I Think Trump Will Pull It Off

I think Trump will pull it off! Somewhere between the Russians, healthcare and Paul Ryan, Donald Trump sits in a whirlwind of political activity. It's all new to him. He is used to a streamlined, productive organization, with energetic people, single minded, with the success of the organization, and its goals firmly in mind; everything the government is NOT!

As Paul Ryan rearranged the deck chairs on the Obamacare Titanic, Trump took the pulse of the gay men’s club, referred to lovingly as Congress, peed on the fire, and called in the dogs. He was NOT beaten! Healthcare is not complicated, it's just that Obamacare has it so screwed up that it's hard to unscrew it. Remember how back in the day when we had the “clap,” and one shot of penicillin would take care of it, then along about the eighties or so we got “super clap?” Well, that's Obamacare!

Trump pulled back, took a breath and suggested working with the democrats. Everyone’s butt fell off. Can you imagine? The very idea of a president engineering a coalition of republicans and democrats in order to make America great again. Both sides of the isle quickly understood that such an idea would never work. The only thing these guys and gals have agreed on in the last eight years is Trans-gender restrooms.

But, I think Trump will pull it off. The art of the deal is just that, the ART of the deal! The ability to bind minds together in common purpose for the good of the whole. It's time we all came together and put America first. That's not racist friends and neighbors. Just this weekend, in a telephone call with the Prime Minister of Australia, THAT man said his main interest is Australia while he tried to shove a bunch of so-called “refugees” up our butts, and got MAD when Trump suggested checking them for gunpowder on their hands. Now, I'm just a simple old boy from Austin, but these people are too wild for Australia, and they want to ship them HERE! Did I miss something here? And, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm a racist, but I took a look at the numbers of people streaming in from “anywhere” in Africa as compared to, say, Denmark? You think?

But, I think Trump will pull it off. He jumped on this horse, and didn't make eight this time. He’ll out more grip on his glove next time. What is going to make it work is in spite of the dysfunctional government the PEOPLE proved on November 8, that MOST of the voting machines still work, and George Soros simply doesn't have the money to hire enough protestors or get Hillary into rehab, and when it's all said and done President Trump WILL “make the 8,” leap from the saddle, tipping his “Make America Great Again” hat to the American people! Yeah, I think Trump will pull it off. Remember you heard it here first.

The Paul Ryan Presidency

The Paul Ryan Presidency

Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast. The story of Ted Cummings, and Elizabeth Thomas is an old one. A man in mid life crises being attracted to a young girl is not the most surprising thing in the world. Of course there is revulsion, and cries of pedophilia, but that's not what's in play here. This is a man grasping for his youth by enticing a girl, who while may be physically well grown, is not mentally equipped to understand the situation at all. He's looking for a “new beginning” and she just moved from dolls to high school crushes. This is a recipe for disaster.

Social norms adjust from place to place, indeed from era to era. When Chuck Berry recorded “Sweet Little Sixteen” the “coming out” of a young girl on the eve of womanhood was a recognized red letter day, with the understanding that she would need a bit more time to “learn the ropes” before she took her place in society, that place in the 50’s being a wife and mother. The young man she would marry would be honing his skills to be the provider as she kept house, raised the kids, and if all went well, the grandkids.

Still, you must ask why does a man of that age become entangled with a teenage girl? There is no common ground, no future, and no hope. As the last nine days have played out I've watched. At first it was called a kidnap crime, but released Facebook items have shown that it was a full blown romance between a starry eyed girl and an old fool. The girl IS endanger when you realize that when Cummins dreams and life comes crashing down around his ears he will turn on her as the primer of his delusional view of life.

I take a young man to work every morning. When I drop him off, and start home, there is a pretty girl sitting, waiting on a bus to take her to high school. I can see her backpack filled with books. I stop at the light, she smiles, I smile. I think, “Oh, to be young again,” but I'm not, and she is, and her gift to me is a pleasant smile, perhaps a nod, and my wishing her a good day at school, and a happy life. Cummins has robbed Beth of all that. He has thrust her helter skelter into an adult world when she should have been talking with her BFF about the best looking boy on the football team.

