Thursday, October 6, 2016

How Donald Trump Swindled The Republican Party, And Why "Know Nothing" Alt-Right Conservatives Love Him For Having Done It


I know what you're thinking if you've been following my posts on this blog within the past year: "Oh, God---he's going to criticize Trump again". Well, you're absolutely right. However, I must point out one very important fact before I begin this post, and that is this: a presidential nominee will never be anything more than a reflection of the party that allowed him (or her) to win their party's nomination; and since this is true, then the Republican Party is in a world of trouble as a result of Donald Trump being their nominee for President in 2016.



As I have already tried to point out in previous posts, there can be little doubt as to how so many Republican voters were willing to sell their party's soul in order to make certain that Trump would win the nomination, especially when a large percentage of angry, poorly-educated white conservatives within the GOP were already waiting for someone who was as effective at channeling their resentment towards Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton and the Democratic Party as Donald Trump. Facts, figures and statistics have never mattered to this "Alt-Right" crowd, and they never will as long as someone like Trump keeps telling them to blame everyone other than themselves for what is wrong with their own party and America in general. The only thing that matters to Trump's voting base is guaranteeing that their voices will always be more prevalent than the overwhelming numbers of demographic groups in the U.S. who are vehemently opposed to right-wing conservative ideology.




Clearly this is an indication that voters who support Donald Trump's candidacy for President are more than willing to embrace authoritarian fascism over democracy or any other form of governing in which a majority of people determine how their nation functions. Considering that there are many within the conservative movement who already believe that America was never intended to have a government which was based on the principles of democratic populism, federal authority, legislative and judicial equality or separation of powers, it isn't too difficult to understand why so many among the far right accept Trump's "strong man" unilateral approach to governing. As far as they're concerned, only one person should have absolute control of all governing functions within the U.S., and Donald Trump is that one person for 2016. Don't bother trying to explain the concept of what a banana republic is to an infantile-minded group of people like Trump's voting base who look at politics the same way as playing an adult version of "Simon Says" or "Follow The Leader". They couldn't care less what a banana republic is as long as they're convinced that it doesn't cause them to lose their disdain for the Federal government and helps secure their place at the table when it comes to attacking the influence of liberalism within the Democratic Party.*   


Another factor that plays into the popularity of Donald Trump's 2016 presidential candidacy has been the lock-step "know nothing" mentality which has crept back into the puritanical and poorly informed tendencies of conservative Republican thought like never before. Naturally a despot con artist like Trump has been aware of this mentality for quite some time and has been using it to his advantage throughout Barack Obama's presidency in the hopes of ultimately winning the Republican nomination and going on to win the general election in November. If there's one thing that can be said about Donald J. Trump, it would have to be this: He never does anything coincidentally or accidentally. Like any conniving, opportunistic charlatan who sells a faulty product to his own customers to see if he can get away with making a quick fortune at the expense of rubes, Trump methodically uses ignorance, arrogance, demagoguery and deception as weapons against even the very people who support him, and his supporters only confirm how dangerous their own willful ignorance is by having placed his incendiary rhetoric above any form of objective or rational thought. 


As I have also mentioned in previous posts, the fact that Trump has even been taken seriously as a contender for the 2016 presidency is an obvious sign of desperation within the Republican Party itself, and this desperation is the result of having a platform which no longer benefits the majority of Americans. From policies that promote fear-mongering and varying degrees of prejudice to the blatant hypocrisy of using politics and religion to promote oligarchy and serfdom over democracy, conservatism's influence has done little if anything to insure the future of the Republican Party, and Donald J. Trump has now become the living embodiment of what could end up being the Republican National Committee's inevitable and long-overdue downfall.


 Even if Trump should win the general election next month (despite not having received endorsements from any reputable conservative news outlets), there's a very good possibility that his presidency won't make it through an entire four-year term. The reason for this is due to the fact that New York State investigators are now looking into re-opening a case based on a civil suit that was filed in California earlier this year in which Trump allegedly raped a thirteen year-old girl while she was visiting his home at the Mar-a-Lago Estate in Palm Beach, Florida during 1994, not to mention what damning information will be discovered in the eventual release of his tax returns. However, an even bigger problem would arise if Trump were to resign his presidency or end up getting impeached, and that bigger problem has a name: Mike Pence.
     

