Lying... lying is the same thing as telling the person to whom you’re lying, “You’re too stupid to know how I’m manipulating you right now. You’re not worth the truth. My own worth is far above yours. You’re not worth what it would cost me to do right by you. You’re not even worth the discomfort I would feel by telling you the truth about the wrong I’ve chosen to you do to you. That is why I lie to you, because I am up here. You are down there. You aren’t my fellow-man. You are a thing for me to use when convenient and/or of some benefit to the betterment of my situation.
I’ve never been truly represented by either of the two ridiculous parties that currently form my nation’s two-party system. I have identified more with the Republican party in areas of sanctity of human life issues and in capitalism and free trade issues, but there are just as many areas with which I disagree with the Republican party has disappointed, annoyed, and even sickened me - especially as the years roll on. It has become more and more clear that both parties have a similar goal of bigger government, a more dependent public, and less freedom - despite their sometimes vehement claims to the contrary. I have become more sick, more wracked with anxiety, than I’ve ever imagined I could be over a vote... over a stinking vote. How could a thinking people have let this happen?
I have been torn in two in political races in my life... many times. This year, I’m more disgusted than ever with the corner into which I’m being forced. When I heard that Donald Trump was running for president, I literally laughed out loud. I mean, the fact that he can look at that hair in the mirror every day and still walk out of the house that way aside, I could not believe how ludicrous it was - the idea that a misogynistic egomaniac that could claim things as asinine as “my wife is more beautiful than yours” to another candidate would ever even have a chance at either party’s nomination... completely ridiculous. Despite chronic "blurts-disease", blatant racist and sexist bigotry, and grandiose claims, his candidacy inexplicably gained steam, and he continued careening more precariously close to victory. I still don't quite believe this is happening.
I mean, Hillary was going to happen no matter what. The powers that be would not let any amount of lawbreaking, lying under oath, and other crimes against the American people keep her from getting her party’s nomination for president. That was the deal. That is the deal that has kept her from any shame or compunction when committing these crimes that have ended in the deaths of men of far more honor and dignity than she could muster in 100 lifetimes. And she manages it all with a know-it-all smugness and contemptible sneers. I keep hearing, "You have to vote for Hillary! You'll be making history - getting a woman into the Oval Office." A friend and I were talking yesterday about how much we'd like to be able to point to her as a positive role model and tell our daughters about how we helped elect the first woman President. I can't do those things. I know the key to my daughters' character and happiness in life will depend on truth-telling, genuine humility, compassion, and truly respecting and valuing those around them. If I can't see at least some of these values in a woman who is likely to become a significant role model to them, then I do myself, them, and all women a disservice by helping such a woman gain arguably the most powerful position of leadership in the free world. My vote tells them that I agree this is a good woman whom they should emulate. For the same reason, I won't vote for Donald Trump either. Do you want to know how Hillary could get my vote? By admitting her wrongs... by owning up to the many very public lies, cover-ups, and mistakes of her past and by truly making amends to those she's damaged along the way.
Don't get me wrong. I’d love to vote for a woman!! I’d vote for a woman the likes of Condoleeza Rice with every fiber of my being. The kind of woman I hope to eventually vote for will be full of strength and dignity. She will be honorable and humble. She will be able to admit when she’s wrong and will ask for help from those more knowledgeable than herself and respect the strengths of those around her. She will not let her emotions make her look like an “irrational female” nor will she let her pride lead her to make a fool of herself and our country. She will definitely NOT be the things I would never want in a friend. She will NOT be a catty, snarky, conniving liar who tosses the worth of me and every other American over for her own motives at every possible opportunity. She will not be a woman (and "first gentleman?") tainted with scandal after humiliating scandal. She will not spout the ideals of a feminist while remaining married to a philandering, embarrassing, very literal ball and chain for the sake of her ladder-climbing political goals. The woman I hope to vote for someday will have a supportive and loyal husband who believes in and enhances his wife’s strengths and her holds her dignity in highest regard. He will not dishonor her in public or private. He will be proud to support her because he loves her for being everything a man CAN’T ever intrinsically be - a life-giver, a nurturer, a heart AND a head at once, and believes those very things will make her an excellent - strong yet compassionate - leader of the “free world”. She won't be perfect, but she'll be trying to do right by a country she loves. Until a female candidate has at least some of these qualities, I'm quite content to wait on a better chance to make history.
