Politics and family

I do not know who my parents have voted for over the years.  I can tell you that dad did not vote for Trump this year and I am confident that Mom would never have voted for him either.  This year 2 of my 3 brothers became friends with me on Facebook.  I have another brother who wisely does not participate on Facebook.  To say that it has been a trying time is an understatement.  Sometimes I have refrained from liking things I like, from commenting on my friends posts and from supporting causes that I believe in because I know they will see it and I never know what kind of comments I will see.  They post a lot of right wing MEMEs from questionable websites.  Early on, I blocked Breitbart websites and others of that kind.  I have blocked those websites, but they just keep coming.  Old memes that have been disproven over and over again show up as news, out and out lies propagated as facts, hatefulness disguised as patriotism, sensationalism disguised as relevance.  I love Facebook and I love my friends and relatives.  That is why I do not block them even when we disagree but I will continue to block the BS memes and websites and videos.  I will check the facts, research the sources and then decide if I ever want to see that Website on my news feed ever again.  Please be aware that if the website you are sharing has an ad for toenail fungus on it, I will immediately block it, in fact I may just report it.  It is a lot of work but necessary as  I think all citizens need to be responsible for checking their facts.  If people would check for factualness before they share or like, Facebook would be a better place.  I would also like to say that I have never been so shocked at PBS as I was election night as I watched them realize that they were wrong about everything.  I switched to other channels but did not find a single one that was reporting impartially.  Walter Cronkite must be rolling in his grave.

The first election I remember knowing who the candidates were was the 1968 election.  I was a Bobby Kennedy fan although I did not have a single reason for supporting him.  I was 13, living in a small town in Iowa.  All I knew was what I saw on TV.  I don't remember my parents or any other grown ups discussing politics in front of me.  So maybe they did and I just wasn't interested enough to pay attention.  Did they support Nixon?  Who knows? Who cares?

In the Nixon years, I remember believing that the President of the United States could not possibly be involved in any illegal activities such as Watergate.  I was wrong, but I did not vote for him so NOT MY FAULT.

The first election I was eligible to vote in was in 1976.  Gerald Ford Vs Jimmy Carter.  I voted for Ford.  Why?  Stupid reasons like Jimmy Carter smiled too much.  So my candidate lost that election. Jimmy was a pretty terrible president, but I didn't vote for him so NOT MY FAULT.

The second election I voted in was Ronald Reagan Vs Jimmy Carter.  I voted for Ronald Reagan.  Why?  I thought he was too conservative and a war monger, but I still did not like Jimmy Carter.  The economy sucked, the Iran hostage mess, whatever, I was willing to take a chance on Reagan's upbeat message.  I voted for him twice.  I had a job, a good one, so that nasty recession in the 80's did not bother me much.    Yes, there was that nasty Iran Contra affair also.  My candidate won so I guess it was MY FAULT.

The fourth election I voted in was George HW Bush Vs.  Dukakis.   I voted for Bush.  My candidate won.  Yes there was that little war in the middle east, lots of people died and he broke his promise about No New Taxes.  So I guess it was MY FAULT. 

Election number five was George HW Bush Vs Bill Clinton.  My candidate lost.  Bill was not a bad president, just a bad man.  Still I did not vote for him so NOT MY FAULT.

Number six was Bill Clinton vs Bob Dole.  My candidate lost.  Same deal-NOT MY FAULT.

Number seven was Bush Vs Gore.  My candidate won.  I actually was happy when the Supremes decided that Bush won.  That was before 9-11. That was before we went to war with Iraq based on lies, before the fiscally responsible party decided to balloon the deficit and spend billions on a war of revenge embedding us in a quagmire of violence and death.  DEFINITLY MY FAULT.

Number eight was Bush Vs Kerry.  My candidate won.  Why was I still voting for him?  I can't for the life of me remember.  Did I still believe that the war with Iraq was necessary?  Did I still believe in Bush's compassionate conservatism?  I got fooled again.  I do know that by 2012 I was in the ABB party-Anybody But Bush, still this was DEFINITLY MY FAULT.

Number nine and ten.  I voted for Obama.  Did he live up to his promises-not as much as I hoped, but not as little as I feared.  I voted for him twice.  MY FAULT and I am proud of it.

I do know that for the past eight years we have seen the ugliness of racism come out in America like we haven't seen it since the sixties when the African American marchers were set upon with water canons, nightsticks and bombs.  America was born of violent revolution.  Our Constitution was written and based not on the equality of humans but of the equality of white men. Women did not vote.  Slaves counted for the purpose of census as partial human beings but could not vote.  This was done to increase the populations of rural slave holding states and increase the number of representatives those states received.  Why do we have an electoral college?  Why do we have a Senate with 2 Senators for each state?  Why?  To protect the Rural from the Urban. 

 Our Declaration of Independence states;

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. 

For 240 years we have been amending the constitution, fighting to free the slaves, fighting to allow universal suffrage, fighting for the equal rights that the declaration states should have been endowed by our Creator.  It is very unlikely that the have-nots will stop fighting for themselves and their children.

Election number eleven.  Hillary Clinton vs Donald Trump.  My candidate lost.  It is not the first time one of my candidates lost.  Some times my candidate lost and I think things turned out better than expected.  Sometimes my candidate won and I regretted my vote.  So losing is not the problem.  I think if Hillary Clinton had won, we would have seen the ugliness of misogyny come out and stay with us for all of her presidency, hampering all of her efforts, dooming us and our country for another round of obstructionism and failure to move forward. Sad to say, that is what I think would have been the hallmark of her presidency. 

So, now we have Republicans in the Senate, Republicans in the House and a pseudo-Republican in the white house.  So my Republican friends, neighbors and family, it is time to stop blaming Obama, stop blaming the Democrats, stop blaming the liberals and show us your skill at governing.  It is time to put up or shut up.  Your turn.  I will hope for your success, but whatever happens, NOT MY FAULT.