Thursday, June 22, 2017

Pleading the Fifth on the Georgia 6th

By now you've read/heard/sensed or smelled news reports on the outcome of the very publicized hotly-contested special election in Georgia's Sixth Congressional District that became the most expensive race in congressional election history. Here's some instant analysis of the aftermath that makes as much sense, or as little, as anything else either of us has found, and it still says nothing to me.

As a resident of southeastern Connecticut, it was pretty simple: I don't live in the Georgia 6th. As it just so happened neither did the Democrat seeking to represent the folks who do live there but I digress. Or do I? Come to think of it, maybe not such a coincidence?

You tell me. All I know is here it is the Thursday after the special election and neither I nor Jon without the h is going anywhere near Congress and, oh, by the way, neither of us live in the Georgia Sixth. Hmm, that could be compelling, were Breitbart or Alex Jones to make the argument.

I am not a fan of POTUS 45. If Donald Trump were on fire and I had a bucket of water, I would drink the water, and then later pee in the bucket rather than put out the flames. But while dislike (heck, out and out animus) may work at the personal relationship level, in terms of a political ideology, it's beyond stupid and that, as far as I'm concerned is what happened Tuesday in the Georgia 6th. But don't take my word for it.

The Democratic Party of which I am a nominal though more often notional member as a registered voter (only because Relentless Pragmatist is not yet a recognized party) needs to say a lot more than "Nope!" in the discussion at any level of government with the Republicans.

Stop running against Trump and instead run in support of someone. Stop telling voters you are a stick to whack Trump with; when the time comes, they will find one all by themselves. Give them a reason, an argument, a platform, hell a whole program of reasons, to support you rather than just oppose the other guy. And spare me the 'he sucks' campaign slogan and any and all variants.

Trump got elected by not being Hillary Clinton. By that same reasoning, I should be the President (see my argument in the second paragraph above on not being from the Georgia 6th). And yet here we are, me typing this stuff and you eating up with a spoon. At least my hands are big enough to reach the keys.

A reasoned political debate in this country used to be a lot more than an exchange of epithets and insults. What we do now is have arguments instead of discussions. Perhaps we could try civility in our civil discourse and see what could happen. We should know by now what does happen when all we do is yell until we're blue in the face. Or Orange, for the most part
-bill kenny      

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