When in a Dublin pub this past May, a young British patron asked me, “So you’re American, right? Hillary or Donald?” I didn’t hesitate with my emphatic answer of, “Neither, never, ever, ever.” He said, “Hmm... isn’t that interesting. Every American I’ve met says that. So WHO IS voting for these people??” I had no answer for that. He said, “We all think your political system has to do with only 2 things, ‘money’ and ‘political clout’. Donald has money. She has the other. That’s why they will come out of these primaries on top and why you’ll have to pick one or the other.” Well, what system doesn’t depend on those things? I mean it. I’d seriously like a one-way ticket to a place where politics were actually determined by the interest of the people... where a man has the courage to stand up and say, “I’m not going to run one political ad, not going to buy a bus with my picture on it and travel the country, not going to spend a dime campaigning. I’m going to use the money I would normally be expected to spend on those things and give it to start paying down the national debt.” Yes, it’d be a tiny drop in an ocean of debt, but it’s sincerity that is always sorely lacking in our candidates. My ideal candidate would say something like, “My first term will be devoted to systematically dismantling big government and the waste that inevitably goes with it and to repairing the broken relationships we have with so many other countries. My second term, if you’ll have me, will be spent rebuilding our own broken economy and broken healthcare system.” Too simple? Yes, but we are all tired of what politics has become. Something drastically different is in order.
I see such strong statements flying around on Facebook on both sides of this election. “Anyone who votes for Trump is a complete idiot.” “If you’re voting for Hillary you have no conscience at all.” What strikes me about these blanket statements is that we are actually willing to make enemies of our “friends” over two people who, I think all of us can admit, are really not people of scruples, morals, humility, or honesty. I would go so far as to say that, in any traditional sense of the word, neither of these candidates for President are even “likable”. Yet, I see people willing to stake their trust, their opinion, and even their relationships on two people who don’t give a care about any of us beyond their desire to manipulate which box we check in that voting booth come November. Both candidates have and will continue to make wide sweeping promises to “make America great again” or to unite us. We are all smart enough to know that those statements aren’t things they could ever accomplish with 4 or even 8 years in office. Yet we are allowing our two party system to turn us into little agenda-pushing, propaganda-spreading minions. Unless we stop playing along, it’ll never stop. We need more parties, y’all. We need more options than the two parties fighting relentlessly over our votes, offering us everything from free college to free cell phones to big, high, ‘uge border walls. That being said, stop it. We are a country as divided as we’ve ever been before, but most of us want to see reconciliation and healing in our land. Stop letting Hillary and Donald (or anyone else in power, for thatmatter) turn us from the emotionally-raw, exhausted, hurting citizens we already are into angry advocates spoiling for a fight with our friends and family in a fight that isn’t even ours. By ALL means, stand for causes and ideals. Better yet, act to benefit those causes and ideals. After all, it’s only by changing ourselves that we will unify, be healed, and be “great again”. It is my hope that if any of us feels ardent devotion to either of these candidates compelling us to post something that doesn’t have any possibility of bringing unity, healing, or making ME/YOU a better person, we will pause and ponder whether we truly know the heart, motives, and intentions of our candidate well enough to stake relationships on him/her. In the end, no matter how good the politician, all “We the People” have left in the aftermath of any election is one another, a President who all but sold his/her soul to get where he/she is, and, quite possibly in this election year, voter’s remorse and a really bad hangover.
