by Dr. Andy Jones
“Forms of politics are processes, not ends.”
Roslyn Fuller
When you’ve lived through as many presidential elections as I have, you learn to expect one or multiple candidates claim that “this is the most important election in a generation” or even in our lifetimes. Usually we consider this to be true because of the Supreme Court, but this time, the stakes seem higher because we seem to be butting up against the end of an era.
As you may have heard, the Republican party is currently being led by a vengeful egomaniac who doesn’t share the recognized values and priorities of his purported political party. He insults many potential historical or potential GOP constituencies, including veterans, Latinos, the Club for Growth, Republican members of Congress, and women. Speculation swirls around what Trump’s millions of adherents might do after the election, including break further away from Republican party, perhaps following Trump to form a nativist Alt-Right party that will oppose and pillory Paul Ryan and other traditional Republicans. And with no stable and healthy Republican opposition, some think the Democrats might also splinter apart, likewise to be divided between centrists and what might affectionately be called the activists.
All of this conjecture assumes Hillary Clinton holding on to her Electoral College lead after this past Friday’s FBI non-revelations about emails. CNN’s Jake Tapper said that the 2011 Anthony Weiner sexting scandal was like Chekhov’s gun, referring to the theatrical foreshadowing principle that anything introduced in the first act of a play, such as a loaded gun displayed above the mantelpiece, must be used by the end of the play. Now that the Weiner gun is going off, low information voters and the media are freaking out. Some political analysts have suggested that this wild and deplorable election season had grown staid and predictable in recent weeks, and that it needed an October surprise in the third act, a development that we have experienced just in time. MSNBC and Fox News advertisers are eager to ensure that the drama continues, and we keep tuning in.
Meanwhile, diverse endgames are being imagined by political partisans. Diehard Trump followers, some of them publicly espousing positions that might have been uncomfortable for them to speak out loud at this point last year, worry about a Clinton presidency that is beset by corruption, and, our borders overrun, worry that our newly unsafe America will be beset by the wrong kind of people. Some plan to take up muskets.
For their part, Clinton partisans and poll-watchers have recently renewed their realistic concerns about a Trump victory next Tuesday. Aghast and fretful, they must now worry anew that Trump would lead the country into ballooning deficits, accelerating income inequality, diminished rights and freedoms for people of color and people of non-Christian faiths, escalating misogyny, and the enmity of our former international allies (among many other concerns). Although their political perspectives differ, a great variety of Americans with dystopian sensibilities are imagining how they might react to the “end” times that are predicted for our country, starting Wednesday the 9th.
Dr. Andy Jones is a Continuing Lecturer with The University Writing Program and The Poet Laureate of Davis
Sometimes consensus building is not pretty.
“Sometimes consensus building is not pretty.”
Alexander the Great
Ghengis Khan
Ernst Röhm
Jim Jones
David Koresh
Your choice for attribution.
Hillary
Jones and Koresh were just minor players of little note. Alex and Ghengis were consolidators, not consensus builders. Alex was particularly poor as his empire died with him. Rohm did help drive consensus in the US.
Probably the best consensus builder was Mao. During the Hundred Flowers Campaign he invited everyone who disagreed with him to state their case. He immediately followed with the Anti-Rightest campaign where he arrested all those who expressed opinions during the HF campaign. The net result was agreement.
I think it says something that I’ve only seen two Hillary lawn signs in Davis.
It look likes even Democrats are repulsed by her.
The trump women were at the farmer’s market which I thought was bold.
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I was out trick or treating last night with my grandchildren. When one of the 3 year old kids in the neighborhood told a huge tale we all laughed and the child’s parents said she always lies. They said they call her Hillary Clinton.
I was trick or treating with my younger ones last night in the rain. I instructed them to say “Trick or treat, candy prevents pneumonia” which increased yield per house.
were they really? again? I haven’t had time to go to the DFM in some months….
of course, I only have time for the local now that the election fraud machine has already voted..
PS….Most weekends and some weeks I am now out of town, so I miss the Sat markets, were they there on Wed?
Those of us old geezer women who didn’t have to rely on looks and/or could run circles around the guys understand Trump… he is no dfferent of most guys in the locker room of that ear.
