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Monday, May 9, 2016

VISION AND INTEGRITY ARE POLITICS MAIN INGREDIENTS… OR ARE THEY?


By Silvia Uribe

Maybe I should start with a full disclosure. I am an independent thinking Democrat, which, to me, only means that I don’t follow, or agree, on everything with the Democratic Party. By default, this also means that I have the ability to see, and agree on certain points coming from the opposite side. What? I know, I know. This not only raises a few brows here and there. It also puts me in the “endangered species” category of the, so called, political pragmatics. Precisely because I am an independent thinker, I would like for everyone to be one. However, this seems a lost battle these days when we, as a country, are so polarized, so intolerant of others’ opinions, and so close minded, with the cliche attitude of “it is my way, or the highway.”

The result of that extreme polarization? Donald Trump and his boisterous campaign. In my humble opinion, he is also the result of the lack of imagination and vision on the Republican Party side (sorry Republican friends). If we look back on how things developed, we can vividly remember that the Republican Party never liked Trump as a candidate; they thought he was a “joke”, at the very least. Joke or not, however, Republicans were afraid of him and his threats of creating a third party “if not treated well.” They thought that if he did, it would weaken their party, so, they let him be. By lacking action, they also allowed him prey on people’s primary instincts: fear, anxiety, anger, desire for power, hatred. He used then and now, the "psychology of the masses", as they call it. By the time Republicans were willing to do something about it, it was too late. They most likely will have an unscrupulous presidential candidate, who in his own words, is “greedy for power” and doesn’t care that his inflammatory words can cause riots, or even the possibility of people physically and verbally attacking members of “undesirable” groups, i.e. women, Latinos, Muslims, and counting.

The only good thing that I see about Donald Trump is that, now, many Republicans and most Democrats despise him, and are able to see him for what he is: a fraud and a danger to this country. Hey, we have not agreed on anything else for years now!

The reason that I write this column at this point, is because it is sickening to me to think that the Republican Party could give its endorsement to this “trumper” (urban dictionary: A brash, pretentious, narcissistic man who makes outrageous, controversial statements and engages in attention-seeking behavior for money or fame.) who's willing to trump up ( Dictionary.com: to devise deceitfully or dishonestly. Fabricate.) everything and everyone. His opponents, and other party members, from Chris Christie,  Marco Rubio, Ben Carson, and Carly Fiorina to the Bush family and even Paul Ryan have declared their distaste for Mr. Trump, but some of them have, and others might gather around him, and give him  their endorsement after having a few meetings with him at the White House next Wednesday. Seriously?

Do Republican Party members really think that they can trust this guy? He is going to say anything in order to get his hunger for power satisfied. These are a few examples to prove it:

-         -  Trump  has criticized candidates who raise money for their presidential campaigns – He is, as we speak,  getting ready to raise serious money and has a Super PAC already in formation
        
           - He has said that he doesn’t want illegal immigration (I would rather have those who work on the fields to have the opportunity to live here legally too) and wants to deport people left and right, but he yesterday said he loves Hispanics, and celebrated 5 de Mayo with a “huge” American style tostada bowl.

-         -  He said at a debate that he would order the military to use torture with terrorists, waterboarding or worse, and then when confronted in an interview he said “I would not ask the military to do anything illegal”

-          - He, from the get go of his campaign, has attacked  women. He now wants to gain their vote by being quasi-charming (not really), and so on.

Paul Ryan said that he is not ready yet to support him, unless he thinks that Trump will run a campaign of which Republicans could be proud. Is this a possibility in Ryan’s mind at this point? Is he, and others, ready to go ahead and endorse him just to have a vocally (not politically) strong contestant against Hillary Clinton? I believe it is morally wrong that they are willing to put our country at stake that way.

Sad. Very sad.

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