My wife has heard me say this more than once in this electoral season: "330 plus million people in this country and these are the best we can come up with?"
It's funny to me how often we keep treading the same ground, repeating the same mistakes, electing the same kinds of people, and buying the same bill of goods they sell us, only to be forgotten once they are in office.
We like to call ourselves a democracy but this is a twisted fever dream in the minds of people who misundertstand the term. That's why there's so much money in the electoral process, and that's why your vote--or more accurately, your emotional response to advertising for your vote--is so heavily influenced by the billionaires whose money really influences policy and politics in America and around the world.
Money is influence everywhere, make no mistake. That's why the advertising ad nauseum campaigns you see between Spring and November every two years are the way they are. To my way of thinking, if you are paying one thin dime to any campaign, you are a dupe who will be long forgotten, like the rest of us, after election day.
The character assassinations, now a routine among campaigns at every level of government, are a sickening affront to civil society and an insult to anyone with the slightest capacity for reasoned thought.
We have significant and major problems in America and around the world, and America has been looked to as the visionary respondent in most of the world's crises since World War II ended 79 years ago. It hasn't always been a pretty picture, and has often led to greater, and lingering crises that will lead us into another World War, perhaps soon.
The people running for office in the United States give one great reason for concern, and even less reason to believe they'll inspire great leadership of any kind.
Just for starters, and assuming the sudden inability of the President of the United States to be unable to fulfill their duties of office under the U.S. Constitution, we have Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota, and Senator J.D. Vance of Ohio. Both former soldiers, prior to seeking elective office. Currently at war with with each other over their military service. Walz being accused of "stolen valor" by the Trump campaign, through their mouthpiece, former Marine press correspondent J.D. Vance.
I'm wondering how many of this nation's problems are going to be resolved by people who are looking for ways to shred its own citizens, who have served honorably, even without distinction, as millions of us--myself included--have since our founding nearly 250 years ago? Did either of these men plant mines? Did they snipe a terrorist? No. Both of them served in some way overseas, away from family, friends, and professions. They did so honorably.
Walz is quoted as saying, "one man's socialism is another man's neighborliness." Vance has been quoted as saying that the country was being run by a "bunch of childless cat ladies". Both of these men have had to walk back some of their comments and/or service standing, with further explanation. A lot of good that did any of us.
In the meantime, what were Donald Trump and Kamala Harris up to. Last I read for Trump was 6 foot 3, and 215 pounds; Harris, by all reliable estimate is 5 feet 2, and her weight is anyone's guess, and it would be ungentlemanly of me to say if I knew. All kidding aside, neither of them served the nation, and by their career paths, appear to have served themselves, mainly.
Financing of elections is really interesting and a testament for the influence of income inequality on our electoral process, as in every aspect of economic life in America.
Peter Thiel, former employer of J.D. Vance and billionaire hedgefund operator, committed $10 million of his personal wealth to get him elected Senator in Ohio. Donald Trump, claims to have raised in the area of $400 million for his campaign so far. No word on whether this includes the promised $45 million per month that Elon Musk has committed to that campaign.
The Kamala Harris campaign benefited greatly when Joe Biden pulled out of the race, as $200 million dollars quickly rolled over to her camp, with "enthusiastic" support from everyone. So far, though, she has raised nearly $500 million and just over $80 million in the last few days.
These dollars are not buying just your votes. They are buying influence, access to power, and influence to everything meaningful to the people that want things that you and I can't easily access.
I watch news. Not like most of you. Not on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, or the Late Night Talk Shows. Not on major networks. Definitely not Comedy Central. If you want to see the objective truth about where we stand in the world, quit that and start reading many things in hot spots around the world instead. I read several newspapers in Asia, Europe, and America. They are still available for reading, and you should avail yourselves of them. TV news is a form of propaganda and should always be taken with a large grain of salt. Remember the patrician elites own them too, and are buying your opinions.
Trump will tell you that Harris hates America. That being the case, why do they both want that bright white house in D.C.? Harris will tell you that Trump wants to establish a dictatorship. I think there are too many war plans and great military leaders, and civilians that know how to stop a corrupt outsider like Trump from doing that. Also, remember Harris really hasn't been around long enough to be considered a "real insider". Certainly not like her current President, Joe Biden and many others.
