A Four Year Three Hour Tour
This week as I watched yet another political debate, it occurred to me that the Presidential Candidates that many, including myself, find so distasteful are an accurate reflection of society. Having these two major candidates, and for that matter the off party candidates, did not happen by chance. Their representation is a direct response to where we area today. Is it fair for us to call foul and complain about Trump and Clinton when they rose to the top of the clotted cream?
Every time one of them addresses the public, in debate or in campaigning, I shudder. They are two sides of the same coin. Oh, they may dress it up a little different but, let’s face it, you can put a red tie or a white pant suit on a pig and it is still a pig. It still consumes almost everything in its path, wallows in the mud and has an aggressive side that belies its sloppy presentation. It is, simply, a pig and it cannot be more or less than what it is. And that is problem with both Trump and Clinton. They cannot be more or less than what they are. They are both cast in stone.
What we have is two people who were smart enough to catch a ride to the top on the back of other people – Trump, on the back of his father’s wealth, and Clinton, on the back of her more politically palatable husband. Were they both smart enough to take advantage of the boot up? Well, sure. But, how smart do you have to be to capitalize on another’s sweat and success. Neither are ground breakers. Neither are astoundingly intelligent or else he/she would have put the other soundly away by now. Neither are very likable. In fact, it would be hard to find two candidates who are more fraught with frailties than these two candidates.
I find it funny that so many women are shaming Trump and touting Clinton because they are equally bad for progressive women. He is shallow, crude and egotistical and she committed feminist treason by attaching her star to a man rather than forging her own way, trying to turn an Mrs. into a Presidential title. Oh, yes. I know all about the accomplishments of each. Billionaire Businessman-Senator Secretary of State. They both know how to climb and neither is particularly concerned about who they climb over on the way up. But, neither got where they were going on their own. In this case it really does matter which came first, the chicken or the egg.
Like I said, we got what we bargained for and we will most likely live to regret it. We have a reality show of an election and our candidates are both reality stars. Seriously, Trump is the master of reality television and the Clintons are the only people who could rival him in his own realm. This has been an election of sex, scandal, corruption and secrets that aren’t really secret. This is what we respond to as a society. We sit on the edge of our seats waiting for the next uneducated, unpatriotic, “star” to tweet or snapshot us their input on everything from politics to how much they drank last night and what their baby daddy or baby momma said or did. We have been fed a steady diet of media driven crap for so long that we jones for it like a drug. As a society, we have been sliding downhill so fast we have grass burns and we don’t even appear to be trying to slow down the roll.
It is all fun and games as long as it is just reality television but this time I fear that the “reality” of reality television may just be more than any of us bargained for. So, it is time to vote. If you are like me, I would just as soon take a pass but I truly believe that voting is the duty of every eligible American citizen. It won’t be pretty and none of these candidates, republican, democrat, or independent, are worthy of cleaning the oval office, little alone sitting in it. I liken it to voting for one of the castaways on Gilligan’s Island for President. Will it be Thurston Howell III, who successfully saved suitcases of money and built a country club on an island of seven people but couldn’t buy off the natives? Will it be the Skipper, who supposedly has the leadership skills but wrecked the minnow stranding the captives on the island and has no legitimate ideas of escape? Will it be a third party candidate that can only aspire to Gillian’s goofy, yet lovable, ways but comes off more like the crazy guy that kept the homing pigeons? Where is the dull, boring Professor when you need him? I wish us all good luck because this is shaping up to be a four year, three hour tour and I have a feeling that before it is all over the native are going to be very, very restless.
