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The Bernie Trump Factor

Back when the Tea Party began, I was thrilled. It was around the same time as Occupy Wall Street began, and at their roots, both groups wanted the same thing: Stop letting the Big Banks and Big Business do anything they want! No bailouts for businesses that screwed over the average guy! Let’s give government back to the people!sanders and trump

Finally! Consensus! Something might actually get done!

We all know how well that worked out. The Tea Party got co-opted by every right-wing issue out there (gun rights, abortion, religious extremism), none of which had anything to do with the real issue for which the Tea Party was formed. And the Occupy Wall Street became this generation’s hippie fest, with drumming and tie-dye and demands that we stop eating animals.

It’s almost as if the rich bankers and corporations that actually run this country had planned it that way. Hmmm.

But the underlying anger hasn’t gone away, and it manifests itself now in the “Bernie Trump Factor.”

When you speak to supporters of both Bernie Sanders and Donald Trump, they say a lot of the same things about how terrible it is that government can be bought by the highest bidder. Both discuss how they “can’t be bought”.

Supporters for both exclaim, “He tells the truth!” — because neither Trump nor Sanders take public opinion polls or surveys to decide what their position on the issues should be.

And this rebellion on both sides is a good thing. It is indeed time that something is done about our country’s descent into oligarchy.

Of course, that’s about all these two have in common — on every other issue, they’re polar opposites. But the Bernie Trump Factor is the reason you have people on the left and people on the right jumping for joy for the outsider, the guy no one expected to do well.

We’re mad as hell and we’re not going to take it any more.

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That damned Free Market, always doing things we don’t like

The marketplace should decide, except when it shouldn’t.

That seems to be the argument I get from the right (in the same way that “state’s rights should control except when they do things we disagree with”).

“Why should the signs in Lowe’s be in English and Spanish?” they yell. “Isn’t this America?” Well, yes, this is America, where the goal of business is to appeal to as many people as possible. Signs in Spanish help sell more goods. You know, capitalism at work and everything.

The latest ridiculous outrage is against Target, which suddenly said, “Hey! You know, if we don’t separate our kid’s toys by gender, we might sell a whole lot more.” Traditionalists on the right are now screaming about “political correctness” (which, by their definition, means “change I disagree with”) because the absolutely most horrible thing might happen with Target’s new policy: A girl that wants a boy toy won’t have to walk to a different aisle.

Overall, the more we break the stereotyping that goes along with raising kids, the better. Sure, more boys will still play with trucks and girls with dolls, but not always — and what’s wrong with boys playing with dolls (as the cartoon below says)? And why are “building toys” (such as legos) usually set aside just for boys? Last I checked, women drive cars, so why can’t girls play with toy cars?

Still, I don’t think Target’s point was to make a great social point or be politically correct. I think they were looking at the bottom line — what will make them more money? Selling toy cars to boys and girls just increases sales, no?

That damned free market!

a dad cartoon

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Bernie Sanders is not “The One”

And neither was Barack Obama.

Many of my liberal friends seem to be falling into two categories:  Either Bernie Sanders is the savior we’ve all been waiting for, or he’s a fraud and real liberals should be supporting the Green Party candidate instead.*

The answer is between the two extremes.

Nobody is perfect. There’s plenty of stuff about Obama I disagreed with when he was running (and through his Presidency). But he was clearly the better choice of those who had the possibility of winning the election.

If you refuse to support the best candidate who can win because they are not pure enough, you’re going to end up disappointed a lot.

As I’ve said here many times, politics is the art of compromise. I’d rather compromise and get 50% of what I want than be stubborn and get 0%. If you don’t understand that, you will lose. Over and over again.

This is the main problem with the Tea Party extremists on the right — they cannot understand that reasonable people can differ with them, and as a result, our government gets very little done these days because they hold their breath until they turn blue instead of working to accomplish some of their goals. They may win the lower races, but they’re never going to win the Presidency.

The left’s version of the Tea Party is not much better. They demand purity, and thus throw their vote toward Ralph Nader or some other third party, which only helps those on the right win elections.

Some people are just blind followers. Their candidate (or religious leader or political viewpoint or favorite band or preferred sports team…) is perfect, and anyone who doesn’t see that is just plain wrong and must be insulted. It’s impossible to discuss the good and bad points with these people.

 

*Then there are my liberal friends who are supporting Hillary Clinton, but the attitude I get from them is more of a resigned “Well, I think she can win” vibe;  I don’t sense a lot of enthusiasm there.

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Being right doesn’t excuse your rudeness

A couple of activists from a “Black Lives Matter” group interrupted Bernie Sanders’ speech the other day and quite a few people are mad about it. The primary “Black Lives Matter” group has disavowed the people who did this, and others say that this has hurt their message.

Well, I don’t know about that. I support their cause and still think their message is important. What I disagree with are their methods.

But now there are those on the left who are complaining about those of us complaining. We’re being called racists because we think these protesters shouldn’t have done that. How ridiculous.

Calling out people who disrupt speeches (or gallery openings, or live TV shows, or plays, or anything else where they are not invited) doesn’t mean I disagree with their position. It doesn’t mean I am demeaning them. It doesn’t mean I am a racist.

It means I’m calling them out for their rudeness and inconsideration.

I came to hear someone give a speech, and it wasn’t you. Go away.

If I go to see a concert by a band I like, I’m not going to be happy if another band takes over the stage by force to perform their songs instead, even if I like that other band.

