The 2020 Presidential Race with Muck and Mire on the YBR? Is history repeating itself…again?

Preface in the name of transparency: I could never run for political office because I don’t wear a hat I could throw in the ring. I never have and never will wear a MAGA hat. I also won’t wear a hat bearing any symbols of the party that embraces donkey icons.

The 2020 Presidential Race on the YBR. Here we go again.

This is not the first presidential race where I scratch my head and say, “is this the best we can do?”  And while every presidential race is important, this one, I firmly believe, carries with it a weight that might even surpass that of the elections during World War I, the Great depression, and World War II. In 2020 we are going to the polls not only to elect the next president of the United States but of a world leader with 20/20 vision because POTUS has to have a world vision.

I ask, is this possible since we have, for lack of a better name, Muck and Mire running for office.

So we are all on the same page here, let’s refer to Mr. Funk and Mr. Wagnalls: muck is slimy mud while mire is deep mud.

Donald Muck is, without a doubt, slimy mud.  Putting aside both the ass-kissers who would follow Mr. Muck into hell and the brainless haters of the Muck who wouldn’t approve anything he did even if he walked on water, he is slimy. Giving him credit where credit is due and calling him out on some of his most egregious decisions, there is something slimy about the man. And that is not meant to be a disparaging term for a man who holds the highest office in the land. President Muck came up through the slime that comes from years of wheeling and dealing, rolling in the money, playing kissy-kissy with mindless jet-setters, and playing the part of a celebrity.

There was no way that anyone who lived such a life could not have been covered with muck. And as far as I know, there doesn’t seem to be a cure for muckiness because an inflated ego can never be cleaned.

At this point in time it appears the former Vice-President Joe Mire is going to be the candidate endorsed by the Democrats.  Joe Mire appears to be a nice and decent guy. In fact the first word that comes to mind is “harmless.”  Harmless? Is that the penultimate quality we want in our next president?  He might have served as vice-president under President Obama for eight years, but the only image I have of him reminds me of a great-uncle who smiled a lot, but was never in the room when important matters were discussed.  (And let’s be honest, Obama was playing it politically cool during the early days of the Democratic run-for-the White House.)

Joe Mire didn’t get to his political pinnacle the same way Donald Mire scaled the heights of richdom, but Good ‘ol Joe is deep in the political mud.  He played the right games, kissed the right assess, and made the most banal comments to get him where he is today.

OMG! Muck and Mire!  If there is a God can we all get down on our knees and pray for a do-over.

My gut tells me that the next four years are going to be wasted years.  The Dems don’t want to present us with greatness in any shape and form for fear that it would destroy that candidates political career in a race against Muck. And of course any sensible (if there are any left) Republican realizes it would be impossible to offer America another candidate.

Politics is not only a dirty game, it is sinful.  Our two party system is totally outdated.  It’s like an eight-track player in a day when everyone is streaming their music.  Instead of having only two boring stations to listen to, people are listening to their music, their way.

At my age I won’t live to see it happen, but I pray that my children and grandchildren will live at a time when instead of another presidential race with the next Muck and Mire, they have a chance to vote for Ready or Willing and maybe a third candidate Able.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful to have a candidate who was really ready to take the presidential oath of office and swear they would uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States. How refreshing would it be to have a candidate ready to consider the needs of ALL Americans without playing petty party politics..even if it mean only serving one term.  Can you imagine a president ready to take on the challenges of helping the world become a place where all people are all entitled to those inalienable rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness!

And what about a Willing candidate?  Is it possible to have a president who is willing to break the chains of partisanship? Can you envision a time when President Willing doesn’t have to reach across the aisle because there is no aisle that divides Congress? What a new day it would be if we had a president who was willing to put the people first instead of the party.

Candidate Able could also be a viable candidate, but, they might not be necessary as long as both candidates Ready and Willing were able to lead with the qualities found along the Yellow Brick Road… intelligence, heart, and courage…to do the right thing.

(Please note that no alcohol was consumed while posting this blog.)

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Donald Trump is…or as…the WOTUS.

Although the Wizard is a central character in the Wizard of Oz, he does not get as much attention as the other famous Oz character do.  Save for some orange hair tint, the Wizard bears an uncanny resemblance to a man who is operating behind the booth, not in Oz, but at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

This blog addition is not intended to demonize the POTUS, but rather to look at him with an open mind…if that is at all possible and perhaps to come to an understanding, not just of the man, but why he is so hated and why he is so loved.

