Just Say NO, NO, NO

It is time the American people took back their power and their rights. Big money and illegal politics have stolen our lives, liberties and happiness. There is not a minute of time when some politician is not running for office. And this jams up our email in boxes, and our quiet time at night with pleas of money to support their campaigns.

Why should we. With the Citizens United verdict from the Supreme Court of the United States, our money does not count because the Koch brothers and their rich friends can always give more. They have already picked their winners and we are just for window dressing. Don't hang their curtains. It just encourages them.

And why should it take two years to run for any office in these United States? With mass media and the Internet 90 days should be enough. Australia does it. And we have already proven we can make bigger mistakes with two years to consider our candidates.

We are supposedly electing these citizens (seekers of higher paid lobby jobs) to govern. An elected president of the United States has two years to learn his job and then he is once again running for office. A congressman of the United States only holds his office for two years, so the minute he is sworn in his campaign for the next term is in full swing. When does he govern?

We have been asking for campaign reform since I was old enough to vote. But those that succeed at this game know the rules and how to play them so they are not going to vote to change them. But we can decide not to play. I propose a political boycott. I do not mean not vote. I mean do not encourage them. Do not back or encouraging or fund a candidate or his party until six months before the election.

Do not open political email. They have programs that let them know how opens and reads them. Just relegate them to spam. Unsubscribe doesn't work.

Do not answer political calls. Yes, you can block those annoying telemarketers but not politicians or political polls. Even if it is a robo call they know you picked up.

Do not back a candidate on social media.  All your friends are for Hillary and you seriously think you are voting for her but do not share her posts. I used to share Bernie Sanders posts but he has not come out as a presidential candidate. No more shares or likes.

No bumper stickers or buttons. They used to give these away and now they are tied to a minimum donation of $5. Just don't.

If they want to continue to campaign fine. But do not encourage them. We live in a vacuum while they play their political games in Washington or our state capitals. None of the bills we want get passed. So they want us to support them? DO NOT.

We should not encourage or support a system we do not believe in. We may believe in democracy (question as to whether we have one) but we never signed up for constant campaigning. Let them know the only way they get our attention is by doing their jobs.

DO NOT GIVE FUNDS, DO NOT SUPPORT, DO NOT POST THEIR RHETORIC ON YOUR BLOG OR SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNT UNTIL JUNE 8, 2016.

That gives them six months to campaign. I think that is generous for just empty sound bytes produced by an advertising company. And we can use our free time for meaningful activities: Write our congressmen and women on issues; back policies we want to be passed as laws and sign petitions to repeal laws we do not like; Campaign for an amendment to overturn the SCOTUS decision on Citizens United. And we can work to make our corrupted elections fair again. We can try to ensure correct counts of votes. And we can organize in our neighborhoods to get every citizen registered to vote, and help them secure all the documentation they need to not be turned away at the polling place in November 8, 2016.

Let's make this next election real to win back the confidence of voters.

JUST SAY NO TO POLITICS AS USUAL.

I thought this looked familiar

At one point yesterday, deep in the throes of cabin fever, I found myself staring at CNN's coverage of the political campaign and asking myself what was so familiar about all this.

Yes, it is another presidential campaign and despite all the promises to the contrary by various horses in the race they have not changed it. There is I thought, thankfully, more debate and more airing of views then there has been in the last two of these fiascoes. But when a candidate feels behind they still start slinging the mud. And enough of it seemed to be flying through the air yesterday that I just wanted to duck under the table and hide.

That is when it hit me about what was so familiar about the whole presidential primary theater. I whipped out my copy of Alice in Wonderland and felt immediately comforted. After all that isn't real is it? Poor Alice. All she is trying to do is get back to solid ground where they rules of her childhood . . . well, ruled. There are no Cheshire cats with silly grins remaking themselves every state, or paths to the convention that are erased by some new pundit with a clean sweep of the situation. And there is definitely not a Mad Hatter's tea party right?

As I watched the Mad Hatter pour tea I was reminded for some reason of former President Bill Clinton. And Hillary came to mind when the dormouse pops up out of the teapot. The March Hare just has to be John McCain. And I am of course Alice. We are all Alice. Trying to make sense of this strange musical chairs type party with riddles that have no answers and no opportunity to actually sip our tea and make our own decisions.

And from here on in the movie and the book it gets worse. There is the Queen of Hearts with off with their heads. Hmmm. Maybe Hillary is her. Sometimes. And Bill is the apologetic little king. Then in the scene in the rose garden Obama has to be Alice. Off with his head because he has defied the queen. I am probably the flamingo in this part.

Well, to make a long and silly blog shorter I recommend you re-watch Disney's classic film of Alice in Wonderland. It does make the whole political landscape a great deal clearer. I am just not sure that is a good thing.

My Brownie leader stole cookie money

Mea Culpas are obviously required here. I must confess at the age of seven my Brownie troup leader either lost or misappropriated funds from the Girl Scout cookie sale.