So what's his plan? I mean we all know they can't just settle down somewhere. Well, I'm an expert at that, having at twenty eloped with my seventeen year old girlfriend. . . to Mexico! I've watched as he headed south from Tennessee, and presumably west at Alabama. Back in the day we went to Mexico. We ventured forty miles into the country, swore allegiance to the Mexican flag, and were married. When we returned to the states her father gave as an American wedding. Some differences here. For one, the age span between us was only about three years. Two, we were able to return and live a fairly normal life. Finally, I don't even know if the laws are the same, and he could end up in a Mexican jail and she . . . well, gringo girl, alone, Mexico?

This will end badly for him, but begin badly for a young lady who is scarred for life. Only when he is captured, and looks into the faces of his grandchildren will he come to realize the cost of his actions.  We should all pray for Elizabeth's return, but no amount of prayer will return her to innocence. Cummins took that, and left it in a motel somewhere. Beauty and the Beast? It will be beauty that kills the beast!

The Green Rush

There is a “Green Rush” sweeping the nation right now, and if you can't smell the smoke then see a doctor because you have a sinus infection! California blazed the trail in 1996 for medical marijuana, and over the years several states have leaped on the cannabis express. With federal law looming over their heads every minute of the day, growers, processors and dispensaries are expanding their business at an exponential rate with no end in sight. At the same time, the access to data is now allowing medical research teams to examine the real benefits and drawbacks of applying the plant to various health conditions.

When the term “medical marijuana” was coined it was looked at as a joke, or at the most a clever way to people to use the drug under the guise of legitimacy. The drug has had to prove itself by winding its way through a maze not put upon other pharmaceuticals. Marijuana won't cure cancer, it just masks the symptoms. Well, aspirin won't cure a broken leg, it just masks the symptoms! As users come out in public the amount of symptoms marijuana masks is quite impressive. From the Wall Street stock broker who unwinds after a long day, to the VA patient when asked what he did that improved his eye pressure the insertion of the use of marijuana is demonstrating its value from D.C. all the way to Oakland, California.

So what is the federal position? The federal government bases its case on the ramblings of one crazy old man in post prohibition America who convinced congress that smoking marijuana made Mexicans crazy and they would rape white women! Is that racist enough for you? Harry J. Anslinger heading up the Federal Bureau of Narcotics gave us the mindless regulation we enjoy today. With the formation of the government entity propaganda films were produced based entirely on wilder fantasies than any pothead ever had, and the fed is still trying to instill these ideas in the heads of laughing school children.

At the core of this debate is the very same idea that started the Civil War, states rights! The the state of California chooses to regulate and tax marijuana what right does the federal government have to overrule the will of the California people? The Feds should worry about roads, and perhaps those thousands of “refugees” coming into the country with no name and carrying tuberculosis! The last time so many states defied the national government we had a war, this time, ironically the states “just said ‘NO!”

As the evidence for the use of marijuana mounts, and more people come out front the Fed will have to concede to the will of the people. That's the way it's supposed to work, isn't it? Half the country smokes and the other half don't care. It's as simple as that. I don't smoke, I'm allergic, but a lot of my friends do. Solution? Sit down wind. And if some lovely lady smokes and becomes romantically aggressive, I can always go to confession. Yessir, The Green Rush is definitely here to stay.

Behold the Wire

Behold the wire! “Neither President Obama nor any White House official ever ordered surveillance on any U.S. citizen.” This is the official statement from the spokesman for Obama in response to President Trump’s assertion that Trump Tower was wiretapped during the presidential campaign. Now, ask yourself, in eight years, with all the intricacies of government management, turnover, security concerns and HILLARY around there, what kind of idiot would make a blanket statement like that? These are the same people who gave Hillary the questions during the debates in advance, the same people who chased Snowden out of the country for telling us they were doing EXACTLY what they just said they never did, and the same guy who told us if we liked our doctor, we can keep our doctor!

