NOW WHAT

 

The presidential election is over, thank goodness.  It is time to ask the question about the motives of those running.  Was the election simply a goal to be reached if elected?  Was the end result being the winning of the election or is the winning of the election actually the beginning of a dream, a vision of how our country should be governed.

If last week was any indication of the motives of our newly elected President, it appears that the election was not the sole goal and the future of the country was a major focal point. The appearance of Donald Trump at the White House within forty-eight hours of the victory and the welcome he received at the White House and the genuine appearance of respect between himself and the president gives hope of a cordial transition of power.  This marks a point in our country that signals a potential act of collaboration where we can put animosity behind and turn to the needs of great nation.

In the past the transition of power from one party to the other has left one to scratch his head and ask where the maturity was.  There were stories of the Clinton administration leaving a mess when leaving the White House and even electrical fixtures were removed as souvenirs.  I am sure this was not isolated to that administration only.  Then we see the pictures of the Obama’s with the Bush’s at the White House during that transition and this showed how leaders of the great United States should be viewed.  President Obama has vowed to make the transition as easy as possible and he has pledged to support the incoming President’s transition to power.  The hand shake at the press conference followed by Trump stating that he looks forward to President Obama’s council was remarkable and conciliatory.  Unfortunately, not everyone is this mature.

Oprah Winfrey declared sincere happiness in the first meeting of Trump with Obama.  One of the most popular and influential women as well as one of the most wealthy women in America was rebuked by individuals that feel that the country is lost with the election of Trump.  People that adored her a week ago are quick to chastise the lady; a lady that feels that a conciliatory response between the two political parties can lead to a bright future for the United States.  These are the same people that are now rioting, not protesting in the streets of our major cities around the country.  It is unclear what they are protesting for.  The elections are not being contested by the Democratic party nor will Trump be unelected nor will the destruction of public and private property achieve anything.  Instead of protesting the elections, instead of causing civil unrest and instead of taking ball bats and destroying cars; lets march and offer prayers and support for the government with the hope that the country can be healed and once again gain the respect of the world and America can again lead the planet to a state of world peace.

Just as disturbing were images of celebrities crying and the wringing of hands as they wailed about the loss of Secretary Clinton.  Clinton came across with a conciliatory gesture in her speech that showed a great maturity and Trump was equally complimentary of his foe.  If these two can find a common ground of humility, then everyone should follow suit and work for the betterment of the country.  If anyone feels that they no longer want to live in our great nation and are not willing to work and possibly sacrificing to make this country work, then please tell me where I can donate to the fund to fly them out.  That is not the attitude nor the grit that build this country.

FROM THE END A NEW BEGINNING

 

As I write this on the Sunday before the Presidential election, there is no way to tell who the winner will be.  By the time you read this the end has come and we have a newly elected president.  Thank goodness; the most contentious, documented and dysfunctional presidential election in the history of our great nation is in the history books.  It is over.

Years ago Robert Redford starred in a movie called “The Candidate”.   It was the story of a man who ran for the U.S. Senate but had never held public office.  He stumbled through the election running on change for the government.  Finally following the counting of the votes he was declared the winner and prompted him to ask, “What do I do now”.  Let us hope that the presidential election of 2016 is not about only winning the race but about winning to grow our great nation.  Let us hope that the winner considers the victory to be a beginning and not the end and the race was not about declaring oneself to be only the winner of a contest.

The new president will have challenges that are greater than any president during a non-war administration.  He or she must possess great negotiation skills and leadership that focuses on our existing issues that are common to the country.  Party partisanship must be diminished for the sake of the country.

The greatest threat facing the nation for our new president will not be ISIS nor the economy nor immigration nor smothering regulations. The greatest threat the president will face will be to pull our fragmented political grid together in a manner that we are all moving in the same direction.  Then we can tackle the issues facing the country.  If we work together as a team, then everything is possible.  We can tackle the most difficult issues and win but the president will have his/her hands full to pull the various political factions together.