I only bring this up because it is obviously a black mark against Barack Obama that his church was audited by the Internal Revenue Service. Opps.

I must admit when asked to run for a low level political position I said no because of some of my more age appropriate behavior (and decade appropriate - if you can remember the 60's you didn't do them) in my college days. It had not occurred to me that the behavior of people I knew would be called into question as to my fitness to serve and country commissioner.

This is beginning to sound an awful lot like the McCarthy hearings which my mother made me watch: "History in the making." Not ever wanting to run for office after watching that debacle - not the proudest of moments for the United States - I never screened my acquaintances as appropriate for my future political aspirations.

I admit I never found out about my Brownie leader until much later. Had I known at seven I have a real picture of the discussion with my mother. "I'm not going to the meeting." "Why ever not?" "I just feel she is not an appropriate role model for my formative years, Mom."

I was often accused of having a smart mouth and I doubt that dialog would have helped. I did stop going to my Girl Scout troop meetings when in high school. I was the only Democrat in the group and it was just really uncomfortable to attend as my mother was Democratic Precinct leader and very pro J.F.Kennedy. One of those girls in the troop had a child out of wedlock after being raped. Does that count against me? Or should I say I stopped going because she was not a good example? Must I denounce and reject her and our former affiliation as members of the same scout group?

And if Obama is to be condemned for belonging to a church that filed its taxes wrong what about Hillary being married to a unfaithful husband that lied about it.

I really do think I could bring something to public office but no way am I even going there. I wonder how many other able and talented leaders are out there which are being excluded not just because of youthful transgressions but the transgressions of friends and organizations?

Just Mean-spirited

My brother and I had a lot to learn as children about Good Sportsmanship. We fought like cats and dogs regardless of the result of the game. Dad would rush in and tear up the source of the fight be it a Monopoly game or Scrabble board. "If you cannot lose with grace," he would say, "then either don't play or learn not to lose." I chose the former with my brother who was the world's worst winner. He gloated. He was just a mean-spirited person.

I arrived at that decision after a childhood of watching him. He narrated his Ping Pong games like a sports caster, never lost with grace, never congratulated you on a game well played, or acknowledged your victory. He always gloated over his wins, and would rub in his opponent's mistakes for days. Maybe that is why politics make me cringe. And why I can no longer embrace Mrs. Clinton.

Yes, I have blogged here about how Obama has given me hope again but I felt that regardless of which Democratic candidate won I could fall behind the party as opposition to John McCain and another eight devastating years under a Republican administration. But I have to say that I find Hilary just plain mean-spirited. She did not last night, as tradition dictates, come to the mike and acknowledge her opponent's victory. And her negative ads are every bit as bad as we can expect from the Republicans in the campaign for the Presidency. This leads to not only the polarization of our country into Red states and Blue states but into those for and those against the Clinton machine.

But what does this mean-spiritedness say about our country? Nothing good. More of the same as another mean-spirited politician; G.W. Bush. If I was the leader of another country I certainly would not want to play with the United States just like I never wanted to play with my brother. We used to be good sports. What has happened to us? Do we want to win so bad we cannot be nice? Or do we see this behavior on the part of our leaders and follow their example?

A Kinder, Gentler America

As a woman who fought hard for the defeated Equal Rights Amendment I have wanted to be there when the first woman was chosen as President of the United States.

I imagined her a lot like Indira Gandhi and not like Margaret Thatcher, or after the performance in the last Democratic CNN Debate like Hilary Clinton. I don't want a woman trying to be a man to be president of the United States. That is not enough different from a spoiled little boy trying to pretend to be a man like we have in the White House now.

My father explained to me upon my being beat up by bullies on the Air Force base in Roswell, New Mexico that bullies were trying to prove they were big enough and strong enough and good enough. Those people that knew they were enough didn't have to prove it by beating up on others. I want a kinder and gentler America, and world. I thought a woman in the office of President of the United States would be a major step in that direction. I still might be right on that issue but I am clearly not going to get to find out the answer to that question this election. I was happy Hilary was defeated in South Carolina yesterday.

I am not convinced Barack is the right choice either. He was only the other side of that vicious and petty exchange in the debate. I am so sick of negative and divisive politics I could just vomit. I watch a negative exchange like that one or see a negative ad on television and it just makes me want to vote NO. Just maybe a kinder and gentler world is possible only without leaders. Just look at where the current leader of this country has gotten us. The international boys club has only led to war after war, global warming, pollution, divisions, corrupt trade deals, genocide, dictators . . . the sad list goes on and on.

Yes, the people of South Carolina, over 50% voting women, chose to vote against Hilary. But the nice guy in this race still finished last. Politics as usual is not going to stop until we demand it stop. But what can be said for a country that watches people get hurt in extreme sports, and race cars crash and burn and calls it entertainment.