, and Trump's inability to articulate is not serving him well. A few final thoughts, it could be that part of the media bias toward Trump is driven by the fact he is not spending money on commercials and advertising through the mainstream media which is usually a big beneficiary during election years. Another is that it is possible the polls are being skewed by illegals or people that can't even vote declaring they are registered voters then voicing a strong preference for Hillary. The bottom-line is that we should not be surprised if this election is decided it its final days because in our fast-paced world many voters seem to remember only what happened yesterday.