During the primaries, I supported Senator Bernie Sanders, as his views aligned most closely with my own. Although he didn’t win the nomination, many of his views are reflected in the Democratic party platform. I now support Secretary Hillary Clinton for the presidency.
Due to family health issues, I haven’t written a political post since before the conventions, so I am going to use this post to catch up a bit.
In brief: The Republican convention was dark and scary and portrayed the United States in a way that I couldn’t recognize. The Democratic convention was much more hopeful and positive with some amazing speeches. It was also historic as the United States finally has a woman nominated by a major party for the presidency, 96 years after women gained the right to vote nationally.
I had thought – or maybe it was more hope than thought – that the campaign in the general election phase would be more focused on policy and debate. Secretary Clinton does have policy papers on her website and does regularly speak on policy, but a lot of the press coverage is swallowed up by more subjective things, such as likability – and whatever nonsense has just been propelled from the mouth of Donald Trump.
I am very disheartened by the hatefulness and the bullying and the crudeness of Donald Trump, which is too often echoed by his staff and supporters. I am also disturbed that facts don’t seem to matter. Although the press is finally being more consistent in pointing out when Trump’s rhetoric doesn’t line up with fact, there are now millions of people who believe the lies and cannot be convinced by factual evidence.
I do find some comfort in the polls which show that in state-by-state match-ups, Secretary Clinton is leading. I hope that the upcoming one-on-one debates will clarify for voters that only Clinton has serious plans to move the country forward and deal with the very real problems that our country and the world face.
It’s odd how stream of consciousness writing takes over. Linda’s prompt this week is “view” and I wasn’t intending to participate, but as I wrote the first paragraph of this post, the word “views” appeared and I decided I would run with stream of consciousness rather than a planned, edited post.
Two birds with one stone…
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Join us for Stream of Consciousness Saturday! Find out how here: https://lindaghill.com/2016/09/09/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-1016/.
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Top of JC's Mind 
I watched the conventions from here in Canada. Yes, it was hopeful vs dire. Some things are dire, like the situation where Trump could possibly win control over the US. I am trying to stay cool up here, which has been hard in all this extreme heat, but I am scared and I can’t keep pretending. I am watching an interesting series, a documentary in six parts, on Netflix at the moment. Each episode features a particularly interesting or memorable US election fight, featuring either one or both running for the post. Jackson to Lincoln, all the way up to Kennedy and George Bush, the first George Bush. I just don’t know. Politics is so far beyond me and I don’t have the stomach for it, for the good that is spoken of wanting to be done, to protect a country, to make it grow and succeed. I just don’t know.
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I do hope that Trump will be soundly defeated, although I know that sometimes the totally wrong person gets elected, like Berlusconi in Italy. Under a Clinton presidency and the spectacle of Trump as their nominee, I am hoping that the Congressional Republicans will finally wake up to the need to be partners in government so that reasonable legislation gets passed and judicial nominees get approved, as designed by our constitution. It upsets me that so much more could have been accomplished during the Obama presidency if Congress had been functional.
Best wishes to you with Prime Minister Trudeau. It seems that he is trying hard to bring people together for the good of your country.
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I agree with you. It’s frightening that Trump has any following at all. He seems to be softening his position on some issues, like immigration, as if he’s making things up as he goes along. Hilary Clinton is not perfect, but I feel safer with her, like she’s not going to go crazy and push the wrong button. With Trump, you never know.
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It’s difficult to figure out what Trump believes in, if anything at all other than money and his brand. Secretary Clinton is too much of a hawk for my liking, but she is qualified, knowledgeable, and intelligent. Trump is very impulsive, but she is very methodical. Both of them are on the older side of the spectrum for election to the presidency, so it also matters to me who the VP picks are. Senator Kaine is better qualified than Governor Pence and I appreciate his social justice roots.
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