The government we deserve

I watched both political conventions on CNN.

The Republican Convention was out-and-out bizarre. It seemed to have no point, other than to provide a forum for speakers to express their contempt for the Democratic candidate. There was scant praise for Trump from anyone other than family members – and hardly any from leaders of his party. Ted Cruz, who finished second, basically told delegates not to vote for him. The lack of enthusiasm for the candidate, whom everyone in the hall knew is probably going to crash and burn like the Hindenburg and most didn’t care because they resent that he shoved them aside, was palpable. Whenever the camera panned over the audience, many looked bored or as if they were trying to resist the urge to vomit. Delegates, for the most part, appeared to have been air-lifted into Cleveland from the same whites-only country club. The candidate’s acceptance speech was delivered under a gold-plated sign spelling out T-R-U-M-P; it looked like it belonged over the entrance to one of his high-rises rather than above the stage of a major party’s convention. The speech gave me nightmares. It was his delivery as much as the message: “This country is broken and I’m gonna fix it with force if necessary and if you don’t like it, fuck you.” The idea of this megalomaniacal narcissist in the White House scares me shitless.

The Democratic Convention, on the other hand, was the most carefully orchestrated convention I’ve ever seen. It came off without a hitch. The speeches had been edited by the same team of writers, so viewers would know the party stands for E Pluribus Unum unless, of course, you’re a white male in which case you’re screwed but you deserve it, you pig. Hillary was portrayed as a wiser and more compassionate female version of Jesus Christ. Her acceptance speech struck just the right tone and actually made her seem likable. I went to bed thinking I could vote for her. I woke up realizing I and the rest of the country had been spoon-fed bullshit that, for an hour or so and because I desperately wanted to, I had fallen for. Hillary Clinton’s compassion is for herself, not the country, and she is no unifier, she’s one of the most divisive political figures in American history who will say or do anything to get elected. America isn’t a monarchy yet, for the second time this century, we’re being served up a candidate who has something to prove to a relative she feels entitled to succeed as president. It didn’t end well when Bush II succeeded Bush I. It won’t end well again.

It has been said that people get the government they deserve. And so it has come to pass. By selfishly focusing only on issues like abortion or gay rights or guns or any of 100 other hot buttons that are important to us as individuals because of our religious and/or personal beliefs, rather than on what’s the right thing to do for our country, we the people must now choose between two truly awful candidates, one of whom, come January 20, will be sworn in as our next president.

Buckle up. Hold on. Stuff cash under your mattress and try to remember that 2020 is just four years away. Our nation has gotten through worse times. Hopefully we’ll muddle through the next four years without too much damage.