Like others within the Republican Party who pander to the extreme right-wing members of their voting base in order to move up in American politics, Mike Pence has earned a reputation for placating hostile, anti-establishment conservative voters while serving as Governor of Indiana after replacing Mitch Daniels in 2012. This wasn't too difficult for Pence given the fact that he helped to generate a lot of the hostility among conservatives in Indiana while working from 1994 to 1999 as a local radio and television talk show host before successfully winning his bid for Indiana's 2nd Congressional District seat in 2000.
Like his running mate Donald Trump, Mike Pence has also used manipulative tactics for the purpose of self-promotion within the confines of the Republican Party. This in turn has allowed him to use religion in particular as a vehicle for signing into law legislation which blatantly discriminates against minorities (the homeless, single mothers, the LGBT community, etc.) while serving as Indiana's 50th Governor. In short, Mike Pence is perhaps the most dangerous Vice Presidential selection that has been made since George W. Bush selected Dick Cheney for his running mate.



I genuinely hope that this will be my last post regarding the dangers of Donald Trump's candidacy for President. I can't stress enough how much trouble the Republican Party and the United States will be in as a result of him winning the general election. This fraudulent, egotistical, vindictive little man who isn't above using wealth, power, influence and demagoguery to deceive as many voters as possible in order to get everything he wants as a celebrity presidential contender (book deals, TV appearances, etc.) has all but guaranteed that his presidency will be nothing short of exercising his own self-gratification at the expense of a country which he believes has already rejected him as both a public figure and a private citizen in spite of his already-existing popularity. There have been reports that Trump even intends to cash in on the publicity of his presidential run by starting up his own cable television network if he should lose to Hillary Clinton in the general election. This should come as no surprise either given the fact that no publicity is the only form of negative publicity in a mind that's as twisted, diabolical and self-serving as Trump's.



Regardless of the outcome next month, American democracy has already received a major black eye as a result of Trump's candidacy for the 45th presidency, and November 8, 2016 will decide whether America is willing to tolerate or reject Donald J. Trump's brand of fascist tyranny once and for all. Hopefully there is a substantial number of voters left within the U.S. who still appreciate democracy enough to keep this pathetic excuse for a human being from ever becoming President of the United States, and those who don't care about preserving democracy in the U.S. or anywhere else on this planet can pack their bags and live like recluses in obscurity someplace beyond U.S. jurisdiction instead of voting for Trump in next month's election---or in any other election for that matter---as far as I'm concerned.




*For further reference, read my blog post from October 16, 2014 entitled "Obama's Legacy: A Damning Indictment on White Conservatism in America".


Thursday, April 7, 2016

Why I believe that fascism could end up replacing democracy in the U.S. within my lifetime


He alone, who owns the youth, gains the future.
-Adolf Hitler

It's not easy being a moderate Republican or Democrat in America's current political climate, and the reason for this is due to the fact that there has been a tectonic shift within both parties in recent years from bipartisanship and compromise to ideology, extremism and the polarization that comes with both. While this may seem like a positive inevitability at first glance, it also has the potential of leading to the very form of political and social despotism that George Washington spoke of in his presidential farewell address while warning his audience about the dangers of factional dissension and the destruction of public liberty as a result of it.
If you're hoping to find a reason that justifies the level of puritanism within both parties during this presidential campaign season, you might as well stop reading this post and look for some other outlet that will help you to avoid facing some ugly realities that will be addressed here. American politics is an ugly business, and like it or not, that ugliness is due in large part to the fact that the American public have allowed it to become that way.



I."Triumph Of The Swill"

The main reason for why I became a registered independent voter in 2007 is because I had to come to a harsh, grim realization, and that realization was this: all political parties in the United States---regardless of the "purity" of their agenda---rely on private funding from lobbyists who represent special interest groups in Federal, State and Municipal government. In other words, EVERY politician who works in the U.S. is on someone else's payroll other than taxpayers alone, and that payroll helps to keep EVERY politician's bank account nice and fat. Of all the people who are working to undermine democracy in America, lobbyists and special interest groups have to be at the top of the list if for no other reason than because voters are too ignorant and arrogant to see them for the threat to democratic liberty that they really are.      