There has been much rhetoric broadcast from both presidential candidates.  Much can be forgiven but it’s more difficult to forget and there will be a lot to forget.  In addition to the bad feelings between the two parties there will also be potential legal investigations and this must be handled in a manner that will not distract from the work of the government.  Hurt feelings must be placated and members of both parties must make a concerted effort to work together for America.

If all political parties, and this includes Independents, Green and all other factions, realize that the nation must come first, then we will heal and grow.  If this is not happen then there will be four more years of fragmentation, despair and America will continue on a downward spiral in the eyes of a world that had admired and respected it for two hundred years.

THIS YEAR DOESN’T DISAPPOINT

A year ago I said this election was going to be interesting.  Recently we looked at where the election was going and it appeared that the advantage was with Clinton.  Since then our soap opera election had Clinton beating Trump up in the media but he was outpacing Clinton at the rallies.  Polls showed Clinton winning by a decent majority but enthusiasm appeared to be with Trump.  Well, this year has been anything but dull.  What the difference a week can make.  The strategy of a campaign is very import and since most of us are not in a position to impact the candidate’s strategy we can at least observe it and how interesting this year’s observation is.

Prior to last week the Trump campaign was chastising the Department of Justice due to the lack of prosecution of Clinton over the use of a private e-mail server that was used for official correspondence.  The meeting that Bill Clinton had on the tarmac at one airport with the Attorney General in her plane raised eyes and the explanation that they just visited and talked about grandchildren was laughable and only fueled the controversy of a cover up.  While the e-mail debacle was finally declared by Justice to be a non-event the Trump camp tried to keep this alive but it was quickly dying.  The e-mail strategy was vaporizing and few really cared anymore.

Then the women appeared in the Clinton camp and declared Trump had groped them and propositioned them. The list kept growing and this new twist to the Clinton strategy gained momentum.  This followed the playing of a ten year old sexist tape that was deplorable and sickening and looked to be end of the Trump campaign.  I had even declared this to be the final nail in the coffin for Donald Trump.  But, Trump appears to have more than nine lives.  He referred to the tape as ten-year-old locker room talk and said he regretted it.  Even though he regretted this the Republican party began distancing itself from Trump and his poll numbers plummeted.  Like the energizer bunny he just kept on running and like the Bulova watch of the 50, he took a lickin and kept on tickin.   Clinton kept the audio tape low key.  A good strategy as she let the court of public opinion rip the candidate.  Then he completely denied the claims of all the women that came forward and that move appeared to be working.  It was only their word and his strategy was to make them prove it as be began to attack them.  His poll numbers began to come back just as we have observed so many other times during the campaign.

Then on Friday of last week enter the FBI; the same FBI that said they were suspending the investigation of the Clinton e-mail server.  The FBI sent a letter to congress and stated they were re-opening the e-mail case.  Suddenly in the course of hours the political landscape changed.  Trump now lauded the FBI for reopening the case.  Smart strategy.  Clinton had a hastily called press conference, declared her innocence and then told everyone to go out and vote early.  This would make sense as once a vote is cast it cannot be changed but if a voter waits and new revelations are released they may change their mind and vote differently.  A clever strategy.   Of course, the Trump camp if now praising the FBI, the Clinton claims foul among suggestions of political dealings and the Attorney General is quiet.  While all this is going on Trumps numbers are going up and at the time of this writing, Sunday, it is now anyone’s race.

So what is in front of us in the last week of a quite unique Presidential race.  WiKILinks promises some more releases that are to be even more damaging to Clinton.  This should be interesting but for this to have any impact it needs to be released soon enough to cause a buzz with the voters but not so early that Clinton can provide a defense that the public will buy.  Timing is everything.  The only thing left that has not been focused on by the Trump camp is Benghazi.  I would have thought that Trump would have built on this and worked on America’s passion for its’ troops and diplomatic core.  As for Clinton, she needs to hunker down and see where she needs to perform damage control as an issue arises.  A week ago it was hers to lose; today it is anybody’s race.