I usually avoid using the classic film as the basis for a blog, but in this case I will make an exception by weaving together Oz, the great and magnificent from both the movie and the book.

In the movie we meet Oz, not as Oz, but as Professor Marvel. Critics have labeled him “a well-meaning charlatan.”  Right there I begin to scratch my head because most definitions of “charlatan” all say the same thing: A charlatan (also called a swindler or mountebank) is a person practicing quackery or some similar confidence trick or deception in order to obtain money, fame or other advantages via some form of pretense or deception.

Many other definitions add what I think is an important ingredient: a charlatan is a person who pretends or claims to have more knowledge or skill than they possess. 

Remember, Oz is not called a charlatan; he is called a well-meaning charlatan.  I ask. How is that possible? How can you deceive, swindle, or fool someone but still remain well-meaning?  Isn’t that a contradiction of terms?

Certainly in Oz the movie, the ultimate purpose of Professor Marvel was to “convince” Dorothy to go home.  Certainly he used all the tricks common to a charlatan, as seen in this clip:

Marvel the magnificent and well-meaning charlatan

but…was this the only way he believed he could convince Dorothy to go home?  Has there ever been a time when you were trying to convince someone (often times a child in their teens) not to do something or to do something else?  If you tried logic you quickly understood that logic would not work because the issue was usually an emotional one. So, you might have tried a little trickery to make a convincing argument that satisfied your listener.

It reminds me of the means justifying the end.

However, what gave Professor Marvel the right to convince/trick Dorothy into returning home.  Maybe Aunt Em was as sweet and loving as Marvel described her…from a photograph. What about Henry?  He might have been the reason why Dorothy was running away from home. Henry might have been abusive. Henry might have been a horrible creature.  Going home to him might have only continued the abuse. In that case, going home was not what Dorothy needed to do.

In the book we don’t learn much about Professor Marvel’s early years. All we can do is surmise. A charlatan does not become a charlatan overnight. It’s a long process, a process that necessitates the person to become dissociative,  “a mental process of disconnecting from one’s thoughts, feelings, memories or sense of identity.”

The longer one practices chicanery, the harder it is to begin to believe that there is anything wrong with the practice.  And if the dissociative individual is in a position of power, there is a demand placed on subordinates to accept the dissociation as normal…and healthy.

Most politicians are what I call moldable dissociatives, meaning they allow themselves to be formed/shaped by others often to do their bidding as they aspire to be powerful.  As a politician climbs the ladder of power and prestige they tend to believe they are the one in control, when in truth they are still under the control of someone else.

In the business world, the opposite is usually true. The power broker becomes what I call a chameleon dissociative, meaning they will change to meet their specific ends.  The more power they amass, the less they change shape and color.  The more powerful they become the more they like being surrounded by ass-kissers.  They become super rich charlatans who don’t give a damn about being well-meaning unless it serves them and their goals.

I believe that every POTUS is a variant of a charlatan.  They can piss in your ear and convince you it’s raining. A political charlatan always knows deep down inside that there is someone who can bring them down.  A non-political POTUS continues to be a business charlatan. He is immune to other political power brokers. He only wants to be surrounded by (naive) ass-kissers.

Today we have a WOTUS, a wizard of the United States. He is so comfortable in his position that he is able to convince millions of people that everything he does is well-meaning. How does he do it?

To be continued.

 

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A bunch of political ding dongs on the YBR. A letter from the Scarecrow.

Dear Political Winners and Losers –

Some of you were elected. Some of you were not. Another governor who makes my skin crawl will get to serve a third term.  A senator who should be the face for slime balls got re-elected despite the fact that he has an approval rating lower than acceptable.

The mudslinging of this campaign season was over the top. But, I should realize that a campaign with dignity is never going to happen.

So the Dems got more seats in the House and the Republicans held onto the Senate.  Is that a good thing?  No. It just means two more years of stupid government.

One thing I would like to ask the re-elected and the newly elected is: Who do you think you are?  That’s right. I’d like to know who you think you are.  The only problem with that question is that it will never get an honest answer because ALL politicians lost the ability to be real.  They even lost the ability to speak like human beings.  They speak politics which is not even close to English.

So you winners won. And now you will focus on your agenda…meaning that you will see what you can do to stay in office for another thousand years and work on climbing up the political ladder.

And I’m supposed to be the one who didn’t have a brain!  But you know something, I am real. I don’t have an agenda. You will never see me wearing silly hats and waving flags and banners at any political rally.