Heck he is a GUY after all…but just because HRC is a woman, I don’t plan to settle for that guy in a dress either..
Have fun here….break is almost over :0
The first political season that equates to what we are seeing was in 1824 between Andrew Jackson and John Quincy Adams. Adams became the 10th president when the House elected him after Jackson won both the popular vote and the electoral vote. Jackson and his followers claimed that Adams and his House cronies rigged the election. They had. The criticism followed Adams through his term which was miserable and Jackson was elected in 1828.
What was interesting about this historical election… Adams was a lawyer and a big government politician while Jackson was a war hero, had a propensity for harsh language and he and his followers thought government had grown too large and intrusive.
The bottom line is that we have been here before and the correction has always happened to take power away from the those that would rule over us and stifle our freedoms and give it back to the people. The “end” will be if and when we fail to take power away from the big government ruling class to return it to the people.
This whole election reminds me a lot of 1968.
Am thinking more like 1964, when one candidate’s slogan was “in your heart you know he’s right”, and the valid response to that was, “in your guts, you know he’s nuts”…
And Barry was more a true Republican conservative than Mr T ever will be…
…and back in the way centuries ago…. the ones who supported the black rights were the Republicans and the slave masters or some such were the Democrats…..I am pretty sure Lincoln was a Republican…but please correct me if I am wrong…
I am not for the donald for any other reason than he is not beholden to companies which support Monsanto, BO, HRC< etc….and besides, he drinks the water too…and not the koolaid as many on here still do..
consensus is for wimps…
for the Trump bashers and/or the politically correct Killary supporters, the only end is that Nov 8 will come and go…
I almost didn’t understand wtf Sunder and Fernandes were when they chose to vote 5- 0 …..truly inane idea and only works in the case of faculty recruitments.
The more people voting the more important that may be…
You don’t want to send a offer letter to Jos Schmow….saying of the 42 faculty….22 wanted you and the others didn’t.- or thought you were not up to snuff or whatever..right?
But on the DJUSD, we need the real truth, right? so we can vote out the ones who are not working out sooner rather than later…
I can’t speak to a particular vote though it is not uncommon for someone to vote for something they oppose as the rules allow only people who voted in favor of a motion to revisit it.
okay…and that is why we now have OPEN primaries in CA….too many were voting against people instead of for people….by then it didn’t really matter as the CA elections are dead last, right?
Tut tut, Dr. Jones. By the words you have written in your biased article above, you yourself are doing your part in contributing to the ‘End Times’ hysteria of the left.
Who says there’s only “non-revelations”? The investigation was just reopened, we have yet to find out what those emails contained. For Comey to reopen and stick his neck out methinks he might have the goods on her. Of course the crooked DOJ might put a muzzle on him.
those in the know say the info will not be released until after the election concludes, if ever…or rather, not for 50 years….I believe that is how the real info gets released….50 years after the death or 50 years after the bombing…that kinda thin..
Anyone know anything about the VP running mate?
A vote for HRC may be like a vote for the VP….who knows though….there is still a week left..
Marina–yes, it seems to me too that Hillary’s health is rapidly failing on all levels; and the drugs and special treatments and lawyers may not be able to prop her up for much longer. Her running mate looks to me like Bugs Bunnys evil twin; it will be perpetual Halloween horror of real-life witches and fiends with those two around the White House.
Good, I like Halloween.
Another way to look at Hillary’s candidacy, offered by Louis CK — link.
God I dislike the Hollywood elite. “News” media, entertainment media and the Democrat political machine are all pretty much the same industry now. They are all part of the great public manipulation looter ruling class. And they feed big corporations to keep them at bay.
If Hillary Clinton is elected she will be the most maligned, despised and distrusted President since Tricky Dick right before he resigned. She will be ineffective except for those accomplishments that will just further enrage half of the country.
This election is really laying bare the terrible partisanship that is ripping this country apart… and 80% of it comes from the political left.
Did you see where CNN had to cut loose Donna Brazile after another hacked email showed that she gave the Clinton campaign yet another debate quetion ahead of time. She vehemently denied the first email but now that a second one has emerged it shows her to be a liar just like Hillary.