Anyone with a shred of common sense will realize that with all the manipulation of the truth, not to mention the fact that Hillary was losing her butt during the campaign, in stark contrast to what the “cooked” polls were saying, that there simply HAS to be a wire SOMEWHERE. Trump is not going to put this down. That's because he knows that we’re not just talking about a wire here but a virtual labyrinth of surveillance techniques, virtual being the key word here, employed by the government to listen to anyone in the world from hard wired connections all the way down to some gumshoe with a pair of binoculars reading lips. Do you think that guy regurgitating that official statement for Obama may want to rethink it?

 We’ve all adjusted to the NSA lurking everywhere, recording everything from the last high level Mafia meeting to Aunt Edna’s secret cookie recipe, so for someone saying something like that seems just a tad naïve. So, do the math. If we can agree that practically every person was surveilled, and Donald Trump is a person living in the country, doesn't it stand to reason that somewhere, sometime, he was tapped, no matter WHO issued the order? Thomas More, in his defense before the court of King Henry VIII, reasoned that if someone did something, and someone observed the action, doing nothing about it, one could only surmise that the observer agreed with said action. Obama didn't shut down the surveillance of American citizens, ergo he agreed! Point made?

One thing you can count on is that President Trump will continue to drill down on this until he strikes oil. The results of this find is up in the air. In former days we had a Secretary of State who used her insecure server to email top secrets, and sold uranium to the Russians, but there is a new sheriff in town. The mood of the nation is different now, also, no matter what George Soros’ non-voting professional protesters think. I don't think Obama will go to jail, but if Trump’s claims are substantiated it will mean one less brick in the already crumbling wall of Obama’s credibility, and yet another reason for Americans to be suspicious of the actions of his office over the last eight years.

Why Do We Have A Congress?

Why do we need a congress, senate, or president when one federal judge can overturn the will of the people? No one in their right mind wants Muslim refugees pouring into the country. Well, maybe Whoopi Goldberg, and the cheering audience on “The View,” but news flash! The REST of the country got over our national PMS on November 8th. I guess the news hasn't filtered out to California yet. 

Back in the day if ONE American were killed by a foreigner we'd have bombed the host nation back into the Stone Age, which isn't hard when you look at the condition of Syria, Iran, etc. Somehow over time we went from that to the foremost proponent of women's rights, Hillary, donning a head scarf so as not to offend King Ali Babba from WhereEverStan! You remember her. You know. Her husband pain particular attention to women the entire time he was in office. ! 

Admit it, when you get on a flight, and there's some dark skinned, bearded guy with a turban on, don't you remotely consider dying? I do! I watch that guy until we land, and brothers and sisters, if he yells ANYTHING you will see that it is possible to unscrew someone's head. “But Wilbur, what if he has a box cutter?” No, the word you're looking for is “suppository.” I'm not falling 33,000 feet because some idiot doesn't like pork chops or pretty girls”

So what's this Hawaiian judge’s malfunction? He claims that president Trump’s travel ban would damage Hawaii’s tourist industry. ISIS hanging out on Waikiki! On what planet does THAT make sense? They don't LIKE pretty girls, or wine coolers, or hot dogs. They DO like goats, but there aren't any goats on the beach, and it's hard to get a goat into a bikini. 

Muslim refugees make our traditional wetbacks almost look like family. I addressed that issue in my article The Enemy Within. Ted pointed out to me that illegals streaming over the border were positioning themselves in key areas of our country, and in point of fact the invasion of America was already in force. With this newfound support coming from the bench it makes the cartels give me a “warm fuzzy!” Jesus Christ! At least they're North Americans! Oh, Jesus? Our new protected species doesn't like Him either. 

