Trump

The Right Choice: A Vote for Trump

/ Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

I have decided to vote for Donald Trump. This was not an easy decision. There are any number of reasons not to vote for him. But, in the interest of America being great again, the choice is clear.trump

He embodies everything that is good about this country through his take no prisoners approach to honoring contracts. Think of the money he’ll save us.

He knows how to avoid taxes, within the law. I’d like to learn how.

He is not troubled by any sense of fairness of these laws. A conscience is an unnecessary burden. It is a handicap for a man with his finger on the nuclear trigger.

Speaking of nuclear weapons, he’ll reduce the nuclear launch window to three minutes. Our enemies will never expect the missiles to arrive so quickly.

He knows how to create a successful image as evidenced by the very mention of his name. I mean, come on, is there anything better than the Trump name?

He is a world class negotiator who will put the rest of the world to shame with his skills. Russia, China, and Luxembourg do not stand a chance.

He is a brilliant educator. Imagine an American educational system based on the Trump University model. That shuld be reesin enuff ta vote en makes we grate agin.

He is not a nasty woman.

Most women in the world have not filed any complaints about him. This may be a limitation of time or opportunity, but it is still true. The number of women complaining about him is statistically insignificant.

He’s fooled Vladimir Putin into investing in his success. He could have ended the cold war before it started.

He needs to open his eyes only about 15% to 20% to see the problems with Hillary. Squinting is efficient, he uses less light.

He can Tweet with the best of them. It’s time we had some 2:00 a.m. tweet wars with the terrorists.

He’ll get rid of the Mexicans, Muslims, Canadians, and unattractive women. Although the Canadians have voluntarily stayed away, the Mexicans are going home to the better-paying jobs (or still coming here, I’m confused on that point), and the Muslims are, at the moment, scarce.

The military will be stronger and better equipped due to his four years of military education and marching skills. Nothing like a good parade to strike terror into the heart of ISIS.

His opponent is a nasty woman. (See above)

His opponent uses preparation in seeking an unfair advantage in debates. He wings it. He is jazz to her classical. You want swinging ignorance or boring competence in the White House?

His opponent has spent years in government. How hard can it be to do better with no experience?

He will eliminate the Affordable Care Act and redirect the money to more important health issues, breast enhancements. Now there are some warheads that will make America great.

President Kennedy set a goal of putting Americans on the moon by the end of a decade. Imagine what the end of this decade will look like after a Trump Presidency.

So, I’m voting for Trump. He will remake America in the image of Garrison Keilor’s Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong (and 10s), all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.

I took a hard look at things and have seen the light of his brilliance. I don’t need to know how he will make us great, or when he will make us great, I am satisfied with his promise TO make us great.

The voices in my head are right and I’ve decided to listen.

P.S. The original title of this piece was Descent into Madness. The voices said no.

Words to Inspire: Lost in the Past

/ Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

At his inaugural address, John F Kennedy said, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”

I remember that. Those words inspired me and a generation.

It would seem, since then, those that would inspire us are gone.

LBJ took American service personnel to Vietnam. 56000 never came back. The only words I remember from him are, “I shall not seek…”

In other words, he quit.

Richard Nixon took his place. His most memorable words, “I am not a crook.”

Gerald Ford had a brief run. I cannot remember his words of any note. Perhaps, “Fore…Oops.”

Jimmy Carter followed. Sadly, I cannot think of any words by him worth remembering.

Ronald Reagan came next. The words I recall are, “Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall.” Not the most inspirational of words.

George Bush the First came next…. drawing a blank on that one.

Then came William Jefferson Clinton. “I did not have sex with that woman.” 

The most memorable words from this President are so disheartening. He sounded like a drunken husband, lipstick on his collar and cheap perfume on his clothes, making excuses to his wife.

George the second came next. It’s hard to find a cohesive written thought by him, let alone words that inspire a nation. Oh wait, “Mission accomplished…” 

Wrong. (to quote another would-be President)

Barrack Obama reignited the concept of an articulate President. His words as the first African American President offered a renewed hope. The hope of positive change as our future.

We almost made it.

And now we face a dilemma.

The next president is going to be one of two people. One whose every word incites scorn and disdain. 