The same applies to anyone who interrupts Republican speakers. It applies to Westboro Baptist Church making noises to interrupt funerals and it applies to liberals who go to Congressional hearings and shout at the Congress members.

Yeah, sure, there is a place for protests in America. And sometimes those rallies have to be a bit rude. So go ahead, have a loud rally. Give a speech. Have a sit-in. You have that right. But don’t come to my event and take it over for your own purpose. Have your own damn event. (I feel the same way about people who come onto my Facebook page uninvited and decide to use it to spam my friends with their own political propaganda.)

These people had a right to interrupt Sanders’ rally. That’s how rights work. And I have the right to say that they were rude, inconsiderate, and didn’t help their cause one bit.

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The Real Reason there are So Many Republican Candidates (Hint: $$$)

A few weeks ago, I speculated as to why there were so many declared candidates for the Republican nomination. Seriously, there have never been this many in the history of our country. Never. What is different about this year?

The answer is, of course, money.DC-Misc-Cartoon-Simpsons-Quimby-w-Money-Bag

Previously, there were laws limiting how much money an individual could contribute to a campaign. In order to run a legitimate campaign, you’d need lots of money from lots of different people. If you couldn’t raise that, you just couldn’t compete.

Now, thanks to the Supreme Court handing our democracy over the super rich (in the Citizen’s United case), there is no limit.

And now we’re seeing the result of that terrible decision. You no longer need to appeal to a broad base of supporters to be a legitimate candidate. One billionaire with enough money can keep your campaign going.

They’re buying the election. A very small percentage of Americans are choosing their candidates, betting on their favorite to win. Those who are trying to appeal to a larger segment have to work twice as hard.

And so what happens? You got it — the candidates say whatever the billionaires buying them want them to say. No need to try to get the support of the majority of Republican voters. All you need is Sheldon Adelson or the Koch Brothers to like you and you’re in.

So you can suck it up and just admit we are now living in an oligarchy instead of a democracy…

Or you could fight to elect a Democrat who will hopefully be able to change one vote on the Supreme Court to reverse that awful decision, or even convince enough states to pass an amendment saying “money is not speech.”

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Which Republican candidate would be the best?

And by “best” I don’t mean “best President” or “best to allow Democrats to win”. clown car I mean seriously, which of this huge list of losers candidates do you think would have the best chance to actually win the election?

“None of the above” is not an accepted answer!

By the way, every one of these people on the list below has declared themselves as a candidate, and they’re not the only ones. There’s like a dozen more, mostly businessmen and Christian religious leaders.

I chose Scott Walker. While I can’t stand his politics, he doesn’t seem as crazy as the others, and he also is not a Bush. Of course, it is way too early to make any sort of prediction, but it’s still fun to speculate.

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Republicans support war heroes (as long as they are Republican war heroes)

John McCain is “not a war hero,” Trump said. “He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.”trump loud

“Outrageous!” shouted Republican candidates who had no problem with Trump calling Mexican immigrants rapists and criminals. “Terrible!” said GOP operates who never questioned Trump’s insistence that Obama wasn’t born in America.

They all agreed: “Why, we can’t have one of our candidates saying politicians who are great war heroes don’t deserve our respect!”

Well, unless it’s multiple purple-heart winner John Kerry. We can call him a coward and anti-American and get people to say he didn’t earn those awards and never really was injured even though the evidence clearly shows otherwise.

Oh, and Representative Tammy Duckworth, who lost both her legs in Iraq. We can insult her all we want and say she’s not a ‘true hero.’

And let’s not forget Max Cleland, the former Senator who lost three limbs in Vietnam, who Republicans declared was no war hero either.

Those examples are completely different from McCain’s situation. Completely different!

All those people are Democrats!

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Editorial cartoon: Our evil plan

Nick Anderson

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Presidential Polling This Early is Meaningless

We have 16 months until the Presidential election, but that won’t stop the pundits from making absolutely ridiculous predictions based on polling numbers.

“Donald Trump is ahead in the polls!” they say. Yeah, but to beat 14 other people in a poll, you only need to get what, 7% of the vote? Trump is ahead among Republicans only and even then in a small amount, and I’d be willing to bet that a lot of the support for Trump is because of name recognition. You think the average voter out there knows who Scott Walker is?

Remember 2012?  As the primary season approached, Romney was the clear front runner in the Republican polls. Then suddenly it was Gingrich, who famously declared that the race was over and he was the winner. That lasted about a week and then Herman Cain was the guy ahead. Then it was Santorum for a short period before moving back to Romney again. All that happened within a few months from November through February or so, and all of those polls only had meaning to people who needed something to talk about in order to fill the 24 hour news cycle.

So far, not one of the Republican candidates comes anywhere close to beating Hillary Clinton in the polls — in fact, Trump does the worst (out of the main candidates). There’s a reason Democrats are cheering on his campaign.

But even so, that polling is just as meaningless. Anything can happen between now and election day. At this point back in 2008, Hillary was way ahead in the polls against this new guy called Barack Obama …

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Homer Simpson meets Donald Trump

Two of America’s greatest cartoon characters together for the first time!

The Simpsons writers wasted no time in making fun of Donald Trump’s candidacy when Homer is one of the lucky stiffs paid $50 to cheer on Trump’s announcement – but gets captured by Trump’s hair.

So it’s cartoon Saturday everyone. You gotta see this!