I have been trying not to get
into a diatribe about the election. God knows I am trying. But now, I have to
get some of this out because if I don't I am likely to go off on somebody in
one of the outlying counties when that loathing that was being masked is
directly in my face. Ignorance is not bliss. Not for the ignorant nor for the
person subjected to the ignorance.
I am deeply disturbed by how
incredibly ignorant people are. Fifth graders have a greater understanding of
the function of the different branches of government and the constitution. As I
have followed the debate and political discourse over the last few months I am
just amazed, AMAZED, at how little one of the candidates knows about the
functions, powers and limitations of the different branches of government. And
I am amazed beyond amazed....stupefied, yeah, stupefied that one candidate has
no idea what the constitution says, what the preamble says, and what the
amendments really say and or how the amendments have been interpreted. Tragically,
that candidate has the ear of so many Americans.
And, it appears to be willful
ignorance. And the ignorance is not limited to the branches of government, the
constitution or the office being sought, it is willful ignorance about so many
things that it makes my head spin. The preamble says "we the people, in
order to form a more perfect union". It doesn't say perfect, but instead
says more perfect. We are striving for a greater perfection of our union. It
has not been perfect from the beginning. It has been besieged with problems,
human failures and political problems. But we are striving for better, not
worse. Not a return to the days of the 50s and 60s.
And for me, it appears that
is where we are headed, backwards. The hateful rhetoric that is blasting on the
airwaves, in the media, and everywhere is not reminiscent of a gentler time. It
is the language of an explosive period in our history as a country where brutal
mistakes were made in race relations. And no our President didn't ruin race
relations in this country. The relations were never good, they were tolerable,
but never good. And, all of the vitriol being spewed was there, under the
surface, while the same folks who are now spewing it, were thinking it and
perpetrating that we have overcome.
And then, to have a candidate
using the same hate speech as a part of his campaign is horrific to me. He
would be representing our country on the world stage!!!! Ignorance on full
display everywhere he goes!!!! Seriously? My Mama, God rest her soul, always
said it is better to be thought a fool than to open your mouth and remove all
doubt. Are we really ready to be the laughing stock of the entire world? All of
the great work of our founding fathers, our forefathers, our great leaders of
the last century - obliterated by a caricature of a man - mocking greatness and
revealing himself to be a buffoon. I had to say something. I have had this
billowing up inside of me for months!!!!
Hillary is a person who made
decisions that were not popular and in many instances straight up bad. But she
is a person, a person who made some imperfect decisions. I know that I have
never been able to make all of the right decisions all of the time. And
notwithstanding whether or not she made imperfect decisions, when I look at her
entire record, I find that the good outweighs the bad. If you don't know, I do
divorce work for a living and often times I have my clients list the good and
the bad stuff about the spouse as an exercise. It is a good exercise for
relationships period. If the good outweighs the bad on the list, then the
relationship is one worth having and salvaging.
That is where I am with
Hillary. The good outweighs the bad when I look at the total herstory. No, she
is not perfect, but at the bare minimum she is not ignorant, she understand the
function, power and limitations of the different branches of government. She
understands the Constitution and she recognizes that we the people are working
toward the ideal "form a more perfect union". Those good things
alone, put her legions ahead of the other candidate and when you add the rest
of her good stuff from her legacy, she is not the lesser of two evil, she is
the greater good. And I never expected to revisit the dark days of Jim Crow in
my lifetime.
