A former colleague once said to me, “people are liberal when they’re younger and they get more conservative as they get older”. My first thought was, well isn’t that a sweeping statement! And my second: that doesn’t apply to me.
I’ve never belonged to a political party or thought one’s ideology was so perfect, I could back them all the way. I’ve voted every which way over the years, including Green. For a time, I described myself as small “c” conservative but I’ve always had some liberal leanings. And the older I get, the more liberal I seem to become. I find myself wanting to know more about different cultures, what it’s like to be a new immigrant in our country, how being a white woman has affected my view of the world.
Today, Americans are choosing their next President and dragging us along with them. Just because we can’t cast a ballot doesn’t mean we won’t be affected by the new regime. Count me among those who are absolutely stunned that Donald Trump has gotten this far in the campaign. It’s not funny anymore. As Barack Obama said, “A man you can bait with a tweet is not a man we can trust with nuclear weapons.” Trump is a man so selfish that he would rather have people think the “system is rigged” than actually say anything of substance when it appears he might lose. “It’s a rigged, rigged system, folks. It’s very rigged.” You can’t make this stuff up. In order for the system to be rigged, there would have to be collusion at every stop, in every level of government, with a conspiracy of silence that spans social spheres and generations. It’s not possible, but millions now believe it’s true.
Even if she is as corrupt and nasty as Trump says, Hillary Clinton as President, backed by a former President, still runs rings around him. For starters, she has actually served in a high government office as Secretary of State. Bill Clinton is no saint but Bill isn’t on the ballot. And there’s no doubt that Bill is smarter than Trump.
I predict it will be Hillary by a slim margin but I worry about what ardent Trump supporters will do in response. Trump says, Hillary will take away your guns, and they believe him, even though it’s not true. Why do NRA members hear, “we will take away your guns” whenever someone says, “we will keep guns out of the hands of the mentally ill and those who mean us harm”? But I digress.
Hang on to the rail, buckle yourself in and prepare for a wild ride tonight. May the best woman win.
May the best woman win is right Lisa and God help us all if she doesn’t. I was in Buffalo this past weekend and spoke to 3 people; one woman stated “how can I vote for Hilary with the email issues?” and then she went on to say how Trump can’t be bought. WTF??
Two other woman I spoke to mentioned they probably will not be voting. I wanted to go off on a rant but I walked away shaking my head. Friggin scary.
Trump’s right, the systems rigged, how else did he manage to get the Republicans nomination, under false pretences! I said this to a family member in jest months ago, if Trump gets in it wouldn’t surprise me if someone tries to assassinate him. History has shown that about every 20 years or so an assassination attempt has been made against a sitting president and given how polarized this election has been and the radical factions in the U.S. it’s not impossible.