MUCK RAKING IS NOT NEW

 

The presidential election of 2016 goes down in the annals of political campaigns as the dirtiest campaign ever waged; or is it.  The use of multi-media, social media and mass communication has made allegations a real time event and allows instantaneous responses from candidates.  For me, a person who enjoys observing the workings of our government and the living history that it produces, I’m ready for it to end and see if we can get back to building our country.  We really need to.

Things are bad and if you think this is unique, you would be wrong.  Muck raking and character assassination in presidential races goes back over two hundred years and is no more prevalent than a candidate that had his infamous fame burned into the legacy or our great state, Louisiana.

A one-time contender for the President of the United States began his public service for America at the age of thirteen when he served as courier for the Continental forces.  He was captured, almost starved to death and was slashed by an officer’s sword when he refused to polish the officer’s boots.

Following the War for Independence, he worked in a saddle shop then moved on to teaching school and finally became a frontier lawyer where he built a reputation for his ability to practice his new profession.  In 1796 he was elected to the U.S House of Representatives when Tennessee was allowed statehood.  The next year he was elected to the U.S. Senate.  In 1794 he formed a business with a John Overton to acquire a large track of land from the Chickasaw Indian Nation to be used for land speculation.  He negotiated the deal, invested in the purchase of the land and this eventually led to the founding of Memphis, Tennessee.

In 1812 our presidential candidate was in charge of the Tennessee Militia which included such great leaders as Sam Houston and David Crockett.  In addition to the War of 1812 with England, there was a bloody Indian uprising.  Our candidate put the uprising down and was named Brigadier General.  His next heroic act was depicted in a 1960s Ballad by Johnny Horton, “The Battle of New Orleans”.  It depicted the battle between the United States and England that was led for the Americans by General Andrew Jackson.

He would later run for the presidency and his first attempt in 1824 led to a defeat and he cried foul.  Jackson had won the majority of the popular votes and the majority of electorial votes.  There were four candidates so he did not have a clear majority so it went to the House of Representatives and the presidency went to John Quincy Adams amid cries of the election being stolen.

In 1828 Jackson was again running and his rivals referred to him as a “jackass”.  Jackson turned the tables on his rivals and adopted the image for his campaign.  This was later adopted as the symbol for the Democratic Party.

Probably the worst case of public degradation during the election was the attacks on Jackson’s wife.  They both thought that she was divorced when she married Jackson.  She was not and the Adams campaign led a vicious attack on Jackson and his wife.  The cry of bigamy was heard across the country; however, the popular candidate won the presidency.  His wife died before his inauguration.  At the funeral he stated “May God Almighty forgive her murderers.  I never can.”  He said that he would forgive those that attacked him but he would never forgive those that attacked his wife.

Jackson also came under attack for slavery.  He was not ridiculed for being a slave owner.  Instead he was ridiculed for his way he handled the slaves and moved them around.

Jackson’s administration was not immune from scandal and ridicule.  His Secretary of War’s wife had a past that was open to scrutiny.  Jackson’s Cabinet’s wives ostracized her and alienated the wife and her husband.  Jackson, remembering his own wife’s ridicule, fired or forced his cabinet into resignation.  The press fed on these stories.

Things are not good today but this election is not the only election to be a muck raker.  Wouldn’t it be nice if for the next three weeks we forgot the muck and let’s hear what really counts, how our country will be run for the next four years.

IT’S TIME TO VOTE

 

How is the best way to reinforce our belief in America?  How is the best way to show that America is truly a part of a unique experiment called democracy?  How is the best way to declare that you are a part of our political infrastructure?  The answer is simple; go out and vote.  Regardless if you are rich or poor.  Regardless if you are black, white, yellow, brown, red or some shade between.  Regardless if you are Republican, Democrat, Green Party. Libertarian or any other party in between.  The one thing to remember is that regardless of how unique you are, you are equal with everyone else when it comes to voting.  Our founding fathers guaranteed this; one man, one vote.