Another who defies explanation. You figure out who is who.

Where has this country gone? A country that once inspired words like, “When in the course of human events…” or “We the people of the United States….” Where has that country gone?  

The best we can offer today is a scowling face that says “Wrong” and “She’s a nasty woman” or a woman who best comeback is “Well Donald, maybe you should ask Bernie Sanders.”

That’s the inspiration for a new era?

I mourn the death of the days of Presidents and those that would-be President who inspired us. I am saddened that the candidates today force us to choose a lesser evil.

I want a candidate that will speak and act in a way that generations will remember, not long for.

Can anybody here find us one of those?

Donald Trump: Divine Right of Ascendency

/ Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

In the third and final debate, Trump handed America the single greatest reason not to vote for him. By refusing to say he would accept the results of the election, he goes against 240 years of American tradition.

The one aspect of America that differentiates us from some countries, the thing which many countries have come to emulate, is our peaceful transition of power.

Elections are always contentious. Candidates are expected to go after their opponent’s ideas, concepts, plans, and experience. It is how we measure and evaluate their suitability for office.

Yet we expect, no demand, that every candidate accepts the results once the votes are counted. There is no room for “keeping the country in suspense.” Trump’s statements on this point border on incitement to anarchy.

Is there voter fraud in elections? Of course. Yet the overwhelming majority of voters cast their votes honestly and within the law.

Every campaign has zealots. There are those on both sides of this election who see their candidate as the only choice and are willing to do anything they can to ensure victory.

The problem with the Trump campaign is it is headed by a zealot with delusions of grandeur. He, alone, will decide the validity of the election process.

Is the existence of voter fraud justification to nullify the results because one candidate is dissatisfied with the election? Of course not.

If Trump has evidence of “widespread” voter fraud involving millions of votes, the time to produce this information is now. Before the election. Not wait and see. Instead, Trump says he’s “seen” evidence of voter fraud and warns the election is rigged.

That is a beautiful thing, Mr. Trump. We should just take your word for it.

What Trump is saying is clear.  If Clinton wins, it’s because of fraud. If he wins, it’s because America has spoken.

Americans will speak on November 8th. And I, like most patriotic and rational Americans, will accept the results.

If Clinton wins, it will not be as a result of voter fraud. If Trump wins, it may well be the results of voter insanity. Choosing a candidate who tells you that he will only accept one result is as un-American as one can be.

That’s not making America great again, that’s turning America into a 10th century Dark Ages kingdom led by someone who sees themselves as having the divine right of ascendency.

A Modest Proposal: Choose Clueless

/ Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

Perhaps we’re missing an opportunity with the Libertarian Party. While I don’t believe Gary Johnson or Bill Weld are completely clueless, perhaps a little cluelessness might be just the sedative we need for this election.14523018_1439657252726278_6508428197223627262_n

Consider if you will a Johnson/Weld administration. The Presidential Daily Briefing lies sealed and unread in the White House bathroom, buried beneath a copy of The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.

The National Security staff gathers in the situation room.

Mr. President, the Russians have positioned tanks on the borders of Kazakhstan. What should our response be?

President Johnson: Where?

Mr. President, the Chinese have devalued their currency again. It will cause an economic tidal wave of financial disasters in the Nikkei and Hang Seng. What should we do?

President Johnson: I had a dog named Hang Seng. He died. Sometimes there is nothing you can do. That’s life.

Mr. President, remember Aleppo? The place that caused a bit of a controversy during the campaign. It’s under siege by the Syrians.

President Johnson: Nope.

If an earlier President Johnson hadn’t been able to find Vietnam on a map, I can think of 56000 Americans who’d be better off.

Maybe an absent-minded professor type is what we need. Oblivious to the international scene, yet still with his hands on the nuclear code. What could go wrong?

Mr. President, Albuquerque has sued the government for more federal aid. What is our response?

President Johnson: Hmm, Albuquerque, Albuquerque, that sounds familiar. Better be safe than sorry. Help me open the suitcase and we’ll nuke’em.  After all, what do we have all these nuclear weapons for if we’re not gonna use them?

Let me know when they hit, I need to take a nap.

Nevermore!

