TERRY MOSHER
I believe that the world is built on love. We come into this world with love. It is the vital part of us. Without it, the world becomes a mess. So when Donald Trump promises to use better torture, build walls, tear up treaties, start trade wars and uses lies and innuendos to bully and intimidate those that oppose him, that kind of hate only adds fuel to the dangerous world we already live in.
These are dangerous times and Trump is using hate to inspire a nationalism and isolationism that is not only dividing us but will lead to the crumpling of America.
We are already the greatest nation in the world today and maybe in the history of the world. Trump’s proposed injurious actions and hateful rhetoric will not make us great but a wreck.
So be careful what you wish for. The lessons I learned from my many classes at Western Washington in political science, economics and history tell me that this man is the most dangerous man in our history, even more so than the few demagogues that have risen, like him, before him.
People like him can be very persuasive in times like today where there is a boiling cauldron of resentment, frustration and anger at the ruling class among many of you that are looking for a savior who will make everything right.
Trump thus walked into a perfect storm. I believe it was not intentional. I don’t think he thought he could actually become president. He just saw an opportunity to build upon his brand and make some money. He is, after all, all about himself and all about making himself money, money, and more money, and he doesn’t care how many he hurts or how many he cheats or scams in the process (see the thousands of lawsuits he has caused to be filed against him).
But, lo and behold, his brand of political incorrectness and spiteful and flame-throwing, scorched earth rhetoric is just what the doctor ordered for those of you that have been, or perceived to have been, injured by the bulging gap between the wealthy class, who many feel have gotten a ironclad grip on our government, and those who have slipped further and further behind the wealthy in an unjust way.
I think Trump was surprised by how easy it became for him to rise from the ashes of a being a big con man. He swiftly dispatched an incompetent bunch of political correct contenders, belittling them as if they were cockroaches scurrying across dirty rotten wood floors.
Trump discovered in the process that there was also a growing discontentment among the dwindling white majority in this country that are worried they are losing a grip on their entitlement to being the ruling white class. It is projected by 2045 whites will be in the minority and that, as you might guess, has given rise to increasing chatter from white supremacists who support Trump and increasing chatter among the white class that immigration should be restricted if not outright banned, which fits Trump to a tee and has given rise to a growing conservative class that at its extreme fringe – far right, think Ted Cruz – advocates for laws restricting voting rights and rights of women to control their own body.
So we have a converging of forces that has opened the gate large enough for a man like Trump to squeeze through, either intentionally or unintentionally, to the loud and vocal enthusiasm from people who feel their entitled rights are being infringed upon either by the wealthy or by a growing population of minorities and he is going to right all their wrongs, perceived or not.
It is a terrible thing for me to watch because I have had a long interest in government and how it works or doesn’t work and how economics and history of our world is intertwined and how unintended forces sometimes meet at just the right moments in history to create good or terrible results (Hitler and World War II is just one example of the bad).
Historians, believe it or not, think we are currently living in our most peaceful time in our history. Wars in recorded history have killed up to a billion people and despite the recent spate of terrorist actions, wars in the middle east and Africa, and threats that are increasingly being felt from China and Russia upon us, it’s relatively peaceful, with the accent on relatively.
That peace could very well end if Trump gets elected president, as I fear he just might. I have learned in my time here on Earth that given the right circumstances one person can change the direction of an event or in Trump’s case a country. You just have to slip into the right situation, intentionally or unintentionally, as might be the case here, and voila, things change almost 180 degrees.
If you go back in history, elections are almost always a reaction to a previous action. More specially, an election that brings to power a left-leaning government is usually followed in the next election cycle (remember presidents normally get to serve two full four-year terms so this theory only applies when those terms are served) by a swing back to the right.
I believe that we are seeing that today. Barack Obama, a left-leaning president, should be followed, if my theory holds, by a right-leaning president. That would eliminate Hillary Clinton.
If my theory holds, unfortunately for me, Trump, who is masquerading as a right-winger, although God only knows who he really is, other than a rising strongman, should get elected.
Should that happen, the so-called peaceful era we are living in, will end. His nationalistic and isolationism ideas, his racists tendencies, his me-first attitude, his emotional unstableness, may quickly gets us involved in economic and most likely dangerous military wars that will imperil our security and our country.
Yeah, I know his supporters will go with him no matter how much they could learn from his previous actions and his temperament, because they have suffered perceived or real slights and are anxious to get retribution for them, and are ready, if not eager, to be led by a man who promises to slap down with brute force if necessary anything that gets in the way.
That thinking is a classic bully definition. And you can count me in on standing up to the bully no matter what, because that is the right thing to do.
On that note, I’m taking leave and heading out to the YMCA to see if I can forget all of this for an hour or so. I hope you all have a wonderful Fourth of July weekend and remember while you are celebrating that this is already a great country, one where you (and I) can express an opinion without fear of being jailed or killed (think China and Russia), and one that I will fight for as long as I have breath to defend so you (and I) can have that freedom.
Be well pal.
Be careful out there.
Have a great day.
You are loved.