If a person wants to make a statement, voting is the way to do it.  Many say that their vote doesn’t count.  Nothing is further from the truth.  There are actually recorded instances that a person was elected by a difference in the popular election by just one vote.  Instead of boycotting an election, go out and plea your cause and then go vote.  I have personally witnessed how many people would have loved to have been able to cast their votes and thus help to determine the future of their country.  Recall the first votes cast in Iraq following the fall of Saddam Hussein.  It was euphoria as men and then unprecedented women cast votes for who would rule their country.  Unfortunately, without America’s commitment to transition the government, this free vote was tarnished by leadership that fell back to tribal nepotism.  Afghanistan witnessed the same excitement.  Unfortunately, many voters had their fingers cut off by the Taliban for voting.  The Taliban was so concerned of the freedom provided by the ability to vote that it had to make a statement to stop it.

We take a lot for granted in our great nation and the ability to vote is one of them.  So many men and women gave the ultimate sacrifice that insured that freedom would be guaranteed for our nation.  Six hundred and eighty thousand men and women have been killed in combat and we still have the ability to cast our vote.

Very soon we will elect the next President of the United States.  There is not a better reaffirmation of our support for our great nation than to vote.  There is also no excuse for not doing so.  We can pre-vote as well as cast a ballot on election day.  Surely we can take thirty minutes out of our lives to select the ruler of the greatest country on earth.  Then we are sending a message to the rest of the world that we take our liberties and freedoms seriously.

LET’S PULL IT TOGETHER AMERICA

 

This is probably the most dysfunctional presidential race in recent memory.  We have a candidate that is thought of as the heir apparent and represents the status quo in Washington.  At a time in American history when the majority of Americans are dissatisfied with the federal government it would seem that this candidate would have a hard time garnishing votes.  This is not so and the individual, Hillary Clinton, is leading the polls.  On the other side of the race we have a candidate, Donald Trump, that represents change and has never held a public office of any kind.  His popularity is due to being a non- status quo candidate; however, his bombastic nature and presentation in public have turned off many voters.  Yes, this is a dysfunctional contest.

The race is so close that we will begin to see extreme measures to gain votes.   There are two debates left and these are going to become increasingly negative.  The ads on television will likewise become more and more negative and instead of a candidate disclosing what they will do for the country, they will be pointing out why the other candidate is not qualified to be our president.  My preference is to hear what the direction of the country will be in the future if a candidate is elected and not hear how bad things will be if the other candidate is elected.

There is one thing for certain; we will elect a new president in November and we will have a new president sworn into office in January.  What is unknown is what will happen after that.  When our current president was elected he pledged transparency and working with both parties to move the country forward.  Nothing could be further in reality.  Congress has voids between the two parties that continue to widen.  The White House has attempted to force regulations on the nation by the use of presidential orders and thus by pass the judicial body of our country.  This is in disregard to the direction of our founding fathers.  This is no more apparent than when Obamacare was being discussed and the law was not fully written.  The instruction was to pass the law and the details would be figured out after the law was enacted.  This was not an option and the details were written into the legislation.

Here is my hope.  Following the elections have the president call a time out.  Get the leadership in Washington together and forge out how the country will be run for the next four years.  Try to mend years of dissent and dissatisfaction.  Place the nation first and try to come to a common ground on major issues that plague our nation and once again become the leader of the free world.  Come up with a philosophical approach that we are not building a country for the next election or even the current lifetime of the leadership, instead we are building a country that will be inherited by our children and grandchildren.

In the meantime, sit back and enjoy the next six weeks.  It will be interesting and be sure to watch the vice presidential debates.  Those should be even more interesting than the presidential discussions.

A NEW WORLD FOR AMERICAN POLITICAL PARTIES

 

Unless you have been living in a cave or stranded on a deserted island for the last year, you know that we are in the middle of a presidential election year.  Like all other election years since the beginning of the 1800s the presidential candidate for a political party is selected at a convention that is composed of party members from across the country.  Behind the scenes leaders of the party are developing strategy to defeat the candidate of the other party.

