1
August 2016
Chuck Roots
Can’t Make This
Up
Mercifully the political conventions for the two
parties are over for this laughable partisan brouhaha season which the
electorate is forced to endure every four years.
A special honor should be attributed to those
hearty souls who sit up each night of the two weeks of festivities and
political attacks, watching the parade of political wonks, has-been
politicians, up-and-coming political stars, and celebrities from
Tinseltown. I can’t help but feel as
though the conventions are self-serving. That is to say, they are created and
conducted for those in attendance. Or as we say within the Christian faith,
“You’re preaching to the choir.” Those of us in TV Land are merely spectators,
allowed to peak into a world that seems very fascinating yet strange to us. Something
akin to going to the zoo, only the animals in the zoo are normally better
behaved.
Vindictive, vitriolic, abusive and defamatory
words and attributes are leveled at anyone who dares to disagree with the
vaunted leaders of the opposing party. Now that the two presidential candidates
from the Republican and Democratic Parties are validated by their delegates,
the real claws and fangs come out. For the next three months we will be
subjected to a haranguing by each candidate toward the other. Listening to the
rhetoric from the two parties painting the other’s party as the worst possible
political organization since Genghis Khan roamed the Steppes of Russia.
Aside from voting along party lines in
sycophantic fashion, if you’re like me you have to be asking yourself, “Are
these two presidential candidates the best we can produce?”
For those of you who have followed my column
during the past 13+ years, you know that I am conservative when it comes to my
faith, politics and overall philosophy of life. Though I grew up in a home
where my mother and step father were Democrats, I found myself at odds with the
philosophy of the Democratic Party. Crushed after the assassination of
President John F. Kennedy, I found myself adrift politically. I liked what I
heard coming from Senator Barry Goldwater who was the Republican nominee in
1964. On the other hand, I did not like President Lyndon Johnson at all. Over
the years I have watched the Democratic Party shift further and further to the
left to the point that JFK would not be welcomed into his own party. The
Republican Party has also shifted to the left, just not nearly as far as the
Democrats have.
Conservatives today are viewed as Neanderthals
which is unfortunate since most of us in the conservative ranks are simply
trying to hold to the Constitution. There is a point where you draw a line in
the sand declaring you will not compromise your beliefs – period.
So then, you see that I do not line up with the
Democratic party. Plus, there is no way on God’s green earth that I could ever
pull the lever for Hillary Clinton. I first questioned her truthfulness when
she stated that husband Bill’s sexual exploits did not bother her. Second, she
said she was named after the famous New Zealand explorer, Sir Edmund Hillary, the
first person to successfully climb Mount Everest on May 29, 1953 – when Hillary
Clinton (Née Rodham) was nearly six years
old! But the real show-stopper for me was Benghazi. As a 34-year retired
veteran of the Marine Corps and Navy, need I say more?
Conversely for the Republican Party, Donald Trump
angered me from the get-go in this presidential race when he chose, for
whatever his reasons, to attack Senator John McCain’s military service, stating
that the senator was not a hero. Just as a reminder, John McCain was shot down
over North Vietnam, suffering serious physical injury. He then spent five and a
half years in a POW camp, euphemistically known as “Hanoi Hilton.” He endured
daily beatings at the hands of his captors. And as the war was drawing to an end,
he was offered an early release which would have allowed him to be home with
his family for Christmas. When he learned that the other POWs were not being
offered the same opportunity, McCain refused, choosing to stay until all were
released. And Trump says John McCain is not a hero? Senator McCain and I do not
line up very well politically, but this man has more courage than ten men. Mr.
Trump should have valued the sacrifice of Senator McCain’s service.
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