Happy Electoral Day

Attention, class. The "Electoral College", an antiquated idea from the Eighteenth Century - which was only designed in order to give southern slave owners a little more pull at the polls - gets together on this chilly winter's day to officially choose the next president of the United States. While there is a molecule of room to be optimistic, I won't be terribly surprised to learn at the end of the day that an unhinged, not terribly bright, sociopath and pervert will be taking the oath of office come January 20. Which is fine 'n' dandy by me. These idiotic Americans deserve Donald Trump. It'll be such a hoot to see the poll results, as early as July, when ninety percent or more of these fools tell pollster-after-pollster that they voted for Hillary Clinton. Of course they did. Enjoy your stay in Idiot Nation. Watch your step, ya hear?

 

There are an awful lot of people who should have been a bit more careful what they wished for. Maybe they don't understand the ramifications of their error now, but they'll understand them soon enough. The bazillion dollar shit hammer is about to hit the fan. In four years you won't recognize this place. I can't wait to see the looks of mass-shellshock on the faces of so many Americans. That'll be the funniest thing of all. So many of them and their elected representatives  will attempt to blame the economic carnage that is surely coming on Barack Obama. Blame the nigger. It works every time. Why do you think there are so many innocent black men in prison in this country? C'mon, folks! Put on your thinking caps!

 

"Donald Trump is one of us."

 

From the mouth of a poverty-stricken primary voter in the south

Oh yeah, it'll be a screaming fucking riot watching these clueless Americans stewing in the juices of their own idiocy. It makes me giddy to know that at least I'll have something to look forward to. Someone pinch me.

 

This is 1948 all over again. At the Democratic convention in Philadelphia that summer, Harry S Truman saw his beloved party torn apart at the seams. A third party uprising is every presidential candidate's worst nightmare. Poor old Harry had to contend not only with the spectacle of Strom Thumond and the racist Dixecrats bolting the party because he was too much of a liberal; he also had to deal with Henry Wallace and the progressives jumping ship because he wasn't liberal enough. A fourth party uprising! Every poll had GOP nominee, Tom Dewey, winning easily on Election Day. It seemed that the only person in the country who thought Harry Truman would be able to pull off the seemingly impossible was Harry Truman himself. On the morning following Election Day, Dewey looked as if he had been hit by a train - not unlike the way Ms. Clinton looked on the morning of November 9. That is what is known as "historical Deja vu".

I'm sure that at this moment many of the Republican electors are being warned from on high not to rock the boat by denying the presidency to a man as horrifically unqualified as the Donald. By doing so, they would only be opening up a rat's nest of rage on the part of the millions of mesmerized, Tea-Partying dingbats who honestly believed that sending this asshole to the White House would be a really neat idea. "Fuck the good of the nation!", the head-honchos from the RNC are almost certainly telling them, "The future of our party is at stake!"

They don't give a damn about you or your children. Tax breaks for a class of people (like Donald Trump) who already possess more money than they could reasonably spend in three lifetimes: That's the only mantra they know. It's the only reason they exist. Dwight D. Eisenhower was inarguably a great Republican president. Don't you find it rather strange that they never mention his name in their campaign literature and propaganda? There's a jolly good reason for that: When Eisenhower sat in the Oval Office, the richest one percent in this country were taxed at a rate of ninety-one percent. During the eight years he served as chief-executive he never once felt the need to change that scenario. That is why during the years 1953 to 1961, the American economy surged in a way no economy in the history of humanity ever had. That is no longer the case. That is why your country is in ruins.

This ain't rocket science, folks. This is Civics 101. It makes one wonder when we're finally going to learn this lesson.

Ben Gilman
`

I had these thoughts running rampant through my mind yesterday when I received the word of the passing of my former congressman, Ben Gilman. Ben represented the people of the Hudson Valley from 1972 until 2002. I was first introduced to him by my father in the parking lot of the Holiday Mountain ski slope at Monticello, NY in the early winter of 1966 when I was only eight and he was a newly-elected New York State assemblyman. He was a friend of the family, but that was no big deal on our part: Ben Gilman knew everybody  - or so it seemed. He was the type of politician that no longer exists: "a moderate-to-liberal Republican". He was a kind and thoughtful statesman who always got my vote: The last member of that disgusting party I ever cast my precious ballot for.

His district was gerrymandered out of existence fourteen-years-ago by George Pataki and Dick Cheney. Ben refused to march to the beat of the extreme right wing's drum, and his political courage cost him his seat. Georgie and Dickie's chicanery backfired - BIG TIME, BABY! The end-result of their meddling was two new Democratic congressmen - one of whom is openly gay. Isn't that funny?

Ben Gilman was the last great Republican statesman to serve in the House of Representatives. They're all gone, and they're not coming back. And please, don't get me wrong; it's not merely for the Republicans I mourn. The Democrats used to stand for something noble, too.

I need to get very intoxicated right now.

Tom Degan
Goshen, NY

SUGGESTED READING:

Plain Speaking
by Merle Miller

This oral biography of Harry S Truman is worth its weight in gold. Twice I have read it. Twice I could not put it down. A really entertaining political biography - one of the best ever! Highly recommended to you and yours.

SUGGESTED LISTENING:

According to Facebook "Memories", I posted a link to this recording five years ago today. I had forgotten all about it, and I'm grateful to be reminded of it. For the next four years this is going to be my national anthem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OE-8emw39fA#t=45

Indeed.