Chain of Fools.

Chain of Fools.  After two presidential debates and one hell of a food fight between the two candidates, it is almost impossible to find anything positive to say about either party’s nominee.  This will be the year for most voters when they will leave the voting booth and go directly home to take a shower; the options are that disgusting.

What in the world has brought us to this point?  Why are our national parties, with so many good people on each side to nominate, selecting a crook and a pig as their nominees?  Why has our news media establishment in this nation become so biased, unethical, and devoid of any shame?  Why have our current government leaders become so corrupt and devoid of integrity?  Why have we, the voters, selected these people to be our choices for President? 

As I have noted previously, the White House has never been an ivory tower occupied by a saint (of either party), but I believe that our current cultural and political devolution began with the Clinton administration.  He was definitely not the first to engage in sexual misadventures in the White House, but he was certainly the first to go to extreme, unethical and extraordinary lengths to cling to power once his transgressions became public.  Nixon got caught; Nixon resigned.  Clinton got caught; Clinton sacrificed the integrity of the Presidency to stay in power.  Those political struggles between Clinton and the Congress split this nation in two with a dull knife and the gulf between the two parties has simply grown wider and more pronounced since that time.  The pure hatred that Democrats hold for George W. Bush pushed them to the zenith of opposition with no boundaries and the Republican’s hatred for Obama has taken them to the same level of unbridled venom as the Democrats.  Is it any wonder that we now see Trump and Clinton down in the muck slinging any and every form of invective and insult?  We have been inextricably heading to this point for two decades and now that we have arrived, no person should be surprised. 

But of the current lineup of extremely bad actors that we have performing on our political stage, some merit a special note of recognition and an honored place on the Chain of Fools…

Lois Lerner/John Koskinen:  One of the articles of impeachment that had been drawn up for Nixon was that he attempted to use the IRS for political purposes.  Lerner and Koskinen, likely with the consent of the Obama Administration, have transformed the IRS into a political arm of the Democratic Party.  They did use the IRS for political purposes.  Of all the federal agencies that should be non-partisan and above reproach, the one that receives the most intimate financial details of all U.S. citizens and entities is at the top of the list.  Not only have these two spearheaded the effort of corrupting the IRS, they have also shamefully paraded themselves in front of Congressional oversight with an arrogance that is sickening.   The right of our government to reach into our bank accounts and pull out money is one hell of a power.  The abuse of that power results in the ultimate breach of faith between the citizen and our government.

Loretta Lynch/James Comey: If we are to a point where we cannot trust the top two law enforcement individuals in our government, where do we go from here?  There can be no doubt that Lynch picked up where Eric Holder left off in using the Department of Justice not only for specific partisan political means, but she has also continued his efforts to use her government department in an attempt to force the Administration’s visions of social change on this nation; social change that is by and large not accepted by a majority of this nation’s citizens.  FBI Director Comey has sacrificed a life-long achievement of bipartisan respect by his handling of the Clinton email scandal; throwing away his own personal reputation along with any semblance of integrity at his agency.  Through their contempt for Congress, their abuse of departmental and agency powers exhibited through targeting some and passing over others, and their absolute refusal to be transparent and forthcoming in their operations, they have both compromised themselves and their government entities for years to come.   No one who is paying attention to their escapades in office can any longer have faith that there is one set of laws for people in this country.   When we have lost our faith in the law to be fair and nondiscriminating, the wall between what we have and anarchy becomes much less imposing.

Donald Trump.  He is a pig.

Hillary Clinton.  She is a crook.

Mainstream Media.  Fox News, CNN, MSNBC, the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Washington Times, talk radio of both the right and the left, internet blogs (guilty as charged) of all political persuasions…all of these have lost their ethical and professional compass.  The blogs and talk radio can receive a partial pardon because they are what people expect them to be; bloviations of self-proclaimed geniuses who sit at keyboards with false visions of grandeur.  But there can be no pardon for the print and television broadcast media.  They have allowed their editorial and opinion content to seep into their news content to the point where there is no longer any pretense to objectivity or proper journalistic standards.  Their futile and lame exercises that attempt to demonstrate non-partisanship, neutrality, and professional ethical standards to their consuming public have become naked and comical.  They only serve to feed their bloated egos.  The newspapers have become rags suitable for cleaning up the Party messes they choose to slant and the television talking heads have become highly-groomed political hacks for whichever party they choose to agree with.  Truth in reporting has become an ephemeral and elusive thing.  Propaganda and intentional distortion (but I repeat myself) have become the modus operandi of television news broadcasting.

John Kerry.  He is an idiot and an embarrassment. It is sickening to think that this man is the face of U.S. diplomacy throughout the world.

Mitch McConnell.  This man, who is likely the most powerful Republican in the country, has demonstrated time and again that he has a far greater concern for the old bastions that buttress Senatorial power and influence than he does for meaningful and responsible government.  He hides behind the facade of Senatorial function and administration to mask his personal agenda for preserving the status quo of the Senate’s decades of greed and corruption. 

Reince Priebus/Debbie Wasserman Schultz.  Although it is unfair to lay the blame for the pathetic dysfunction and corruption of our national political parties at the feet of any one person, these two are the faces of their respective parties (in the case of Schultz, at least up until the convention).  These folks had a choice to make: They could go with the power brokers, the money peddlers and the political winds; drifting whichever direction seemed most advantageous to their standing within the party…OR…They could honestly and openly expose the true value of their candidates through an open and competitive primary contest.  They sold out.

Joe Biden.  Poor old Slow Joe.  You think that Cruz, Rubio, Kasich and Bush are thinking “what if”; what about old Joe?  For all of his crazy remarks and bizarre antics, how good would Biden look now against the Crook and the Pig?   For a man who clearly harbored the ambition to be President, he has to be thinking he was a fool not to toss his hat in the ring for the Democratic nomination. 

CenterlineRight.  It goes without saying that my status as an internet blogger, whose illusion of self-import is wholly without merit, places me squarely in the category of fool.  But in this particular year, I have added some toppings to that dessert.  I did not believe that rank and file Democrats would nominate and elect Hillary Clinton; they are halfway there and likely to complete the deuce.  I did not believe that rank and file Republicans would nominate Donald Trump.  They did…and will now likely compound that error by helping to elect Hillary Clinton.  I foolishly clung to the notion that even though the nation had been initially hoodwinked by The One’s false promises and narcissistic adventures, they would recognize the fallibility of his socialist agenda and rebel against it in a public way.  His re-election to the Presidency shattered my faith in that notion and has me thinking that those who feel entitled in this nation outnumber those who work for a living.  I thought that most folks would read enough or listen enough to both political sides to get a glimpse of the real truth that lies somewhere in between the two.  Instead, they have flocked to the media outlets that espouse their preferred agendas and have become further entrenched in their certainty of policy correctness.  No matter who wins this election, there are dark days ahead for our nation.  We live in a dangerous world that is full of hate for America and Americans.  We live in a culture that is roiled by dissension and distrust.  We live in an economy that is transitioning from free market principles to socialistic underpinnings.  It is hard to look ahead past November with any degree of optimism or hope; but I suppose every day is an opportunity for a new beginning.  There are very few things each of us can control and there is a whole world of things that we cannot.  I hope and pray that somehow, someway, this nation and its people can find its moral and ethical compass and steer back towards a society that rewards truth, honor, respect, discipline, compassion and hard work.  The harsh reality is that only a fool could look at these two presidential candidates and see either of them leading that charge.