Anchormen Interupted

It is the old tug-of-war. We've lived through it before. Two parties trying to survive in this country, each thinking they have the answer. I was born under a Democratic administration that strayed. Granted there were fateful distractions like assassination, the party failed to deliver on the precepts it espouses. The Democratic Party came close to falling in the metaphorical mud. We lived through that. We were not interminably discouraged by McGovern's devastating loss, indicating most of the country was deaf to any voice but their own. All those Yippies who were beaten, all the McCarthy Democrats that voiced how Vietnam was wrong and required an immediate and unmitigated end, all felt silenced. They hurt, some were tearful, and they felt a sense of loss. They saw a tired war that was sentenced now to continue indefinitely. Wounds heal. Wars feel injustice. People will sense when they have no appeal. Turned out a Republican won, and turned the war his own way, presumably in ways his “Democratic” predecessor never dared. Fate intervened and opened a Watergate. Maybe Nixon would have eventually found Saigon, but Ford did. The healing began. We got through it, hopefully wiser for the wear.

A slip on the Soviets by Ford gave us Carter. Democrats back on solid ground. Okay, I look back and think he was weak. He did some things good for no one—the Olympic boycott—but he got us through a gas crisis, a nuclear disaster, and forged a peace plan in the middle east. In four years. Then the Republicans pulled harder. Reagan lived as a Democrat for much of his young life (as did Trump). His “Reaganomics” served no one but the one percent. He did limit nuclear weapons, helped end a cold war, and had a wall dismantled. Al Sharpten says today “We got the down, but not the trickle.” The other 99 percent is used to waiting. A gold, more likely brass, ring dangles. It's pulled, then released in frequencies of 4 to 8 years. The 99 percent are pursuing happiness for sure, but it gets closer, some feel it (if it stays long enough) and then it gets pulled away. One side of the country hiccups. We waited through the Reagan administration. Slaves waited, women waited, gays et al waited to be free to marry. In a democracy a lot of waiting is tolerated for greatly disproportionate rewards. That is a given most seem willing to accept. The anarchists, the rouge members of democracy, those who are either not educated enough to follow the democratic process or too impatient to follow it, won't accept waiting.

George HW. Bush had a Republican agenda that was destined to lead to war. For months he played cat and mouse with Saddam. The spider-hole poet fooled everyone. Bush pounced thinking Saddam had WMDs. He dropped bombs on Iraq in a prelude to his son's future.

In four years the Democrats mustered more strength, enough to have reign for eight years this time. Bill Clinton was at least as popular as Reagan In a video that was never show during this last campaign Trump praises Bill. He says he did a great job with everything. He said Hillary did well as first lady and senator. Clinton left jobs in his wake. He left a balanced budget. He signed the ADA. Personally, during the 90s I don't feel I ever benefited directly for any of these.

Enter W. A war his father ended cleverly is stupidly ignited again. It rages on for. . . Jobs go overseas. War crimes are committed. Cheney gets rich off the war. Wall street goes unchecked until the bubble bursts. The Democrats pull back tighter. This time, I think largely due to the major damage W caused, they squeeze in a black president. Surprise, from the beginning I am quite sure that his skin color colored peoples' opinion of him. He got more done then any president in my lifetime, in spite of it.

A billionaire business man, an outsider with zero public service steps up to the line. He holds the rope with more experienced politicians, but none who had yelled “you're fired” on a reality show. He came flawed, in any American's estimation, reeking of bigotry, misogyny unscrupulousness, and narcissism. He proved himself to be debatable by a tweet with a child-like distractability. His celebrity knocked all the “better” cookbook Republicans down the line. He did not win by popular vote. For winning still, Trump has James Madison to thank. Only in America.

We have lived through this before, although never this far from sanity. However I think a lot of that crappy, injurious, talk that belonged in the mouth of a dictator was more words than reality. We'll see. Regardless, politics in America is crying out for a third party. LBJ should have signaled it. Since then, the need or want for one has only gotten worse. I am convinced that without one a tug-of-war will persist as long as there is rope. Has everyone in this country ever been truly happy?The best scenario is a percentage is happier than another much larger percentage. Their anchor man pulls and they get a new breed of happiness until the other anchor pulls away that flurry of happiness.

This time, the Republicans pulled so hard, the constitution is threatened. Every minority who has been heard from, silenced, heard from, silenced now feels they will never be heard from again—or at least for the next four years. Immigrant families feel threatened. Muslims feel threatened. But it is not the end of the world, just close to the end of a rope. The donkey symbol goes back to Andrew Jackson. Fittingly, people called him a jackass. It is also fitting that the donkey represent the Democrat, as they are usually the ones following the eternal carrot. But when you begin a government with only white, slave-owning men voting, the wait for the eternal happiness of all is not surprising. Nothing's 100 percent.