The good news is President Trump is NOT going to take his foot off Mohammed’s throat anytime soon, and every time some Obama appointee blocks an executive order designed to protect us, we the PEOPLE get madder, and madder. When a refugee strikes again, and they will folks, that's what they DO, the pot will boil over. Check out the numbers standing in line for up to ten hours yesterday in Nashville to see the president. I'd speculate that quite a few were nicknamed “Bubba!” There's a message there Mohammed!  What kind of woman wears a TENT to the supermarket? That in and of itself shows the absolute disrespect for our way of life. C’mon.  This isn't some kid wearing his pants low as he orders a McRib. This is a fanatic who wants to bury you daughter up to her neck, and beat her brains out with a rock because she wore a pair of Levis to school. Let's get real, and until the court system returns to sanity let's all make our guests as uncomfortable as we possibly can!

The Unsinkable Michael Brown

The Unsinkable Michael Brown! Just when you think the insanity of the last eight years was waning, up jumps the devil. Now we're entertained by “Michael Brown, The Sequel.” Oh, I'm sure you remember the Oscar nominated first run. Fat Albert was just a strolling down the street, on the way to church, I'm sure, and that mean old officer shot him for being black. Then of course we had to burn Ferguson down, Black Lives started mattering, and Obama had yet ANOTHER son that looked like him. Let's think about that last statement. Trayvon Martin looked like him, Michael Brown looked like him, hmmmm, I am NOT going to make the obvious racial slur that just begs to come out, but I digress.

So now we have new footage challenging what happened at the store the night before Michael walked the streets of glory. Naturally, his family, and supporters rallied to the cause telling us that it was NOT an assault at the store the next day, it was a dope deal gone bad! Well butter my butt and call me a biscuit! That certainly clears things up, now doesn't it.  The jolly giant wasn't strong arming a store clerk, he was exchanging cigarillos for weed. Now doesn't that put everything in perspective? I feel much better now!

Now we can progress to the civil trial. You heard me right. We are going to have to endure the reversal of the facts, tailored to elevate Brown to sainthood, complete with the angelic pictures. I can just see it now, The Michael Brown Foundation, The Micheal Brown Boys Club, why shucks, The Michael Brown VFW! God bless America!

Only problem is it ain't gonna work this time. There's a new sheriff in town, you know, that guy I told you about yesterday? If you want to know what he thinks about ludicrous just ask all them Mexicans on the way home right now. All the “Home Boys” need to make a note to self, “Don't bull rush a cop with a gun!” Heck, I learned THAT in the seventh grade. I'm just waiting for someone to weave in the term “assassination.” Back in the day you had to be a president, king, or at least a Duke. Then prominent leaders were let it, and now we’ll probably expand the definition to include dope dealers, pimps, and homeless people who sleep in the biggest box. Ok people, let me educate you. Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. John F. Kennedy was assassinated. Martian Luther King was assassinated. Michael Brown got SHOT!

A Force to be Reckoned With

Donald Tump is a natural force to be reckoned with.  Actually announcing his ambition to be president as much as forty years ago. His plan is, and has always been to reconstruct America in accordance to a vision instilled in him from an early age. He is at the same time a savior to his supporters, and the devil to his opponents. He's been in office for fifty days and the streets are just now beginning to see the end of protests to his election.

From the wall to announcing his thoughts on Twitter, The Donald has turned politics as usual on its ear. Hillary was a “shoe in” until she woke up on November 9th realizing that Trump was the real choice of the people, artfully filtered through the electoral college, a game she was consummate at, having learned it from her very own husband, but she was soundly whipped by what was supposed to be a political outsider with no earthly chance of winning. He raised political incorrectness to an art form making the class of people who suspect and distrust rich people welcome him as one of their own.

