07.23.2016
The Republican National
Convention – A Grand Old Party
I do not know how the people who attended the Republican National
Convention felt about their part. Apart from the drinking, and revelry, which
are always enjoyable distractions; the mood seemed grim, angry, and untethered
from reality.
As a member of the television audience I was disturbed by many things:
The absence of any credible policy discussion regarding how they plan to
achieve their goals for the country, not to mention the fact that their goals;
T-Rump’s wall, religious testing of travelers, “law and order”, freedom to discriminate,
extreme interpretations of the second amendment…and so on, are representative
of social fantasies that would endanger all American’s, and the entire world.
Melania Trump’s plagiarism, and the cover up.
Name calling of Hillary Clinton; liar, traitor, treasonous, friend of
Lucifer.
The notion that Donald T-Rump. And T-Rump alone, has the ability to solve
our nation’s problems, and that without his singular, and unique skills (such
as they are imagined to be), our entire society, our way of life is doomed.
The most disturbing thing of all was the constant refrain, to “lock
Hillary up.” They put forward a spectacle of theatre, in which Governor Chris
Christie put her on trial, in which the entire convention became a kangaroo
court, and they shouted “guilty, guilty, guilty…” We have entered a new phase
of our democracy where the legitimacy of the winner of the presidential
election will be undermined by their opponents. In a country that is divided by
party, roughly 50/50, this is a concerning development. Far supporting the laws
and order of our society, it threatens them. It is dangerous.
This is a new thing. We should not lose sight of that. It is a brand new
thing, and it is reminiscent of what takes place in countries without
democratic institutions. It is new, but not nascent. It is a new level of
discord that the Republicans have struck. The tried to impeach and destroy the
presidency of Bill Clinton, they circulated rumors about President Obama, that
he was not a natural born citizens and eligible to hold the office (granted
that was always a fringe movement), but now they are set to destroy the potential
presidency of Hillary Clinton, trying to kill it in the crib with Rhetoric that
suggests her only hope is to win, or go to prison. This does not make for good
politics.
I will grant for the sake of balance that there were voices on the left
that spoke out against the legitimacy of George Bush’s presidency. It is true
they did, and while I myself saw his presidency as legitimate and legal, I
empathized with my sisters and brothers on the left because the facts were that
George Bush’s presidency was handed to him by a divided Supreme Court, in the
first place, and in the second he won, while at the same time losing the
popular vote, meaning that his won the game by governed without the consent of
the majority.
Democratic leadership did not investigate the numerous crimes, war
crimes, intelligence breaches, campaign irregularities. They let it go. Many of
their supporters were angry about this, but they let it go.
It is Sad Old Party, at the Republican Convention