II."Crock Of Ages"

 One of the biggest misnomers that has ever been intentionally promoted by the conservative movement in the United States is the notion that America was founded on Judaeo-Christian principles. I could write an entire thesis on how this garbage became popular among social conservatives as a result of lobbyists who represent Christian schools in Washington, D.C. like Oral Roberts University, but quite frankly, it would take up too much of my personal time to invest in such an endeavor. Instead, I'll keep it brief for this post.
Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence and third President of the United States, once stated the following in 1808: "Erecting the wall of separation between Church and State is absolutely essential in a free society." The reason why Jefferson made this statement is because, like other founders of American democracy, he was knowledgeable enough to understand the dangers of theocracy within society along with the values of secularism within government. 



Contrary to popular belief among evangelical Christian conservatives, separation of Church and State serves two purposes: One, it prevents government from dictating which religion(s) shall be mandated onto society, and two, it prevents government from mandating which religion(s) shall be prohibited from society. Contrast this to the Nuremberg Race Laws of 1935 which made Christianity the only religion to be sanctioned in Germany by the Third Reich while outlawing the practice of Judaism and other religions altogether, and it doesn't take a genius to figure out why separation of Church and State is absolutely essential in a free society indeed. 



III. "Mass Stupidity Makes For Better Election Results"

Perhaps the most intentional and deceptive forms of legislation that Republicans in Federal, State and local government have passed into law in recent years for the sole purpose of broadening their voting base have been forms of legislation which cut spending for public education. While conservative Republicans may argue that there is too much bureaucracy within America's educational system and needs to be removed for the greater good, one needs to understand what is really being insinuated behind their "greater good" rhetoric.
Institutions of higher learning like public schools are not only intended to teach the values of reading, writing and arithmetic, but they are also intended to give students an opportunity to understand the values of civics, public discourse and objectivity: the very ideals which help to preserve democracy in society. Since the end of the 1960s, conservatives have made a concerted effort to remove all forms of fundamental understanding of democratic thought from America's public school system. This in turn has led to legislation which cuts tax dollars from being used to help students learn about the values of democracy itself. 




As you have probably figured out by this point, when a student is no longer taught the values of democracy within a democratic society, that student is more likely to either vote without properly vetting candidates or simply not vote at all, but either result inevitably works to the Republican Party's advantage in the long run with devastating consequences for civil liberty in general.


This leads me back to the quote by Adolf Hitler at the beginning of this post, because Hitler understood that in order to elevate himself on the ruins of public liberty in Germany, he would have to prey upon the weaknesses within the German people's lack of understanding in regards to democracy under the Weimar Republic following World War One. Hitler also understood that in order to further the cause of his vision for a "Thousand-Year Reich", he would have to rely on the ignorance and arrogance of German youth to carry out his plans for perpetuating National Socialist ideology among future generations of Germans or anyone else in the world who became disillusioned with democracy and wanted to be led by a fuhrer rather than have control of his or her own government.


In the seventy-plus years since Adolf Hitler's death, this mentality has crept into the minds of both conservative and liberal voters within the United States. While it should come as no surprise that conservatives have chosen to embrace Hitler's ideology of "strong man" authoritarianism over democracy, it's troubling for me to watch this ideology also take hold among liberal-progressives in regards to the Democratic Party's choice of presidential candidates and the current leadership within the Democratic National Committee itself during this election year of 2016. What troubles me even more is the fact that many supporters of both Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders have stated that if their candidate doesn't win the nomination, then they will either take their proverbial political marbles and go home by not voting or support whoever the Republican nominee is in the hopes of generating a "real revolution in America". Naturally, both of these ideas among liberal-progressives work to the Republican Party's advantage when all is said and done. This is also one of those ugly realities that have come into existence as a result of an ignorant American electorate.




So I have now been forced to come to a rather grim conclusion regarding the future of democracy in the United States, and that grim conclusion is this: Unless there is a genuine effort to restore bipartisan governing, I may very well live long enough to see the day when American democracy will be replaced with a totalitarian form of fascism not unlike what Adolf Hitler had envisioned for himself at the expense of Germany and the rest of Europe. What makes this conclusion all the more disturbing is that unlike the millions of Germans who pledged their allegiance to Hitler and the Nazi Party after World War One, Americans have been used to living in a democratic system of governing. And because of this, Americans also have less of an excuse to reject democracy than those millions of Germans who chose Nazism over the Weimar Republic.