An unprecedented national dilemma

This country is facing an unprecedented dilemma with no easy solutions. Remember Richard Nixon just before he resigned? He was obviously a man falling apart. In retrospect we have Alexander Haig to thank for holding the country together and effecting a smooth transition ad Nixon flew off to California and Gerald Ford took office. I suppose we have mechanisms in place to check the mental health of our leader.

But as far as I know, there is no plan for checking the health of a candidate. This never occurred to me until I read too many posts questioning the mental and physical health of Donald Trump. Now I know that you can’t take Facebook posts as truth on any subject, and if I’d seen only one or two posts I’d disregard them. But I have seen too many that suggest Trump is showing the effects of extreme stress—physical fatigue, an unusually red face (I thought that was his orange make-up), and excessive sweating. He’s also forgetful—not remembering what he said from one speech to the next, confusing issues, showing an appalling lack of knowledge about today’s world, and telling outright lies.

Trump’s avid followers may dismiss these signs, but those of us who are concerned about our country are bound to see them as alarming. His sudden bursts of temper—as in wanting to hit speakers at the Democratic convention—are frightening, since if elected he would have his hand on the nuclear button. He seems quick to anger without reasoned consideration. Nor does he forget and forgive.

I frankly am terrified of a possible Trump presidency. I think he could blow us all up in a fit of temper. And I’m doing everything I can to get that fear across to voters. I know too many who say they can’t stomach Hillary—if they don’t vote for Trump, they’ll vote for Johnson or Stein. As good as giving your vote to Trump.

Hillary needs all our votes. And to cynics who range from despising to criticizing, I will suggest that in 25 long years of persecution, she has never been indicted for anything, never proven guilty. Trump on the other hand was just indicted and fined for stiffing a contractor. Come on, people, why isn’t this crystal clear?

If we are to build America and continue life as we know it, Hillary is the only choice. We simply cannot elect a loose cannon like Trump.

Please, folks, study the background, the candidates, and the issues. Put some time in on this—it’s your life, and your kids and grandkids. Too precious to throw away in some misguided rebellion against the system. No more war, no more bloodshed, no more hate and anger. Please?

Where is Alexander Haig when we need him?

Reflections on a presidential campaign that started way too early

Friend and best-selling author Susan Wittig Albert reminded me today that she kept a year-long blog and published it as An Extraordinary Year of Ordinary Days. It was, she said, an election year. (Watch for her forthcoming fictional biography, Loving Eleanor, due in February, about the relationship between Eleanor Roosevelt and Lorena Hickok, her assistant and confidante.)

Well, as I said earlier, I’m trying to do sort of “a year in the life of” with my blogs, though I don’t know what I’ll do when I’m done. But Susan jogged my awareness that already this is an election year—and since my year-long blog marathon runs from July to July, we’ll be full into it by the time I finish. So herewith some thoughts on the candidates, with the caveat that I am an avowed and outspoken progressive.

So let’s start with the conservatives. What is often called the clown car has two who don’t really seem to want to be president. Jeb Bush has said he’d rather do “really cool things” than be vilified and expected to do that to others. (Glad I don’t have to be anywhere near that Bush family meeting to be held in Houston, maybe this week.) Marco Rubio says he’s tired of his job as senator with all the gridlock and restrictions, and as a consequence he rarely shows up to vote. And he wants to be president? He doesn’t even know gridlock yet.

Then there’s Donald Trump, who said he was polite to the first protestors, more firm with the second. Some of the third were physically attacked by his supporters, and I heard him say today that any future encounters would get more violent. Also he’s on record as hating brown people. What has our country become that we would even look twice at a man like that?

Fortunately, or not, Dr. Ben Carson has pulled ahead of him in the polls, supposedly because of his calm, soft-spoken manner. I watched him on TV last night and was impressed by that gentleness. But he has shown a remarkable lack of understanding of history and international politics. I have no doubt he was a good surgeon and is a well-motivated, kind man. But he shouldn’t be president.

So now we get to the Democratic candidates—Hillary and Bernie dominate the field, though I think Martin O’Malley makes a lot of sense and has a good record. He simply doesn’t have the visibility—he’s young, and he may gain it another election year. Meanwhile, just my personal opinion, I love a lot of Bernie Sanders’ ideas but I think he’s volatile and doesn’t have the control or background to run a country. Yes, I have some grave doubts about Hillary, but I like when she called herself a pragmatic progressive. I think she has a good visions for America and the political background and knowledge to run things efficiently.

As a friend of mine says, “It’s early days yet.” We shall see. A year from now my thoughts may seem so irrelevant. Anybody want to comment?