Archives for November 2016

If you burn the flag…

2016-11-29 By Radcen Leave a Comment

If you burn, or otherwise desecrate, the US flag for political protest, and are doing it in the US, I will…

…think you are a selfish, ignorant, and unappreciative moron.
…not be even remotely inclined to consider your cause.
…officially ignore you, and if in person, go out of my way to make you think I am completely uninterested in whatever your cause may be.
…respect your right to do so.

Please note on that last one, I said respect your right to do so. That is what freedom of speech is about. I will do so quietly and will make no suggestions that you be penalized solely for that. Respecting a right, however, does NOT equal approval of the actual action. Don’t make that mistake in interpretation.

Where these protesters lose me isn’t in their protest, per se, but rather in their lack of consideration for those who died precisely to provide them this right. Yes, they can protest in this way, and as I said already I support their right, but pick another form of protest. Just because you can doesn’t mean you should.

What happened?

2016-11-27 By Radcen Leave a Comment

What happened? How did Donald Trump get elected President?

Cutting to the chase, I see his election as a rejection of the status quo. Which, from that aspect, and ignoring the personalities actually involved, is long overdue. Factor in the personalities involved, and you have a story that would have been rejected by any publisher as absolutely absurd fiction that no one would buy it… or buy into it.

Donald Trump won the primaries because most of the Republican voters were tired of the status quo, and rejected candidates that would be more traditionally to their liking. The man ran a horrendous campaign, didn’t specifically promise anything, was extremely vague on everything, and people ate it up. His supporters swear he will deliver them to the “promised land”. On what they base this faith I have yet to see, but he was and is the “anti-status quo” guy if there ever was one.

Hillary Clinton faced a stiff challenge from Bernie Sanders, and Bernie himself was most definitely a product of a sizeable group of people feeling neglected and making their presence known. Bernie forced Hillary to take on issues that she didn’t want to, i.e. student loan debt, etc., and incorporate them into her platform. His influence was unmistakable.

BOTH Bernie and Donald were rejections of the status quo. I believe that Trump won only partially because of Hillary’s issues, but rather primarily that she was and is the embodiment of a continuing of the status quo. President Obama essentially said as much when he campaigned for her. That didn’t play well this time.

Now, ideally, a couple things should have been done better by the people. One, they should have become disenchanted with the status quo long ago, and hence made more moderate choices. Instead, they went for the proverbial nuclear option. And two, it would have been nice if they had extended their rejection to Congress. To a great degree the President is more of a figurehead. The bulk of the work actually happens in Congress. It doesn’t do much good to eliminate the figurehead and keep the body that causes most of the problems in place.

The Aftermath

2016-11-19 By Radcen Leave a Comment

I didn’t see that one coming. I’m not sure anybody did. In spite of what Mr Trump says, I do not believe he did, either. All the so-called experts and pollsters predicted an easy Hillary Clinton win. Oopsie!

Let me be clear: I am NOT happy that Donald Trump won. I am also not disappointed that Hillary Clinton lost. Ok, so where do I go with that? I feel like I should list my Facebook status as “It’s Complicated”, as that’s how I feel about my relationship with my country right now.

We’ll flesh this out as time goes by. I have several initial thoughts, and should have posted sooner, but hey, life gets busy sometimes. I’ve been observing, and I have been intently interested in the reactions of Democrats and liberals. Being a dedicated and cynical Centrist I didn’t have a dog in the fight, per se, but many others did and let’s just say they haven’t been acting… well, we’ll leave that for another post.

Hold tight… it’s going to be quite the ride!