With over five hundred companies, critics are quick to point to his handful of business failures. He infuriates liberals to the point that they take to the public media saying the stupidest things that have been said since the Three Stooges. From claims that he can be impeached without charges to saying if he and Vice President Pence are BOTH impeached then Hillary would rise to the occasion as the real winner of the election. Promises by several celebrities to leave the country never materialized and even the Oscars turned into a hater catastrophe!

Through it all, Trump marched to the White House. From day one he began to make America great again. Still promoting his wall he unleashed ICE and simply allowed the agency to do its job. The flow across the border went down forty percent. Companies began returning to our shores or canceled plans to leave. He walked into the Oval Office with executive orders tucked underneath his arm and when his travel ban was struck down he just wrote another one. Even Paul Ryan had to concede there was a new sheriff in town.

What will become of his administration? Well, first he has to HAVE an administration. That's not an easy task while as he tries to construct his cabinet the democrats are acting like a bunch of little girls, and Obama tries to run his “shadow government.” In everything he's ever about attempted Donald Trump has never pulled back or slowed down, and this venture will be no different. He will ramp up the volume at every turn and if the Washington regulars are as lazy and indecisive as they've been for the last four years that'll be a big plus for the American people because Donald Tump is a natural force to be reckoned with.

Plain Talk

Plain talk about Trump politics confuses liberals. Straight out decisive action is hard medicine for the touchy-feely generation that rolled out the red carpet for the Obamanation. A huge campaign of misinformation flows freely out of their transgender toilettes, and our kids will  buy every word if not exposed to reality. This morning I was talking with a young black student and he told me President Trump wanted to send all the black people back to Africa. Where did that come from? And the boy had been fed this nonsense at school. He accepted this as gospel. You have to remember when you were in school. The teacher was the ultimate authority. I still wrestle with half truths and lies that I was fed in high school. How did Paul Simon put it? “When I  think back on all the crap I learned in high school, it's a wonder I can think at all!”

The student was also told that the proposed wall was “impossible.” I explained to him that the wall was but a part of the overall plan to stem the flow of unwelcome guests flowing across our spaghetti strainer border. Crossings are down forty percent as word filters back to Mexico that the welcome mat is now in the garbage and the word “ICE” on a jacket means exactly that! I, myself had to recently prove my citizenship in order to receive money at Walmart. All of these actions are spiritual bricks in the wall.

The ultra left shows its colors, and desperation when it tells students that President Trump wants to send all black people back to Africa. Even back in the sixties no one took that nonsense seriously. But, when you have liberal senators telling a press conference that the President can be impeached without charges, what do you expect? As we peel this onion the absurdity of the last eight years becomes more and more clear. Until his last hour in office Obama did everything he could to deconstruct America.

And the kids are growing up in Obama’s Bizarro world? They BELIEVE that boys are girls, borders should be user friendly, and Hillary is the direct defendant of the Virgin Mary herself! They listen to the likes of Whoopi Goldberg, and buy into every cockamamie idea she regurgitates. They have been told that the president can be removed from office by mob rule. They cheer on Black Lives Matter without ever realizing that by implication that means their lives DON’T matter. And I'm ashamed to admit it, but when students at the University of Texas, were asked if President Obama’s executive Order to suspend the Bill of Rights was a good idea they all agreed!

Obama sits in the Fürher Bunker trying to convince these kids that he is running a “shadow government.” Yeah, yeah, yeah, and Steiner is coming to the rescue! What you'll see is this insanity will run out of gas. President Trump is going to return the nation to a steady course by simply being normal. The liberals are wondering why Wall Street rebounded. Because the communist left office, that's why! People of wealth don't like their government being headed up by a community organizer. They like walls, and jobs, and pretty daughters. THAT’S WHY!

Plain talk, sound decisions and action will make America Great Again. It's been a long time since we saw that so it'll take some getting used to. Some will never accept it, and will forever on The View expressing their “view.” First and foremost we must educate our children. They cannot be led to believe that Obama’s world was reality. I'll tell you a reality I'd like to see. Didn't Whoopi say she was moving to Canada? Just couldn't leave that hog trough, huh baby?