/ Joe Broadmeadow / 4 Comments

 

(Apologies to Edgar Allen Poe)raven

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary

Over a many quaint and curious quotes by Trump of yore

While I shuttered, hope unwrapping,

Suddenly there came a tapping

As of some one gently rapping, rapping at the White House door

“Tis some imposter,” I muttered, “tapping at my country’s door

Only this and nothing more.”

 

Much I marvelled at his ungainly scowl to hear discourse so plainly,

Though its answer little meaning—little relevancy bore;

For we cannot help agreeing that no living human being

Ever yet was cursed with seeing Trump above his nation’s door—

Bird or beast upon the sculptured bust above his chamber door,

Against such a thing, we say “Nevermore.”

 

Can it be so? My country led

By such a spectre of fear and dread

Where has our sense, once common and sane departed

To abandon us now at our time most dire

Will upon the world such a man be thrust once more?

Quoth the voter, “Nevermore”

 

 

 

 

 

Echoing History: The Trump Way

/ Joe Broadmeadow / 3 Comments

“…Whoever disturbs this mission is the enemy of the people, whether he pursues his aim as a Bolshevist democrat, a revolutionary terrorist, or a reactionary dreamer. In such a time of necessity those who act in the name of God are not those who, citing Bible quotations, wander idly about the country and spend the day partly doing nothing and partly criticizing the work of others; but those whose prayers take the highest form of uniting man with his God, that is, the form of work…”

“The value of every wage and salary corresponds to the volume of goods produced as a result of the work performed. This is a very unpopular doctrine in a time resounding with cries such as “higher wages and less work…”

It would seem Donald Trump has the facts of history on his side. These words reflect his philosophy and policies he embraces. The tenor is similar, the ideas consistent, the intent clear. Trump, like the original speaker of these words, promises to make his country great again.

The only question remaining is, like Germany when Adolf Hitler spoke these words, will we blindly plunge this country down the same path in pursuit of a false dream.

 

The Whole World is Watching (Again)

/ Joe Broadmeadow / 1 Comment

(For added special effect, here’s a link to Chicago’s “The Whole World is Watching.” Just skip the ad if it pops up, let the music start, then read away)

During the first presidential campaign debate, Donald Trump answered the question about the future direction of America by favoring stronger law and order. His answer implied that the law enforcement community is either unwilling or unable to provide what he considers acceptable law and order.

His obvious scorn for preparation for the debate was on stark display with that pronouncement.

In 1984 President Reagan signed the Comprehensive Crime Control Act. This was a wide-ranging consolidation of penalties for criminal violations, started a more widespread use of forfeiture of properties and assets of organized crime, and reinstituted the federal death penalty.

In 1994 President William Jefferson Clinton signed the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act.  The bill was a reaction to the increase in violent crime and rising homicide rate in the US. This created a set of minimum mandatory sentences, increased use of electronic surveillance, and increased federal aid to state and local law enforcement.

Proponents argued, despite recognizing there would be a significant impact on minority communities, that each of these bills had the support of minority legislators and community leaders.

This is only partially true.

While many minority members of Congress voted for the legislation, they argued for added provisions including increasing aid to education, job training, and programs aimed at reducing poverty.

These provisions were never incorporated.

Which leads me to the point of how Trump panders to lowest common denominator with each position he takes. In this case, the strong law enforcement crowd. They see themselves as the solution to the crime problem. In fact, they, like the previously mentioned laws, are reactions to the problem.

They are not the solution; they are one element of the solution to a complex problem.

You can flood the neighborhoods of the south side of Chicago, or anywhere else, with an army of cops and lessen the number of incidents of violence. Yet the problem will remain.

Law and Order is not a solution; it is a TV show. And like a TV show, it is not reality. It replaces the truth with fantasy.  A fantasy embraced by those seeking a quick solution to an embedded and difficult problem.

There’s a line in the movie, Fort Apache: The Bronx, about the former 41st precinct in New York. One officer, experienced and jaundiced by the reality of the time, explained to another officer, “We’re not a police department. We are an army of occupation.”

Like other armies of occupation, the Police Department soon realized that occupation is a short-term strategy. Eventually, they had to address the root cause. Police departments are ill-equipped to deal with these endemic problems.

Yet Trump would suggest stronger law and order is the answer.

