Shards from the Ceiling's Broken Glass

Okay, progressives, like it or not, it's going to be Hillary. As the old song once implored, "Let's face the music and dance...."

Talk about trepidation. This is not particularly where I wanted to find myself in the post-convention period - but here we are. Hillary Clinton is the runner who will be carrying the progressive torch all the way to Election Day. My dismay is tempered by the obvious fact that the precedent which will be set on Inauguration Day is something to look forward to. It is no longer such a crazy idea that a woman or an African American could be elected to the presidency. The only sad thing is that the reaction of too many segments of the population to the administration of Barack Obama (particularly in dear ol' Dixie) was so completely extreme, I fear it will be at least two generations before a black person is sent to by the electorate to the White House again. We can only hope that, the next time around, it'll be a black woman being sworn in on January 20, 2061.

 

GOOD NEWS: By that time, Sean Hannity and Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh will be long gone.

 

It's not as if she's the worst presidential candidate in American history - clearly she's not. I know she wants to leave America a better place than she found it, and that she's concerned about her legacy. As I've hesitantly pointed out a few times previously, maybe she'll surprise all of us cranky Bernie Sanders supporters. Maybe in four years time, we'll be grateful toward President Hillary Clinton. We might even find ourselves by that time working overtime to send her back to the White House for a second term. Hey, ya never know!

Wow! I just re-read that paragraph above. Does it sound like I'm rationalizing just a bit, or is that my imagination?

 

But for the time being anyway, let's give Ms. Clinton the benefit of the doubt; and let's not forget the maniac that Republicans all over this diseased nation have chosen to run against her in this positively strangest of political years. I voted for Ralph Nader in 2000. At that moment in time, I was possessed of the crazy notion  that the American people would never be silly enough to elect an idiotic frat-boy like George W. Bush to an office as important as the presidency of the United States. As it turns out, I was entirely correct about that notion. He won simply because, as governor of the crucial state of Florida, his brother was able to remove fifty-thousand African Americans from the lists of eligible voters. I guess poor ol' Jeb regrets that little bit of chicanery! Had Dubya lost in 2000, Jeb might very well have been the nominee today. Isn't that funny? Instant Karma's gonna get'cha, Jebbie!

 

Something to consider: What happened in Florida sixteen years ago could very well happen again this year on a much larger scale. What do you think inspired those "Voter ID Laws" that have been passed in recent years in too-many-states to count? Those are laws that were engineered to combat the non-existent crime of "voter fraud". These blatantly unconstitutional new  rules require voters to purchase identification cards that cost as much as thirty-five dollars a pop. Thirty-five bucks is a luxury that poor people cannot afford, Poor people tend to vote Democratic. Do you see a pattern here? I knew you would. I just knew it!

 

Dr. Jill

Green Party candidate, Dr. Jill Stein, is a very intelligent, decent woman. She's also got as much of a chance of being elected president as I have - which is to say, "no chance at all". I speak from experience here. I was the Green Machine's candidate for New York State senate twelve years ago and I got clobbered senseless at the polls that November, barely registering at two percentage points. Believe me, 2016 is not the year to go whining to the ballot box with a "protest vote". The very future of the country is at stake. That is not an exaggeration, folks. The Republican party has become a fascistic, criminal organization. It is no longer run by responsible persons with the interests of the American people at the forefront of their motivations. Those days are LONG gone! Everett Dirkson, Dwight Eisenhower and Barry Goldwater are dead, and they're not coming back.

Perhaps it won't be so bad....perhaps. (Am I rationalizing again?) The very best that can be said is that I'm cautiously optimistic. She is the cross that must be borne by we who lean left; so why not just grin and bear it? At best we can assure ourselves that, at the very least, the White House will not again be chocked full of nuts, thieves and halfwits - as it was between the years 2001 and 2009 - and we might not find ourselves in four or (Heaven forbid) eight years time looking back on the George W. Bush years as an era of relative moderation....

Nostalgic for Dubya. Can you even imagine?

If the Republican candidate is victorious on Election Day, it's all over. This is one road we don't want to go down again, kids. Trust me on this one. The damage this time will be irreparable.

Ain't I clever? I made a twenty dollar bet with someone that I could write an entire piece without once mentioning the name, "Donald Trump"! I'm soooo proud of myself....

D'OH!

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

AFTERTHOUGHT:

I had to share this with you: In the piece you just read, when I listed the names of three decent and responsible Republican politicians who served in my lifetime, the first two came to my mind with ease. It took about a minute of serious pondering on my part to come up with the name of the third. Can you believe that?