So Trump is unhappy about the way the media has been treating him in the wake of the Iowa Caucus. Sitting out one of the debates probably didn't help his cause. He says that they didn't give him any credit for financing his own campaign. He says that he'll keep running, but that he doesn't think it's worth it. Crocodile tears, I say.
Trump lost to Senator Ted Cruz in the Iowa caucus. Even Teddyboy is concerned about how the press is treating him. More pressing is a mounting resolve to have him disqualified since he was born in Canada. Mitch McConnell won't even consider a bill that would declare Cruz fit to run for president, something he was nice enough to do for John McCain. Sorry, It just doesn't work that way.
Then there is Marco Rubio. Rubio has complained in the past that he hates the Senate and he's been missing many votes. You know, like a quitter would. Some are even calling for his resignation if he won't do his job. If this guy hates the Senate, he's got no clue about being president.
Unfortunately, this last example isn't even a Republican. She's a Democrat and she's openly admitted that she believes that we'll never, ever have a single payer plan or a public option, or as Bernie Sanders put it, "Medicare for All".
She's turning tail on decades of work to make that dream a reality. Perhaps nearly $13 million in campaign contributions from the health care industry have made it crystal clear to her. It's just a little bit galling that someone with the vision to grow a family foundation that is capable of gathering $3 billion in funding over 40 years can have the audacity to say, "No, we can't". That person is Hilary Clinton.
These are the leaders of the Republican and Democratic campaigns for president. All of them have something to complain about and are showing signs that they're wavering. Or perhaps that they've bitten off more than they can chew. Maybe the only thing in it for them is personal gain.
All of them have a common theme among them. They're noticing without lack of irritation, that change is really, really hard. It's hard enough for one person to change years of behavior buried in years of mental justification for that behavior. It's much harder for a nation to notice the acute pain it is in and to respond with a determined willingness to change. Just summoning the will to change can be nerve wracking. Add to all that the people at the top who say it can't be done and it won't. Taking action and following through is what counts.
All of them are great examples of what could best be described as complacency. They are all expressing a bit of frustration with the incessant demands for change from the people they claim to want to serve. They are all upper class, well fed, flying first class or on private jets, vacations are something they can do on a whim and they're running for president. What a jarring experience it must be to actually have to work for change.
There is an interesting human behavior called target fixation. It's like this. You're riding a bike on the bike path on a sunny day in Newport Beach, California. Something or someone catches your eye, and without thinking, your hands point the bike in that direction at 15 miles per hour. You have a collision with someone and take a tumble into the soft sand on the beach. How fortunate.
This is what happens when we focus on the negative. When we focus on what we don't want, we tend to get it. Words like "don't", "can't" and "won't" fail to register in the brain. We don't want to act like that and we do it anyway. We are faced with options and can name everything we don't want. But we wind up getting what we don't want.
The alternative is to ask for what we want, without dilution, without attenuation, with unambiguous clarity. If we truly want change, that change must be rooted in a peaceful political revolution. There is only one candidate for president that talks of such a change. That candidate is Bernie Sanders. Far from complaining about how hard it is, or any hint of quitting, or even "No, we can't", Bernie is all over change. And he's been on it for more than 30 years. Same message, just a new day.
If we want that change, we must ask for it and do so in no uncertain terms. I'm doing my part. I will be at the caucus in Utah for the first time. I will be at the primary election. I will be there, in November, voting for who I think is the best candidate for the changes we need to see in in this country. I want Bernie Sanders for president.
No comments:
Post a Comment