A Prayer

Dear Lord, Let us continue to cry unexpectedly when we think too long on what our country was. Some time soon let us slowly regain our bearings. Let us find strength in what our country came so close to being and hope that we can come close again in our lifetimes. Let us fight racist and bigoted policy. And when those policies are passed, let us stand together and defend those who are being marginalized and persecuted. And when our defenses do not hold, let us hide them and let us find them safe refuge. We had hoped there was a near future where no defense was needed. This society was a dream, and we must face our current reality. Some will be encouraged to tout their prejudices they once kept quiet. We'll find this reinforced by policy. Some will have more privilege than others. Those who are privileged and good must not be complacent and must use this for those without. The nation, the society we knew is gone, and we must find strength. Though what was around us has died, our inner resolve for decency has not.

Trump's Small America

Before diving into how Trump sees America, let's clarify something first. With regards to the Billy Bush tape, he's not bragging about sexual conquests. He's bragging about sexual assault. He then said the women who have accused him of the things he proudly said he's done in private, "would not be his first choice" to sexually assault. Perhaps if they were more attractive he would have. He also said when Hillary stood in front of him, he wasn't impressed. That's disgusting and that's recent. He also said about a child, after talking to her, that he'll be dating her in 10 years. This is where his mind is when he sees a female. Yes, he has incited racial violence and fear of immigrants. I suggest reading about the black church in Mississippi that was burned to the ground and had "Vote Trump" spray painted on it. He called a supporter a "thug" and threw him out because he was black. That's more than an oops moment. He is a disgusting human being, but it's nothing compared to his policy plans. First, the wall. Physical barriers slow immigration for a time, but do not stop it. Raising economic opportunity at home to a point where the risk of immigrating doesn't match the potential marginal benefit is what keeps people in their home country. To this point, since the last government bankruptcy in the 1990s, Mexico has become economically stable and immigration has dramatically decreased. People aren't pouring across our borders in the masses Trump describes. What "the wall" does is focus our fears and paranoia on one thing, one relatively quick physical solution that saves us from all these trumped up woes. When it comes to the economy, I don't have to criticize his plans, just about every economist respected in the field has done that for me. Environment? He thinks climate change is a hoax created by the Chinese to stifle American business (almost a direct quote). Even if you think climate change isn't a big issue, the level of paranoia and conspiracy thinking should be troublesome. Foreign relations? Our allies are scared he could be President. Use of nuclear weapons will be on the table far more often. The man didn't realize Russia was in Crimea. The man has business ties in Russia... or so we think because he won't release his tax returns. Getting back to the domestic, because who cares what freeloading countries think, the Supreme Court? Who knows? He said his sister would be a good candidate who's incredibly liberal. Voting for him because of Roe v. Wade? The Lancet, one of the most respected medical journals in the world, recently published the largest and longest study on factors affecting abortion rates. Anti-Choice laws have no effect. Economic opportunity, women having the resources to support a child, and access to contraception are what reduce abortions. Whether you like these variables or not, if your end goal is to eliminate abortions, this is what we should be doing. Elections? He thinks they're rigged, though no solid evidence suggest this. Actually, a highly cited study found that out of a billion votes, somewhere around 30 were fraud (remember that whole paranoia/fear and conspiracy thing? yeah). Voter suppression is a bigger problem than voter fraud just given the numbers. Trump supporters are now sending out advertisements to urban areas with high concentrations of minorities that they should just vote by text...You can't vote by text. They're trying to trick minorities into not voting...This is voter suppression. He's stated he may not accept the election results, jeopardizing our peaceful transition of power for two centuries. Trump has suggested restricting what the press can say...this is restricting the First Amendment. He's said he wants to lock up Hillary, not after a trial but right after getting into office. This is starting to get eerily similar to some more infamous and popularly elected leaders. Using an "us/them" tone, questioning our democratic electoral system, doubting the validity of the press, imprisoning political opponents. I don't know much, but I've read enough about "strong men" in developing countries to spot one. If you placed him in another country with weaker government and social institutions, he would be a Mugabe, a Mobutu, or even more likely a Putin. Given the opportunity, he will mark the start of the decline of what America is and what America strives to be. This I have no doubt.

What's In An Email?

