If for some reason you recorded the Republican National Convention last night with plans to watch later, watch Ivanka, and then just turn it off. Ivanka did a great job. Donald Trump tried to scare people into voting for him. (Full text here). I don’t understand how Republican politicians have spent the last few days saying how great their state is, and then Trump made the entire country sound like it is on the verge of disaster.
Trump did have a handful of good moments. He attempted to receive the support of all those who are unhappy with the status quo:
That is why Hillary Clinton’s message is that things will never change. My message is that things have to change – and they have to change right now. Every day I wake up determined to deliver for the people I have met all across this nation that have been neglected, ignored, and abandoned.
I have visited the laid-off factory workers, and the communities crushed by our horrible and unfair trade deals. These are the forgotten men and women of our country. People who work hard but no longer have a voice.
I AM YOUR VOICE.
Trump criticized “15 years of wars in the Middle East,” which can be seen as not only criticism of what we will likely see continue under Hillary Clinton, but criticism of the last president from his own party. While he is likely to not be as interventionist as Hillary Clinton on foreign policy, which is also true of virtually anyone in the country, he has failed to outline any coherent foreign policy views of his own. He did attempt to appeal to Sanders supporters based upon trade policy, but his racism and xenophobia will greatly limit his ability to receive our support.
Donald Trump is apparently jealous of all the comparisons between Hillary Clinton and Richard Nixon and made his own attempt at imitating Nixon. At best Trump channeled Richard Nixon in his calls for law and order, which is scary enough. At worst it was seen as “nightmarish authoritarianism.” Trump repeatedly brought up shootings of police officers, which is fine to protest, but totally ignored the serious problem of some police officers shooting unarmed minorities.
The fact checkers once again had a field day, which is true whenever Trump opens his mouth.
A catastrophe of this magnitude called for one thing–the return of Jon Stewart to mock it. And he did return as Stephen Colbert allowed him to take over his desk:
The Republican National Convention has now concluded. Next week we will see the Republican-Lite Convention from Philadelphia.
Breaking News! Hillary picks the ELECTRIFYING Tim Kaine! Hopefully the excitement won't be too much to handle. Talk about two VPs that I know nothing about, Kaine and Pence. I guess neither candidates at the top of the ticket can stand having one drop of limelight pulled away from themselves.
Tim Kaine and Mike Pence are two people I do know something about, and neither is any good. Pence is definitely the worst of the two, but I certainly don’t like the idea of the Democrats being so firmly in the hands of DLC Democrats. Clinton says a lot about her priorities in picking a running mate who wants more wall street deregulation, is pro TPP, and, like Clinton, is willing to compromise on abortion rights.
I knew nothing about either one prior to their nomination. It almost makes me feel good that I am not such a political enthusiast when politics is such a continuously disappointing endeavor. There is a fable called "Those who walk away from Omelas. " . The message of the story being IMO some would reject a nearly utopian society for the sake of one single injustice. Unfortunately, despite us living in arguably the best society on the planet ever, you can see injustice around every corner. I'm pretty sure I'll be voting for Johnson of Libertarian party, but I'm quite cynical at this point, and even if the Libertarians had a miraculous win someday, I wouldn't be surprised if they would disappoint as well.
Many libertarians are already disappointed in Johnson for not following libertarian views in all areas. Personally I see some of the areas where he strays from hard core libertarianism as being a plus.
That was actually a short story by Ursula K. Le Guin, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas. It won a Hugo. As far as I can tell it had no roots in mythology; Le Guin invented it all. "Omelas" is "Salem, O." backwards. It is essentially a positive utopia story with a dark twist.
Bob, Thanks for the details and correction to the title. I was only going from memory. I really thought it was a fascinating story. The concept being that a perfect utopia is of course an impossibility, thus to even imagine a utopia, it would require it to have some sort of flaw, some sort of cruel injustice, for there to be any possibility in believing it to be real, or perhaps "achievable". The application for me today is if we can ever believe in any politician being "good" or if we must settle for the terribly flawed individuals offered us. Is the definition of a "good" politician simply a politician that hasn't been fully vetted? Anyway, I'm trying to wean myself off politics for awhile but could not resist commenting on your response to one of my favorite fiction stories.