ELECTION NIGHTMARE
A number of readers have expressed surprise the election has not figured prominently in my writing. The reason, I suppose, is the subject is like a slog through a swamp, and the prospect of voluntarily wallowing in the muck for several hours is not appealing. Nonetheless, since I find myself awake at 4 a.m. with despairing thoughts bouncing through my head like ping-pong balls (a much more enjoyable subject) this blog post is not actually voluntary. I hope it will prove cathartic.
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In the words of Richard Nixon, let me be perfectly clear. I don’t “like” Hillary Clinton. It’s not that she’s ever done anything to me personally. And, of course, I’ve never shared a meal or a conversation with her. She might be “likable enough,” as Obama once conceded.
The problem is her shell, though hardened as an understandable reaction to thirty or forty years of attacks, presents as a lawyerly dissembling that disturbs me. Something is off. Something is amiss. When the circus that defines the Clinton’s comes to town, I find it exhausting. Oh, how I’m going to miss “no-drama Obama.”
But what I feel towards her opponent is an emotion so far from the blandness of “not liking” as to be irreducible to words. After “detest” and “loathe” and “abhor” I’m not sure what else I can conjure. The language needs something stronger to express the feeling of despair, of embarrassment, of shame that he engenders.
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I am not a low information voter. Unlike many Americans, not only do I know that each state has two senators, but also I know the names of ours in North Carolina. Faceless factotums (lackeys) they may be, but Burr and Tillis they are.
I’m not ignorant like some coal miners who believe the charlatan when he says he’ll bring the jobs back. Anyone capable of deductive reasoning and/or of resisting fraudulent come-ons knows it is plentiful and cheap natural gas, not “Obama’s war on coal” that has consigned their careers to the slagheap of history.
I’m not ignorant like some assembly line workers who believe the charlatan when he says their industries will return. Clearly it is the inexorable march of technology, not governmental policy that is primarily responsible for the elimination of their positions.
It’s not so much contempt as pity and sadness that I feel for those who can be so deluded, who can be manipulated to vote against their own interests. Sure, lowering corporate tax rates will help the working poor. Haha. Very funny.
I reserve my contempt for those who live behind country club gates yet perceive themselves to be under siege. I despise the ones who enjoy social security, Medicare benefits, mortgage-interest deductions, corporate and government pensions yet cheer and aspire to the avoidance of taxes. Even worse in my estimation are the forty-year-olds, the parents of young children, who have daughters, who profess to want “change” above all, and will vote for a pig, a misogynist, a groper.
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I’m among the segment of voters, said to be between two and six percent, who believe the environment is the most important issue. At the risk of sounding like a Hallmark card, the earth is special, it’s unique and it’s all we have. Caring for it, preserving it, restoring it is vital.
America should be and could be leading the way in resolving this issue. Clean, inexpensive, sustainable power should be a win-win for society, even for all of mankind. Creating profits and jobs while improving the environment are not mutually exclusive concepts.
Republicans breathe air. They drink water. Richard Nixon signed the Clean Air and the Clean Water Acts. How did this issue become partisan? For some reason, probably after significant focus-group polling of low information voters, the same group of propagandists who denied cigarettes are unhealthful has been busy mucking up the truth. Their candidate professes to believe climate change is a hoax. On this rare matter, I take him at his word. He wants to eliminate regulations; he will withdraw from the Paris Accords just entered into by 190 nations.
To those who choose to ignore the scientific consensus I can only ask: Do you ever look at a sunset? Do you listen to a bird sing? Do you appreciate the majesty of a large tree, other than as an obstacle on a golf course?
*****
If I did not care about the environment in particular, the issues of education, basic human decency, women’s choice, gay equality, efforts to promote gun safety… all of these would be sufficient to make me vote for Hillary Clinton. The alternative is too appalling. (Again, I’ve failed to find a word strong enough to express my disappointment if she loses). And if she happens to be impeached for whatever sins she has committed, real or imagined I’m okay with that. No problem! What the country might truly enjoy, and what might help me sleep again, would be several years of Tim Kaine, whoever he is.
stuartsandersblog 
Thanks Stuart for articulating my thoughts. Add to that, Trump choosing a vice president who disregards the separation of church and state and whose agenda it is to reverse Roe vs Wade. Trump has committed far more sins than Hillary and I could just imagine what would emerge if his emails were hacked. The NY Times has an article today about how his reported income is at odds with reality. He has the attention span of a flea and could never navigate the complex issues he would be faced with as president. I could go on and on, but what irks me the most is how his numbers increase every time he’s not in the headlines for some heinous reason, as if that means he is now a changed man. The evidence is in, yet his supporters choose to ignore it. Some, for the reasons you mentioned, and others because they are afraid that the white race is losing ground. This has happened time and again throughout history. You only have to read The Great Gatsby to hear Tom Buchanan, the novel’s most repugnant character, say, “It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” We can build walls to keep them out and ban their entry into the U.S., as Trump proposes, or we can celebrate the rich diversity that has made America the country it is.
Thanks Stuart for articulating my thoughts. Add to that, Trump choosing a vice president who disregards the separation of church and state and whose agenda it is to reverse Roe vs Wade. Trump has committed far more sins than Hillary and I could just imagine what would emerge if his emails were hacked. The NY Times has an article today about how his reported income is at odds with reality. He has the attention span of a flea and could never navigate the complex issues he would be faced with as president. I could go on and on, but what irks me the most is how his numbers increase every time he’s not in the headlines for some heinous reason, as if that means he is now a changed man. The evidence is in, yet his supporters choose to ignore it. Some, for the reasons you mentioned, and others because they are afraid that the white race is losing ground. This has happened time and again throughout history. You only have to read The Great Gatsby to hear Tom Buchanan, the novel’s most repugnant character, say, “It’s up to us, who are the dominant race, to watch out or these other races will have control of things.” We can build walls to keep them out and ban their entry into the U.S., as Trump proposes, or we can celebrate the rich diversity that has made America the country it is.
Imagine, we might yet have Chris Christie as attorney general. That’ll be adding a huge insult to huge injury… At least you’ll be rid of him in NJ!
Yikes, but how awful would that be!!