THE STATE OF THIS ELECTION…

What follows here is a piece that I think sums up rather nicely the scenario the American people are faced with this presidential election year.  I wish I could take credit for composing it, but I can't. The man responsible for that is Dr. Marc G. Kaprow.

“There is clearly a quandary for American voters this year.

In one corner we have a man who is highly offensive - to many of us. He is neither polished nor humble. He is the most unpolitical politician on the planet.  Some of his supporters are racist. We hear repeatedly about statements he made 15-20 years ago about women. We hear conjecture that he evades taxes through the use of loopholes.

We also hear stories that when he came to Mira Lago in Florida he fought for the right for Jews, blacks and women to have membership there. We hear stories of the jobs he has created, the kind messages he has delivered to employees and others who fell ill, and the fact that his children and family support him.  We watched him on television donating thousands of dollars to charities and inspiring other celebrities to compete, raising millions more.

We also know that he is not beholden to the media. He tells off reporters as fast as he does anyone else. He is not beholden to lobbyists - he is funding most of his campaign from his pocket. He spends conservatively - not because he has to, but because he can.

He is a progressive for many things - from paying women in his companies equally to his friendships with people of all creeds and colors. He is motivated by his patriotism - he already has money and power - what other motive is there for a President?  He doesn't have religious hang ups. His children were raised Christian and at least one has converted to Judaism - and she and her husband remain steadfast champions and advisers for him.

The other major candidate is a political veteran. She has been in politics for 30 years, and leveraged that position to make hundreds of millions of dollars peddling influence.  Like many politicians, her views shift with public opinion. In the Senate, she supported securing our borders and building a wall, she referred to black teenagers as super predators and she voted to invade Iraq.

She supported groups like the Islamic Brotherhood, and stood up for men like Abbas who funneled aid for his people into terror tunnels used to kill "enemies".  She overthrew a government in Libya and left an Ambassador and three other Americans to die by withholding help. She then, days later, lied to the families of those men as to how and why they died.

She broke the law to hide her communications from inspection and inadvertently (if you believe the FBI) or intentionally directed secret information that was ultimately intercepted by our enemies, and likely resulted in the deaths of key assets in the Middle East. She cut deals with charitable donors and spent much of those monies on administrative costs - and to cover it, she and Bill allied with a charity watchdog for years and then used influence to have themselves removed from a watchlist when their schemes were realized.

The DNC collaborated on her behalf to disenfranchise millions of voters who wanted her out. Her national campaign manager stepped down as a result.  Even as she blames her opponents for positions they take, she is unable to speak about how she has done anything of significant benefit to anyone in her decades of public life. She also uses the same tax loopholes that her opponent does.

Unlike her opponent she relies on the gifts of others for her campaign and she knows the quid pro quo game of politics well. She is indebted to the drug companies, the media companies, the finance and banking companies and countries from around the world.  She and her staff originate stories and controversies, like the picture of our current president in a turban, yet berates Trump for believing that.

She thinks that people should be treated differently because of the color of their skin, or because of their religion rather than basing judgement on people's actions. She supports criminals over law enforcement and contemplates using tragedies to leverage campaigning, by ordering commercial time on the Weather Channel during a hurricane and cancelling it when she is criticized. She is the uber politician - one who will say or do anything to be a success.

There are alternatives, like the candidate who has such dark blinders on it is like the world outside of his personal sphere he cannot name a single current world leader. There is another candidate who committed an act of vandalism and was arrested.  They are truly not worth the effort to explain.

Americans are faced with a choice - participate or not. Those who participate must decide - the bitter lying woman who is above the law or the egocentric man who is callous and uncouth.

I have three daughters - and I want them to know they can be president someday, but I also want them to understand that men and women can be jerks. Being a jerk doesn't disqualify someone for being a candidate - but in either case we are going to get a president who either says things not to be believed or one who is not to be believed that these things were said.

Ultimately I've made my choice - and it stems from three things:

1.  I cannot abide someone who has worked so hard to be "ideal" that she would be willing to break laws, disenfranchise Americans and collaborate with terrorists - both foreign and domestic either out of ignorance or worse yet, out of cunning to achieve money or power.

2. I am disgusted by politics in general. Yes I know several politicians and I even like a few. I detest that the primary motivation for an elected official is determining how to get re-elected, or if ineligible for re-election, how to create an indelible mark on the pages of history - regardless of the costs (financial and real).  I see a candidate who is beholden to no one and who will call out the politicians who have no allegiance without cash to support it.

3.  I cannot abide the direction our country is going. Anti Semitic acts are up. Race riots are happening. There is a war on police. There is a war on anyone who's grass is greener. We are breeding a generation of faithless plebes who haven't enough self confidence to be picked on or knocked down and who stand very little hope of becoming independent functional members of our communities and our society.

I do not like what Trump has said about women, but I am not naive enough to believe that (1) it is relevant 15 years later to the Presidency, (2) that my daughters should think that there will never be sexism or objectification of women, and (3) that it is routine to dig this far and deep to examine a candidate. I recognize that politicians and industries that depend on the political machine want nothing to do with Trump - not because he will bust unions, disenfranchise women, mock minorities or put up a wall - but because without a President dependent on their lobbying dollars the lobbyists lose their influence.  I can live with that.”