Louis CK is concerned that a Trump presidency would would be too easy for comedians and lower the bar for entry into the profession. This would exert downward pressure on his earnings. HRC is a more difficult challenge for comedians and will provide a barrier to entry.
I admit that Trump is an easier target but Hillary and Billary will also provide plenty of comedic fodder if they manage to slime their way into the office.
Even in modern times many comedians are still decent enough not to poke fun at the profoundly sick; the horrible spectacle of someone who is falling increasingly diseased on all levels–physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual. Contrast the sinking spirit of Hillary to the buoyancy of Trump–I too can get a good belly laugh from some Trump humor, but the thought of Hillary is a depressant.
Maybe people like yourself, who are apparently totally unqualified to diagnose anybody about their health, should stop fomenting this kind of nonsense.
“arms-length diagnoses and speculation” I see medical doctors on news shows doing this everyday.
Frankly: If Hillary Clinton is elected she will be the most maligned, despised and distrusted President since Tricky Dick right before he resigned.
Unfortunately, Trump is a sorrier excuse for a standard bearer of the Republican Party.
Malign
“speak about (someone) in a spitefully critical manner.”
“If Hillary Clinton is elected she will be the most maligned….”
Yes, Hillary Clinton will indeed be the most maligned. Too bad that none of this speaks to any actual wrong doing as determined post 30 years worth of spuriously ungrounded speculation and innuendo none of which has ever been supported by any factual investigation. I can hardly imagine the continuous churning of misinformation and false accusation such as was maintained by Donald Trump and his ilk over the birth place of President Obama with no concern whatsoever with regard to the actual well being of the country. So please, vote your conscience even if that happens to be for yet another round of false presumptions and accusations and election nullification based on nothing but self righteous ideology.
Bwaaaahahahaha……….
I fell out of my chair laughing at that one.
Yes, the only less-than-sterling actions of Hillary are trifling things such as treason– according to the Homeland Security Chairman Mike McCall (link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tPG8brtpPxc where you can see him speak about Hillary, using the word ‘treason’ for her acts). Of course, this talk by Mr. McCall was not broadcast by most of the mainstream media; therefor it did not happen (despite the video showing him speak the word ‘treason’ in reference to Hillary’s acts).
In my opinion, I would add to this other trifling misdemeanors such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, by her and the rest of the neocon gang of idiots and bloodthirsty psychopaths, for her and their part in promoting policies and actions that enabled the spread of destruction, death, and chaos in the middle east; destroying or destabilizing entire countries and ruining the lives of many millions.
Oh, it got plenty of coverage. http://www.snopes.com/homeland-security-indicts-hillary/
Don–yes, it looks like the title given to Mr. McCaul in my reference was incorrect (and I accept that this is indeed undoubtably an error!)
1. Congressman Michael McCaul (R-TX), who appears in the video above, is not the “Department of Homeland Security chairman” (there is no such entity). McCaul is the chairman of the House Committee on Homeland Security.
This is an important distinction, I admit.
Still, the main thrust of my point remains: people in serious positions of responsibility in our government are highly critical of the actions of Hillary Clinton; actions which in their view/opinion are indeed criminal whether or not she ever winds up being indicted. I never claimed that the link I posted was about any more than one man’s opinion. People like Hillary have many very powerful allies that have and can use their influence to see to it that she is not indicted–Hillary is the anointed candidate of the powers-that-be–for example it seems to me the appointees installed in senior positions at the DOJ have been selected on the basis that they are players who will go along with the program.
I’d have to do a survey of the mainstream media stories; but to my knowledge the story mentioned in my previous post above has still not been widely reported (yes snopes is a significant outlet; but with a relatively small viewership as compared to the mainstream biggies).
“people in serious positions of responsibility in our government are highly critical of the actions of Hillary Clinton”
I think the point and the problem is that in a highly contested partisan election, there are no neutral arbiters and therefore all criticism legitimate or otherwise looks to have a partisan bent to it. Forget about the election, I don’t know how we fix that.
More corruption and collusion between the State Dept. and Hillary’s campaign:
https://www.yahoo.com/news/hacked-emails-show-clinton-campaign-165658103.html