Over time change happens.  When political parties become so out of touch with main stream America and do not provide the communication to the party members with a clear agenda of what the party wants to accomplish, change will take place.  Today this is what we are witnessing in the Republican Party and I find it interesting to observe what is transpiring around us.  The Republican party is transforming itself, not from changes from the party leadership but from the rank and file members that make up the party.  The party leadership is either adopting the change and moving with it or some members are ignoring what the members are saying and refuse to embrace the new face of the party.

The members of the Republican Party have selected the individual that they want to see as President.  This is contrary to what the Republican leadership hoped for and right up to the moment of the convention there was discussion of ways to keep Donald Trump from being the Republican nominee.  The hue and cry of the common party member silenced this attempt and Donald Trump is the official Republican candidate.   The convention that officially selected him was in contrast to what we have seen in the past.  First, it was more of a family convention than a presidential convention as primary speakers were the Trump “kids” and this threw a new spin on the contest.  Present were former candidates but what was more apparent was the lack of certain Republican leaders that are sitting this one out.  The message is clear from the common man on the street that out there building this country that they have selected the candidate of their choice and the total party should be behind them and accept the path of the party that the new party is heading.  Two former Republican Presidents no endorsing the candidate of the party is unheard of.  Then there was the Ted Cruise speech and the fact that he refused to endorse Trump yet still spoke at the convention.  It will be interesting over the next few years as to how this works for him and his own political career.

The Democratic campaign is shaping up to be as dysfunctional as the Republican and it appears that change is on the way for that party as well.  I am writing this on the eve of the convention and what appeared to be an exciting event is living up to its’ hype.  First, this set of super delegates that does not have to be elected sways the selection of the Democratic candidate in the direction of how the party leadership wants it to go.  Hillary Clinton is the apparent nominee and while she appears to be the candidate of choice for the party elite, Bernie Sanders came in a close second with the super delegates going in a separate direction.  Now Wiki Links released documents that showed that the head of the Democratic National Committee showed favoritism toward Clinton.  Now how good is this turning out to be and the convention is shaping up to be as exciting as the Republican Convention.  Then add the revelation that the Head of the Democratic Central Committee, will not be allowed to speak at her own Convention.  How dysfunctional is that.

Times are changing and so are the political parties.  In a time of social media, instant news reports and people wanting change just for the sake of change; we are witnessing a transformation of both major political parties.  The time of back room politics and power plays by unknown power brokers is in for major change.

Last year I said that this is going to be an interesting race for the White House and sit back and enjoy.  So far it has not disappointed. The next four months will be an interesting and important time for the future of the country and the world.

PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION 2016 – IT DOESN’T GET MUCH BETTER

 

Several months ago I had noted that this campaign was going to be very unique so sit back and enjoy the ride; it would be like none we have ever witnessed.  This has not failed to come to fruition.

For the Democrats it is apparent that Hillary Clinton will become the first woman to be nominated by a major party as a candidate for president.  Bernie Sanders has not suspended his campaign for the democratic bid and is jockeying for major issues to become a part of the parties plank in 2016.  This will give a greater socialist flair to the Democratic party stance.

On the other side of the aisle, the Republican party has reconciled that it will recognize Donald Trump as its’ candidate.  He is so controversial that key leaders of the party have stated that they will not support him.  They will not back the Democratic candidate but they will not actively support Trump.

With the table now set for the general election what will be in store for the next six months of political activity.  Here is my prediction.

Hillary will adopt some of the issues that Bernie Sanders proposed.  Much to the ire of the lobbyist and large contributors from the financial sectors of Wall Street, she will propose election funding reform.  If elected it will be left to see if the proposal receives the attention promised since many of the groups affected have been large contributors in the past.  A minimum wage increase of a large proportion will be addressed but again the reality of a $15.00 an hour minimum wage will be fully disclosed once the election is over and will probably be watered down.  What will be interesting in the race will be how Clinton addresses the e-mail investigation and the horrific handling of the Bengasi incident that cost America the life of a U.S. Ambassador to Libya.  Trump will surely bring these issues up as well as former President Clinton’s marital indiscretions.