Looking back on this election, there will be heaps of books written about this dumpster fire posing as an election. One issue that probably won't be covered is that the lack of a variety in Hillary's scandals has been to her detriment. Yes, Hillary needed more scandals. The logic? Trump deleted thousands of emails to cover up potential business fraud, has a scam for a foundation, had a university that swindled money, had racist housing policies for his buildings, didn't pay immigrant workers, talked casually about the use of nuclear weapons and their proliferation to other countries, bragged about sexually assaulting women, then had women come forward saying he did the things he bragged about, and then he continued to objectify women by saying the alleged victims aren't attractive enough for him to assault (true story, he said it). He also said he wasn't impressed with Hillary's backside. Each one a horrendous act that should kill a politician with the semblance of a moral center. But Trump isn't a politician. He's a businessman trying to be a politician and that somehow changes the standard. The fact there's so much disgusting means none can be given adequate time by the media. It's fascinating how the fact he's done so many terrible things means you can't fully grasp any one of them and in doing so people start to believe that none of them matter. The more that gets added, the more that lessened through the wash. With Hillary, it's simple. You have emails. It doesn't matter what the emails say, it's the anticipation that one will be a bombshell. That's what people crave, the suspense. There's only one tabloid story and we can focus on it. We have the time to dissect. It can be the main talking point for cable news for more than 24 hours. Hillary needed to do more terrible to securely win this election. That's where we are in this country and that's sad.

If This Election Was Ice Cream

I know, I know. Equating politics with ice cream is so cliché. Who can forget Ben & Jerry’s Bernie’s Yearning or Mercer Dairy’s wine ice cream which Hillary helped create (true story), because if you have to talk about Trump, get a little drunk first. Or, Hoover’s Depression Bing Cherry (Don’t check that. Just believe me.). However, I want to talk about this election in terms of choices of ice cream. Let’s say, every four years we, as a society, have to choose one, and only one, ice cream flavor which we HAVE TO eat with EVERY dinner (bear with me, it gets good). This time around we have two ice cream makers making two very different flavors. The first ice cream maker has been doing this for decades, refining and fixing recipes, deciding on what satisfies most palates with most meals, and this person offers up her version of French Vanilla ice cream…We hear it and many are a little disappointed. French Vanilla? That’s so boring. There’s no pizzazz there. Others try to point out that yeah it could be better (it’s no mint with a chocolate disc on top #Bern4Life), but it’s not horrible, we can easily be happy long-term with French Vanilla, and also, this ice cream maker has been working on nailing this flavor for thirty years…so it’s probably pretty good. In the midst of the grumblings the second ice cream maker, who is pretty much an amateur and hasn’t really made ice cream before, comes on stage to offer his flavor. He stares right into the camera and says his flavor for our society is…Moose Shit…No one knows exactly what to do. Did this guy just say he’d have us eat Moose Shit ice cream for four years? People start scrambling. What did he mean by Moose Shit? Maybe he misspoke. His supporters start trying to explain to the people that what he really meant was Moose Tracks and who doesn’t love Moose Tracks? There’s fudge and peanut butter! Ice Cream experts agree Moose Tracks would be better than Moose Shit, but also agree that’s not what he said. Additionally, they point out that if the man can’t accurately present what he’s trying to feed the society (i.e. confusing Moose Shit with Moose Tracks), he probably doesn’t know the product that well, and what he’s trying to give probably isn’t that good…even if it is actually Moose Tracks. His supporters discount these so called experts as biased and clearly anti-Moose Shit. Meanwhile, the second maker isn’t saying he made a mistake and meant Moose Tracks, but instead he’s talking about how boring French Vanilla is in comparison to Moose Shit, highlighting the few bad customer reviews the first maker has had in 30years…He’s really dead certain about this whole Moose Shit thing. His ice cream supporters concede he may truly be talking about Moose Shit, because no one actually knows. But they also point out few actually know what Moose Shit tastes like, and it’s ignorant to criticize it. Who knows? It could be fantastic. Since it’s ice cream, there’s bound to be some milk and sugar in there. Maybe it’s great!... While others point out it’s still shit. During all this, the people who in fact like French Vanilla and feel good about the experience of the first ice maker are observing and thinking, “This society may actually choose to eat Moose Shit with dinner for four years because they don’t want to acknowledge French Vanilla is a better choice.” There’s 20 days left, and people have to choose between expertly crafted French Vanilla and what’s probably, let’s face it, Moose Shit. Don’t choose Moose Shit, America. *I apologize for the language*