Truth Justice and the American Way of Life

 When did we decide that everybody was either a liberal or a conservative?

While the Democratic party has been the more liberal of the two, both parties tended to be moderate with a spectrum of political beliefs included.

There were more liberal parts of the country and more conservative parts but much of the country was actually just in the middle.

So to win in a liberal state like say New York, you had to be at worst a moderate.  So someone like Nelson Rockefeller was elected as a Republican Governor multiple times but probably couldn't survive in the party today.

Similarly we had conservative Democrats, often from the South who were a significant factor in the Party.

Americans often voted based on factors that were hardly ideological.  

Now of course you are either a die hard Trump supporter or a Radical leftist.

At least that's what certain media like Fox news likes to preach.

I consider myself an American who wants what's best for this country.  I think  I support the American way of life and am pretty much married to the the old catchphrase used by a TV superhero.

Truth, Justice, and the American Way of life.

Church and State are Separate

 One of the biggest problems in this country is that we act like God is part of it.

Whether or not God exists is something worth discussing but it is pretty clear that if he does he isn't particularly associated with America.

Why would he be?

It raises the question that tend to be ignored, why if he is the creator of everyone would he favor one person over another, let alone an entire country?

The country was founded by men who were in large part deists and generally Christian.  They were almost certainly aware of the problem of a state run religion since the Church of England was in fact just that.

So they mandated a separation and freedom of religion.  This is one of the fundamental principles of this country.

It was never perfect, religion creeped into certain areas, but if you are familiar with the scriptures you should know to render unto Caesar the things that are Caesar's and render unto God the things that are God's.  

Religion is not something that the state should favor.  In fact the tax exemptions we grant them seem inappropriate.  Simply put no person should be told what religion to practice or if they should practice any and no person should try to tell the Government what it should do because of their religion.

You can vote your conscience but don't think its your right to impose it on others.

Columbus, Daring Exploiter

 Columbus has become a controversial figure.

Since he has been long dead the change has to do with our society not his.

He was clearly an exploiter interested in getting rich and able to convince the Spanish monarchs to finance an expedition with the promise of great profit.  It was never an altruistic voyage, but it also wasn't designed as an evil one.

Once he stumbled upon what we now call America, his actions were both ruthless and exploitative.  He was there to make money any way he could.

What we celebrated him for was the bravery he displayed in making the voyage, which exposed him to significant danger.  That hasn't changed.

He is now under attack for exploiting the natives who he infected, enslaved and treated ruthlessly.

While his behavior was not unusual for his time it was clearly brutal and hardly Christian.

The bravery he exhibited is real and his voyage led to the exploitation of the Americas.

Most of the exploitation was actually done by others following him.

Recognize human nature and celebrate the best of it.

Supporters or Victims?

 Well he's out selling lies again but adding a bit of potentially deadly virus.

Wonder how his followers feel about it?

I assume they value their lives even though their leader doesn't.

After all even though cases and deaths can be traced to his rallies in Arizona and Wisconsin, Trump doesn't think his rallies have caused any problems.  His followers are expendable to him.

Yet they are invested in him and aren't convinced they are simply expendable pawns that mean nothing to him.

He likes when they fill auditoriums and buy his merch but otherwise they are not on his radar.  His only real customer is himself.

they don't get lifeboats as the ship sinks.

Hes Not Even Greek

 The next few weeks are going to be more chaotic as our current President grows more and more paicky.

Of course he might have a relapse since he hasn't been cured as he seems to think, but he might not, it's unpredicrtable.

He is as usual delusional thinking that his best chance is to appeal to his base, which already supports him.  The rest of the voters are not convinced by his rants.

The crazier he gets the worse his chances get.  Since he doesn't use logic or science he probably doesn't understand why he rants more and his polls get worse.

He is becoming like a Greek punishment where the more he tried to quench his thirst the thirstier he gets.

It's not for eternity, just a few more weeks.

Get it Done

 Voting is a fundamental right for citizens of this country, all of them not just the ones you like.

It's also not very complicated whether done by mail or in person.  I would like an on-line option as well but think that is not likely near term.

The simple process of counting the ballots should also be simple.  

Still this is an unusual year and many more people will vote by mail.  There are fears that the States will have trouble getting results computed.

Why?

Some states have gone to mail voting exclusively and get counts done quickly.

There is no reason that we should have significant delays counting.

Just do it.

Does the Fly Know?

 I kept waiting for the device to be activated and for Mike Pence and the fly to swap DNS and have him emerge as a fly-man.

I guess the plexiglass was actually a device designed to beam him over so it never happened.

They both had their talking points but many of the questions weren't particularly useful.

One of  seemed to want to know if they had talked about their boss dying in office or other becoming incapacitated.

Well they both avoided that question as they should since what would happen is they would become President.  Something every one who runs for that office knows.

If the question was geared to the President becoming senile or incoherent it would be a tough discussiion.

not much came out of this and clearly neither candidate was going to contradict or go into issues that weren't consistent with their bosses.  Why would they.

It was relatively civil if non productive.

At least we had the fly to entertain us.  Flies like to hang around the dead and decaying.

Could be an omen.