We need to recognize that armed response to violence is not a solution, it is a placebo. We need to reduce the culture of violence and prevent those conditions which foster it from arising again.

We need to learn from the successes and mistakes of the past to create a more responsive and effective law enforcement model.

By all measures, the 1984 and 1994 crime measures both offered fixes to short-term problems and exacerbated the deeper, underlying causes. While some credit the passage of these laws with the reduction of violent crime, an equal number point out that the decrease in violent crime was already underway.

Through what amounted to a trick of accounting, we removed thousands of people from the welfare system by putting them in prison. And put them back in prison when, on release, they were unable to find jobs and re-offended.

Then, we turned the prison system into a for-profit enterprise. I have no doubt we could find a cost-saving method of implementing the death penalty through the private sector as well. Capitalism at its finest.

Despite the braggadocio of Trump, you cannot solve poverty with prisons, embrace enforcement of laws without also embracing education, or create “armies of occupation” as solutions to the racism and hopelessness of a segment of American society.

“Law and order” solution to crime is like injecting morphine into a broken arm.  The pain is gone. The underlying problem still there, waiting to reemerge when the medication wears off. The problem, like the pain, will be worse.

Recent events would suggest the medication has worn off.

Trump touts the endorsement of organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police as validation of his position. I think it more a sign that the Fraternal Order of Police has lost sight of its true purpose in pursuit of empty promises of more cops.

If Trump had his way, there’d be thousands of more cops on the street. But if I were them I’d be worried how, or if, he would find a way to pay for them. Look at his business “success.” He contracts for something, then refuses to pay for it.

Listen to his own words about paying taxes. He doesn’t pay them because he’s smart. Those same taxes that go to support law enforcement. Trump doesn’t put any value on them. He merely panders to an unsophisticated, narrow-minded, short-sighted mentality.

No one had a stronger law and order approach to crime than the Gestapo or the KGB. Crime was rare in Moscow. Paris was almost crime-free during the occupation. Crime is pretty low in Pyongyang as well.

That’s strong law and order.

The law and order pronouncements of Donald Trump invoke the chilling echoes of a Final Solution.

Is that the kind of America we want?

 

 

Patently Offensive

/ Joe Broadmeadow / Leave a comment

When did being offended become the national pastime?

People take offense at everything they find different or contrary to their own beliefs or perspectives. The concept of tolerance has gone the way of the dinosaur. Something we dig up by accident once in a while to marvel at the magnificence that once was.

If someone wants to display the Confederate Flag, let ‘em. I think it more a reflection on them that they choose to celebrate a representation of a repulsive philosophy than an acknowledgment of history.

And they lost. I prefer to celebrate a victory. If someone wants to cheer, “We’re number two, we got beat by you,” have at it.

Some people take offense at the display of the American flag. A symbol of their very right to disagree and talk freely about these differences.

Some people are offended by religious displays, patriotic displays, sports, military, police, and other symbols.

All of this offense at symbols belittles the very nature of intelligence and tolerance. It demeans a rational approach to understanding our differences that, when blended in the best way, make us all Americans.

When did it become necessary for the whole world to restrain from championing a cause out of fear that some would disagree? It is in a civil and rational discussion of these different causes that we find a common solution.

Those who embrace the symbol of the Stars and Bars suffer from a lack of fundamental understanding of the overwhelming stain of racism in this country.

Those who would burn the American flag fail to see the contradiction in their actions. They are able to do such things because brave men and women died to uphold the rights represented by that flag.

Those who are offended by the display of a Christmas tree, a Menorah, the Star and Crescent, and others demand tolerance for themselves yet refuse it to others.

Knowledge and education are the keys to the world’s problems. Focusing our efforts on arguing what shouldn’t be displayed drains energy from that which would do good; seeking to understand the history behind these symbols and recognizing them as powerless unless we imbue them with power.

The best example is the Swastika of Nazi Germany. To most people, it represents an unspeakable horror and destructive philosophy. Yet the symbol, called Svastika in Sanskrit, means auspiciousness. Nazi Germany co-opted the symbol for the Third Reich.

