Tuesday, September 15, 2015

In spite of Faux News, billion-dollar campaigns, and the anger of the Electorate....

In a world inhabited by roughly 40% conservatives, 40% liberals, and 20% seasonally-adjusted clueless or transitioning larvae, it is always a bracing challenge to peer into the election process.

In the period of American politics since Nixon, neither the DNC nor the GOP has won a national election without a seriously-split opposition Party.

The only way the GOP managed to "win" in the recent past, is by dividing the DNC and the Progressives.  Similarly, the only way the DNC wins is if the GOP is fractured.

The loss can happen even when a Party has excellent candidates.  Sometimes the best will divide the Party.

In 1968 we got Nixon, after Humphrey was weakened by all the excitement generated in the Left by Eugene McCarthy. 

In 1981 Reagan defeated a sitting President Carter when Kennedy joined those who thought he was a "weak" President. 

In 1989 Bush I defeated Dukakis/Bentson after Lee Atwater spread so many lies about Democrats that it fractured the whole country.  Lee personally apologized -- "I ruined our country".

In 1993, Bill Clinton defeated a sitting President Bush when Ross Perot created a third party which got 19% of the vote, most of which may have gone to the GOP but for the Ross campaign.  

In 2001, Bush II defeated Gore because of Ralph Nader. Nader told us if the DNC was not able to defeat Bush, then the DNC did not "deserve" to win.  Gore won the plebiscite but lost the Electoral when Florida went to Bush by less than 300 votes in a State with 16 million people.

In 2009, Obama won the largest plebiscite in history with the largest number of voters participating in the election.  And the GOP will never forgive him. The DNC abandoned this mandate in every election since.

Obama's total vote amount of 69.5 million votes is the highest amount ever won by a presidential candidate. The total of 131 million votes cast in the election represents over 43% of the total U.S. population, the highest share of any presidential election in U.S. history.

In 2016, the DNC is splitting over Bernie and Hillary. The GOP is splitting between a dozen billionaires who can afford to buy or be their own candidate.

Bottom Line:  Who will unite us?  Who is a leader, not just a critic?  Who can listen?  

I like Hillary.  There is no other candidate with the resume, energy, and integrity to lead the nation.  She is the only one, the ONLY ONE, who listens.  The others are not even pretending to listen.  The other candidates think Americans need to be bullied by angry men.  

Right now we are being divided.  We face panoplies of real dangers that must be addressed with intelligence and resources. 

Can't wait to hear your thoughts.

Wednesday, September 09, 2015

An Idea Worth Spreading (Thank you TED Talks)

An idea worth spreading

We invented a "supreme being" but we did not invent Religion. That was developed in Caves (Chauvet, Lescaux) 30,000 years ago. Our desires created hopes, and our fears created gods. Now we pray to hierarchies that in 10,000 years have never come to the aid of those who kneel. Humankind now covers the globe, and we did it standing tall. We should be celebrating the sheer accomplishment of demographics.

Of course, I am on my knees in the Garden, weeping and laughing.

My TED story

30,000 years of Religion in Ten Minutes with Cave Paintings.
(The History of Women has not been written or fully conceived. Yet is all around us, a dramatic and surprising success story.)