Our country is divided because rational people know that there are no simple issues. Our country is divided because people are arguing across the aisle to prove they are right rather than talking to see what is right.  And since you are a politician you don’t have what it takes to realize that right does not wear a political party label.

Even though some of you have a point that POTUS is a certified whack-a-doodle, your vitriol and antics only go to prove that you are as much a jerk as the man in the White House.

You winners and losers are an embarrassment. The only difference is that you winners have a chance to continue being an embarrassment.  You won because you got more votes, but I hate to tell you that you need to serve the people who didn’t vote for you.  You have to mean as much to them as the people who got you where you are.  The people who didn’t vote for you are your constituents, too.

Before I go pull the stuffing out of my head I want to ask you something important.  When you stop gloating, did you ever think of sitting down with your opponent and seeing how you can help to serve the people who voted for them?

Sincerely,

Scarecrow

 

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Politicians: Spread it on the grass, but please, keep the manure off the YBR!

If you have a mailbox, own a phone, or drive around town, you know that it’s election time. And unlike Christmas, it’s not the most wonderful time of year. The political campaign “literature” is cheap, pathetic, tasteless, and worst of all, bull shit. It’s a shame that our politicians, both the home-grown variety and state and national candidates, only reach out to us when they want our vote. Following is the text of a speech given by the Cowardly Lion who is not afraid to speak his mind on political manure:

“Candidates of all parties, gender, race, creed and color, lend me your ears. What the hell is wrong with you?  Do you think we’re all stupid?  Your flyers, mailers and television ads are an embarrassment. Maybe blind political party followers believe the crap that you are shoveling, but the majority of us say enough is enough!  If any of you office seekers actually did a small fraction of what you claim you did, then why are we stuck in a quagmire? And, if your opponents only did a small percentage of the things you accuse them of doing or failed to do while in office, why aren’t there more investigations and arrests?

When are you going to get it through your thick, manicured heads, that in the end, the winner is sent to represent “all” of us…not just those people who voted for you.

Don’t you realize that every slur you make about your opponent might come back to haunt us if he/she wins? If you have done a job convincing the electorate that your opponent is an idiot, but you didn’t do “a good enough job” to get elected, you have essentially sent a jerk into office.

Do us all a favor. Be honest and avoid slinging the mud. Let us decide.

I approve this speech.”

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Campaigning on the YBR. A time to spread the manure.

A political campaign commentary by A. Munchkin

It happens around this time every year all across Oz.  The emerald green lawns stop growing as the nights grow colder, but something else sprouts up at night in full bloom. Campaign signs. Those unimaginative signs in truly patriotic colors that bear the name of someone running for one office or another.  One day you’ll drive by a green patch of land and see one or two of these signs, but by the end of the week you can’t even see the green patch anymore.

The only thing worse than those “clutterful” signs is television campaign commercials. They fall into one of two categories. You have the one kind that extols the virtues of the candidates. You know the ads I’m talking about.  The voice-over usually goes something like this.

“He was born of a virgin in a stable. Wise men from super powers recognized him as the one leader ordained by a supreme being. These wise men traveled miles to present him with the gifts of brains, a heart and courage and he has used them to eradicate poverty, abolish the common core, provide free health care for every living creature, raise the minimum wage to $2,678.50 an hour, and reduce our carbon footprint by 600%.

From such humble buildings A. Hole has become a world leader that every gosh-darn citizen of mother earth loves and adores. As a junior state assemblyman he was the first to solve the great debate over plastic or paper.

And now he seeks your vote to put him in the White House where he can continue to work for you.

Vote for an A. Hole.

‘I am A. Hole and I approve this message.”

And then there is the other ad lovingly known as the attack ad.  It goes like this.

“If you think we need another A. Hole in the White House, go for it. But before you pull that lever on election day, here are a few things you ought to know about him.

While in the state assembly, A. Hole voted 637 times to turn abandoned schools into casinos.

A .Hole is a member of a group of people who want to eliminate daylight savings time.

A. Hole went on record to say that anyone who disagrees with him is an ass hole. (Ain’t that the pot calling the kettle black.)

A Hole is pro anti everything and flip flops like a dying mackerel.

As the puppet of a CEO of a large toxic waste dump, A. Hole wants to turn dumps into play grounds.

If you want to poison the White House, A. Hole is your man.

Paid for by the friends of B. Shit.

Not only should we expect a lot more from the men and women running for office, we should demand it.  Don’t go to the polls on election day. Make your non-vote count!

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