Most take offense at the sight of such a symbol. The image of Neo-Nazis in today’s world reflect the continuity of the ignorance, brutality, and irrationality of that era and philosophy. Yet, by understanding the original meaning, one can see the irony in a bunch of ignorant white bigots embracing a symbol created in a Buddhist/Hindu tradition.

A symbol carries meaning only if we recognize it. A Christmas tree is a symbol of the Christian faith or it is a tree sacrificed in the tradition of the Druids.

A flag with stars and bars is the symbol of the proud history of the south or a representation of the failure of one race to impose its false superiority on another.

If you find something offensive, first make sure you understand why. Then work to foster a better understanding. Seek to educate not merely cover up.

Americans should be made of tougher stuff than to let symbols, words, or insignificant displays offend us.

Don’t take offense. Don’t whine and cry and whimper in weakness. Seek to understand that the most offensive symbol in the world represents the ignorance of those who promote it, not the power or truth of what is represents.

Grow a pair America. If this offends you, good. Do something.

 

 

Sacrificing Trump

/ Joe Broadmeadow / 2 Comments

Time to set the record straight there Mr. Kahn. I concede the sacrifice of your son for the freedoms we all enjoy in this country is beyond my ability to comprehend. I hope this country never forgets your son and his family for this, the greatest of sacrifices.

But Donald Trump has sacrificed as well.

He has sacrificed his honor.

He has sacrificed his integrity.

He has sacrificed his credibility.

He has sacrificed his rationality.

He has sacrificed his intelligence.

He has sacrificed our trust by refusing to release his tax returns.

He has sacrificed American workers for the sake of higher profits.

He has sacrificed his word of honor by dishonoring his debts and obligations.

He has sacrificed the principles of the Republican Party.

He has sacrificed the tenets of the Constitution.

He has sacrificed the essence of America, our tradition of tolerance and acceptance.

He has sacrificed the guarantees of the Bill of Rights.

He has sacrificed the foundation of this country in pursuit of his mega maniacal ego.

So, Mr. Kahn, while your son paid full price for being an American, Trump has sought to discount it by sacrificing the truth.

Let’s hope Trump has one sacrifice left, that he sacrifices victory in November.

 

Anybody Here Seen My Old Friend John?

/ Joe Broadmeadow / 4 Comments

My wife and I spent an afternoon at the JFK Library in Boston. Since our trip to Texas and our visit to the LBJ Library, we’ve decided to make visiting Presidential Libraries a sort of hobby.

At the LBJ library, the media exhibits hit home since they reflected our childhood and coming of age. Those formative years when breaking news meant something. Those years when one read a newspaper to get the story.

The era of Vietnam, race riots, Johnson’s Great Society, the realities of an increasingly complex and fragmented world and the joys of A Charlie Brown Christmas and the wonder of men landing on the moon.

The Kennedy Library offered much of the same, albeit more limited as was his Presidency.

We were both struck by the differences in the tone and timbre of the politics of the day. The video of the famous Kennedy-Nixon debate was shocking in the lack of anger and incivility.

Two men of differing ideologies and political persuasions argued for their positions, they did not engage in vitriol and character assassination of their opponent. They argued with logic, intelligence, compassion, and civility. The contrast to the world of today could not be more startling or disheartening.

Kennedy was a magnificent orator. We would do well to listen to some of that wisdom as we consider the choices for President.

Too often we… enjoy the comfort of opinion without the discomfort of thought.

Tolerance implies no lack of commitment to one’s own beliefs. Rather it condemns the oppression or persecution of others.

 Our progress as a nation can be no swifter than our progress in education. The human mind is our fundamental resource.

 For time and the world do not stand still. Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or the present are certain to miss the future.

It would serve all Americans well to visit a place like this library. I fear for many Americans it might be their first time IN a library, but we can hope.

Kennedy recognized a lack of education as one of the greatest risks to this country and the world. His words presaged the depths to which we’ve embraced ignorance and intolerance as substitutes for hard work and compassion.

Has anybody here, seen my old friend John? Can you tell me where he’s gone…?

Some of you will remember, do the country a favor and educate those that never had the opportunity to experience the hope of that era.

Show them there is wisdom to be found, but it takes more than 144 characters and spelling counts.

P.S. For a memory sure to bring a smile, click here