Beware of Newspaper Grammar

 News headline:

Gunmen arrested by Kavanaugh's home

My response:

Just as Jesus said that if the people of Jerusalem did not praise Him then the stones would rise up in praise (Luke 19:40), so you see the same truth repeated again and again in different ways.  This time it's if the policemen fail to arrest the would-be assassins, then the homes themselves shall rise up and do so.

With so much rage on the loose, fueled by authoritarian approval, I'll have to teach my home to do the same.  One never knows when it might come in handy.

Handy Political Definitions

 From the Halfwise Dictionary:

REPUBLIC: A state in which supreme power belongs to the public and to elected politicians and to anyone who has enough money to corrupt the system.

ELECTION: An institutionalized system of voting for candidates to fill political offices according to their apparent powerfulness and warmth.

POLITICAL PLATFORM: A political party's version of creative writing.

PRESIDENT: The country's scapegoat.

MEDIOCRACY: A government system in which the media tells people for whom to vote, calls the winners of elections, and otherwise takes authority over the democratic voting process, which often occurs through emotional manipulation, shaming, and other similar techniques.  To be distinguished from MEDIOCRITY.

You Voted Him In

Although perhaps the steady rush of time and the busyness of modern life has dulled somewhat the outrage regarding the election of Donald Trump to the presidency, media coverage helps to keep the flame of hatred alive.  After all, that is the right of every civilized person in this country of liberty: to hate the leader of its government.  How do you prove your freedom better than to mock your own president?

Now I have little reason to defend President Trump on any basis other than his office.  For if we make of that office a laughing stock, then how can anyone ever hold it without expecting a barrage of rotted vegetables in his face, if only metaphorically so?

Still, I will make no paltry defense of that once noble office for I doubt that anyone cares.  It is more satisfying to tear down than to build up.  It gives one a feeling of greater power to denigrate another for his stupidity than to compliment the other's good points, however few they may be.

I cannot claim vast knowledge of the actions of our current president.  I prefer to spend my time upon other more beneficial endeavors.  The actions of the president, no matter who he happens to be, make very little difference in my day to day life.

So, go ahead, cast your stones.  Burn your buildings.  Express your displeasure in all the mature ways of an educated society.

But I will point out that you voted him in.

You can argue with me if you wish.  You can tell me you voted for Hillary Clinton.  If you should chance to make such a foolish claim, however, I must correct your misunderstandings: if you voted for Hillary Clinton, you voted for Donald Trump.

They like to tell you that a vote for a third party candidate is a vote for the candidate of the party opposite the main party you prefer to support.  That, however, is slightly flawed logic.  It may happen to carry some weight when it passes from the theoretical world of statistics to the world of reality, but very little. 

The greater reality is this: if you vote for a candidate in the two-party system, you vote for the system.  You give your assent to the victory of the majority candidate whether or not you wish him to hold the office.

(And in truth how much difference is there these days between Democrats and Republicans?)

It is remarkable how little it would take to break that system so firmly entrenched.

Yet I doubt it will happen.  I have little confidence in the American spirit of independence as anything other than a choice to exhibit opinions on social media sites about everything from food to film.  I believe you are free to say what you want about your dog and look pretty in your favorite pose, but forgive me if I think the likelihood that you will think independently upon the most important issues of our time rather than merely bashing your favorite roasting candidate are not worth mentioning.

In fact, what are the odds that you will even bother to look up what must be done to implement more choices into our supposedly-democratic election process?

Of course you have two years until you have to worry about it again.  So perhaps you might say my "time is out of joint," but if so I will respond that "something is rotten in the state" of America.  You have been fair warned.

So prepare your 2020 vision!

Quoting the Thirty-Fourth President of the United States

The other day my Grandma spoke seriously about the dangers of certain actions in the modern world and she called upon Eisenhower in her defense.   However, her quotation only resulted in laughter from my little brother and me.

Why, you may ask.

Well, because this was the quotation: "Never get involved in a land war in Asia."

Does that sound familiar?

Now my research fails to assure me with absolute certainty that it was indeed President Eisenhower who first said it. However, presuming that he did indeed originate that phrase I am only brought once more to admiration at the skill of a certain William Goldman who so cleverly wove that phrase into the vocabulary of his character, Vizzini:

"You only think I guessed wrong! That's what's so funny! I switched glasses when your back was turned! Ha ha! You fool! You fell victim to one of the classic blunders - the most famous of which is "never get involved in a land war in Asia...."

Although, if on the contrary, Eisenhower quoted Vizzini, then I can but applaud his good taste in film and literature.

Which of these twain be true, I leave to your better judgment according to your knowledge of history and time....

The Great Wall of Mexico

There have been great walls in the past—most notably the Great Wall of China and the Berlin Wall.  President Trump's plan to create a wall on the border between Mexico and the United States is scarcely an original idea.

Perhaps you may even consider Trump's plan to be perfectly reasonable and quite necessary.  However, I see one very distinct problem with it.

The problem with the Great Wall of Mexico plan is this:

Canada will be jealous and want a wall too.

I doubt I need to point out how many more thousands upon thousands of miles that border covers....