Isn’t it a sad day when the ‘leader of the free world’ has to pick between untrustworthy but experienced and outspoken but embarrassing? That a country unsurpassed on so many fronts has such a poverty of political leadership is a point to ponder. Alas we must get on with the job and pick the lesser of the two evils even if it is a task Lucifer himself would shy from.
Which of the two have done the United States of America a true and lasting service? The answer might not imply leadership competence but I hope you will find it to be rooted in truth that is if we still remember what truth means.
Before we go up that track let’s encapsulate what previous presidents have done, briefly. If you go by the results (that is all I go by), then the political leadership of the United States has failed on all accounts. That is not to say, the American people are to blame. I would not blame them. They were, as they stand today – like many other people across the world -- deprived of choice on the political stage. It is usually the village idiot who gets the job.
I digress. Let’s look at the results of America’s political leadership. History shows for those who are willing to see that the United States is responsible for more crimes against humanity at home and abroad than any other country. I’ll spare you the details/argument because the information is freely available. It is therefore, the world’s most hated country. Immigration numbers yet flatter the U.S largely because necessity has no law. People well off in other counties are not in the queue for a Green Card and Silicon Valley is no longer the drawing card it was.
In spite of the world’s most technologically advanced army, the ‘leader of the free world’ is the only country where people are afraid to board a plane or any form of public transport, open a suspicious letter or even be in the same room with anyone looking remotely Arabic or Muslim.
With all the technology-enhanced force, we are unable to get a decent night’s sleep thanks to the results from the actions of our leaders. That does not look like victory from good leadership. We can’t send our kids to schools without worrying if they might get shot. No other country lives in such dread. Neither should America.
The old British style of divide and rule has worked its charm in the U.S where right up to date, people are deeply divided by something as trivial as the colour of their skin. By 2016, the ‘leader of….world’ would have been expected to have at least a weak grasp of the ‘unity in diversity’ concept? No. Every successive leader has offered the most idiotic solutions to domestic and international problems that have progressively isolated the U.S creating wave after wave of enemies inside and outside. This need not be and should not.
But of course, successive governments have turned the spotlight away from their dis-service to the country and onto any number of imaginary or self-created enemies. Successive (mis) leaders have lined their own pockets, furthered their own agenda and lulled the people with gibberish talk like ‘city shinning on a hill’ and ‘leader of the free world’ and ‘most powerful nation’ and other such weak talk worded strongly not unlike what you’d expect from world-class confidence tricksters.
It is no wonder then, that your average John Doe is non-the-wiser and now suddenly finds himself biting his nails as he ponders a vacation, fingers his welfare dollars carefully, prays for better health care, and if he’s black – hoping he won’t be spotted by the police on his way back from 7-11.
Hey, wait, it’s not all doom and gloom…he may not be able to afford much of life’s simple necessities but …he’s AMERICAN and that makes him the ‘leader of the rest of the world.’ Occasionally, the mist lifts and he get pissed off enough to reach for his rifle and his copy of the Fourth Amendment. The rest? You know.
The world watches this big blundering buffoon self implode gradually and sniggles but the big bully flexes away in his skimpy speedos on his beach of quicksand cheered on by his political masters.
That’s SO NOT NICE! The American people need to see what’s broken if they are to fix it. A good solid dose of introspection is way over due. Introspection alone is what will save America from itself.
Enters…The Donald! --
He’s white, unaccomplished, pretentious, hateful, insecure, morally bankrupt and proud of all of it. His rise to fame in the race for political leadership is itself an indication of just how far back America has fallen. His actions have peeled away the scabs of what we thought were healing wounds and revealed the as yet fermenting, blistering sores beneath.
Unlike his rival, instead of painting a rosy picture of a strong, powerful, united, happy country, he has exposed a deeply divided nation, stuck in time, failed at foreign policy and wearing the dunce cap as the laughing stock of the world. In so doing, he has done the United States a true service.
It is now up to the good people of America (and I believe the majority of Americans are good) to fix what The Donald has exposed, through better education, legislation and embrace tolerance and compassion at home and abroad. It can be done. It must be done.
While the choice between confidence trickster and absolute ass hole remains a tough one, if the devil must be given his due, The Donald deserves kudos. In providing a platform for true expression, he has shown America what and just how much has gone wrong, even if he is clueless on how to fix it.