The world is currently reorganizing itself into something new. Neither Trump nor Harris can influence much of what will happen next. Open borders the last three and half years haven't helped. The Trump camp has tried to blame Harris for this, but it slides off of her.
We are in a period of economic decline, and have been for a while. Trump didn't help with the desperate handouts during Covid, either. Those only made matters worse and are now debts that will need to be repaid. People living off their credit cards is never sustainable. Now housing costs are double what they were 4 years ago, as well. Federal Reserve and Treasury policies don't do anything in the long run but regulate markets and interest rates, while we plebians are left with overpriced goods and services.
We've spent the last 30 years shipping our manufacturing capacity overseas, where labor is cheap. When the world's most productive and relied upon chip-maker TSMC (Taiwan) tried to open a plant in Arizona in 2020 they were delayed in opening not only by the pandemic but by the lack of capable, hard-working people in their production process.
The kind of globalism that led to the farming out of our industry to Asia, and other parts of the world is also declining. These businesses that left America in the 1990's for a "ripe for the picking" China, are fleeing in droves, along with their people--many to America.
The industries, malls, restaurants, tourism, infrastructure, policing, social and government structures of China are in rapid collapse. Those people of the Black Lives Matter/Antifa riots of 2020 who bragged about being "Trained Marxists" in China, came back to California with donor funds, bought some high-priced real estate, and put up gates to keep the riff-raff out. Much like the Communist Party leaders in Beijing. Or the government elites in Washington, D.C.
Trump fancies himself a friend of people like Vladimir Putin, Xi Xinping, and Kim Jong Un. Tim Walz said he went to China for his honeymoon, and ten times, overall. I still don't know where Vance or Harris have been other than colleges, beds, or jobs they held.
One man's capitalism preserves his wealth, while insuring an equal share of the misery of socialism for the rest of us. The President--whoever it is--can do little to impact the wages of anyone, or the economy of the nation anymore, much less influence the markets in a global economy.
Students who believed Biden's outright lie that student loans could be "forgiven" by presidential fiat were ill-educated in grade school civics class about the scope of authority of their government. Education certainly isn't what it was. The federal government regulating public education with its main ally being teacher's unions these days is the singlemost catastrophic thing to happen for the upbringing of our children since the elimination of prayer, the Pledge of Allegiance, civics and history education in our schools in any meaningful way.
Now public schools want to further establish themselves as centers for indoctrination in opposition of values that established the republic. Take some time and listen to some of the local speakers at a Harris-Walz rally to see their vision for your nation. Frightening, indeed.
What will the Patrician's billions buy this election cycle? Many hundreds of millions are being spent by leftists who want their voices for globalism, and influence felt all over the world. The more Trump mouths off, and the more Vance looks like an ambitious kid (born after Reagan was in office) the more he looks like some guy with not enough depth for the job.
The less Harris speaks, the less we know about her real positions, and the more we know about her past and what she has done for jobs. Same thing with Tim Walz. Sure, he was a school teacher, soldier for a long time, Congressman long enough to get a really good pension from that, and the Army. He's the affable coach and Governor in a state that loves its leftists. But what has any of these people really done to inspire confidence that American prowess on the world stage, once a meaningful beacon of light to the world, will not tank completely?
I'm a prayerful man. My guess is that American prowess as I call it is sinking fast, and may not recover. I believe in the truth of the Bible, too. I think in the right forum, all of these candidates will say that, too. Give them a try. Ask them where they think America is with God. That should be interesting.
A friend of Jesus is someone who does what He commands. It isn't a hard thing to do. You just need to lay down your life for your friends. Short of that, being patient, kind, unenvious, not boastful, not proud, not rude, not self-centered, not keeping a record of wrongs, or delighting in evil, but rejoicing in the truth. Also, protecting, and persevering to the end with the correct, Godly values we need. Not necessarily the ones we built the nation upon.
None of these attributes are on display anywhere in the world, least of all in our electoral processes. Perhaps this is why America isn't indicated anywhere in the Bible.
Love one another. Pray for your leaders.