Trump is a novelty in political terms.  He has never held public office and is used to getting his own way. Seldom does he have to negotiate.  He has been bombastic and confrontational and has on occasion acted like a school yard bully.  Trump is also a master of speaking to the situation and it is expected that he will mellow his message, reconcile with as many enemies that he has created and make a valiant effort to pull the Republican party together.  He will move forward to correct the impression of how he views the female voting block and the Hispanic voting block.  Clinton will attack him on his original stance on pro-abortion plus his multiple wives and the use of illegal aliens to work on one of his properties in Florida.  If elected, the world will wait to see if the Trump wall is erected across our Southern Border.  In fact there will be some walls, some fences and sophisticated electronic and airborne surveillance.  The fence will become fact but the impression of what it will look like will be quit different than what gets put into place.

Regardless of who wins the race will possibly be the election of the century.  It will be nasty and will rival any reality show on TV today.  Eventually most will grow tired and the cry to get on with election day will be heard across the country.

Sit back and enjoy.  This will be an election to remember.

THE KKK IN POLITICS

 

On an early Friday morning in the fall of 1991 I was in my hotel room in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Fridays are like Sunday in the Middle East and I had awakened following the winning of the Mid-East Championship at the Dubai Softball Complex at the International Hotel.  The world was changing at an alarming pace.  The Soviet Union and the communist party had fallen apart and dissolved almost overnight.  Images of the Berlin wall being torn down by citizens of Berlin are etched in the minds of freedom loving humans throughout the world. A world coalition had come to the aid of tiny Kuwait and six months earlier had thrown out the Iraq forces in a surgical military operation that will be studied in military academies around the world for generations to come.  The world could finally see a short glimmer of what world peace could really look like.  A world was changing and Dubai was beginning to realize what could be done within the borders of this desert sheikdom. As much as I love and cherish my home state, Louisiana was seen as an insignificant state in America that was twelve thousand miles from Dubai.  In a world view, it pales in comparison to the likes of New York, California and Florida and I hope it remains that way. Yet, on this one day in November, as I awoke to the local radio station broadcasting in English the number one news story flashing across the air waves was that Edwin Edwards had defeated former KKK leader David Duke for the governorship of the state of Louisiana.  This is not the first time that the Ku Klux Klan had taken a prominent position in state or national politics.  Apparently after recent comments pertaining to Duke and the Republican race for president and the endorsement given to Donald Trump, the Klan still has some influence in the political debate.

In 1924 the KKK had strong bonds with the Democratic Party.  Tammany Hall, a political power house for the Democratic Party was headquartered in New York.  Political leaders such as Al Smith, Jim Farley and Franklin Roosevelt came from Tammany Hall politics.  Tammany Hall was anti-Klan and wanted the Klan to be written out of the party in the 1924 Democratic convention.  The Democratic South had a loyal following from the Klan and the Democratic delegation to the convention was estimated to be composed of over 25% members of the Klan.

William Jennings Bryant had at one time been the youngest nominated candidate for president.  He was from Nebraska and at an old age when the 24 convention was held was not a supporter of the KKK.   Bryant was a huge supporter of the Democratic Party and he knew that if the proposal to write out the Klan from the party was brought to the floor of the convention it would tear the party apart.  He came forward to speak and try to persuade the delegation to not bring the Klan issue to the floor of the convention.  For 30 minutes the Tammany Hall delegation jeered him so badly that he unable to address the convention.  The proposal to write the KKK out of the Democratic Party did eventually come to a vote, was barely defeated and the damage was done.  The press of the day built on convention and referred to the gathering as the “Klan Bake”.  It ultimately took two weeks and over a hundred different votes to select a candidate to run for president.

The Republicans won the election in 1924.  Jennings went on be on the prosecution team at the Scopes Monkey trial in Tennessee and eventually the Klan lost control in the Democratic party and its’ strength grew in the Republican party.  When Duke was defeated for the governorship of Louisiana he was running as the Republican representative.

While the Klan has lost most of the power it once had, the mere mention of the KKK can have a strong effect on a political race for both the candidate and the political party.