It Helps To Have A Dog

I'm returning to writing. I got all caught up in the Facebook thing, and thought that was the trend, you know, live feeds, and all that, but the hate out there was just too much for me. America is a very unhappy place filled with unhappy people, and they take their anger out on just about everyone. At first I was going to just withdraw from the world, but that wouldn't work. I mean, I'm still gonna write. I got some calls about my five o’clock show, asking me to not give that up so that was the first concession I made, but I'm going to change the format. First off, no drama. None whatsoever. Gonna keep upbeat and positive. 

I'm going to make job one to turn out an article a day, except for weekends, I'll let the well fill on weekends. But Monday through Friday, SOMETHING, matter what. Nothing happens until that is accomplished and then everything else comes next even if I have to get up at three in the morning to do it. Then another concession came. I'm staying involved in a secret group. There are only seven of us, but we’re tight, and I get good ideas. There's an asshole filter on the door and I feel safe there. 

I'm going to absolutely dodge negative drama kings and queens, and I mean not even giving these people the time of day. Scott Binsack, Dana Falls, Amy Charron, the list is endless. I'm not allowing these people to rent space in my head anymore. I didn't know it bothered me, but it did when someone attacks my lifestyle, my family, or my good nature. I was going to write this book about Binsack, and was going to give the money away, and people went crazy. Falls lost her mind, even trying to say she had been involved in a similar project for three years. Now, there were many obstacles here. For one, she can't write a grocery list. And three years? That sounds like Binsack’s book, “Keeping It Real.” I could write a book on construction paper with a crayon in that time. You see, that's what gives writers a bad name. They sell word processors to idiots! I've written three books in the last three years. Two by accident. Write drunk, edit sober. 

Then there's distribution. They never considered that. What do they think? They will run over to Kindle and the world will beat a path to her door? After forty years I am just now going and finding a little surprise at the bank, and I do mean little. What do they have, a vision of Oprah hanging on their every word? Note here; Oprah can read! Then there's subject matter. Scott Binsack. This guy couldn't pull together a lemonade stand, but he impressed Dana. She thinks he’s Al Capone. He openly talks about his Mafia connections, naming names, and they think so little of him that they don't even slap him around. I hear about all these victims, but this small time shell game he ran was like robbing a gum ball machine! So, I'm sticking with THAT decision. I'm not writing that stupid book. 

Now for accusations and defamation. For all the people calling me a pedophile, unwashed drunk, or whatever . . . FUCK YOU! Did I get that right? Yeah, I think so. When you can video yourself masturbating in a motel I don't want to hear anything about my first wife! When you lost your medical license I don't need your input on my mental condition. When you're laying up drunk, screaming at me over the phone don't say a word about my beer. Oh, and while your firing up that pipe forget about my cigarette! Me and Pall Mall have a good thing going. 

Finally, I am refining my involvement with the public. I'm keeping some close friends, very close friends, but everyone else I'll hold at a distance. That's where the writing comes in. You can interact with a bunch of people and don't have to barge into their lives, and consequently they don't barge into yours. You can share a moment with thousands and never have to get all involved. So, an article a day, five o'clock show, kid’s show and Doc on Friday, Weekends are going to be just that . . . Weekends! I AM a writer, and what makes a writer is reflection. You gotta think! When you find yourself in a valley you have to give it the gas and climb the next hill. It helps if you have a dog. 

The Rabbit

If you're going to be a writer you must learn to pull a rabbit out of a hat.  Did you ever wonder why all writers are crazy? Well, there you have it right there. Writers struggle with trying bind reality and illusion.  I didn't set out to be one, it was put upon me at an early age. I was always expected to play a guitar and write my own stuff. My parents always supported me, it was everyone else that gave me problems. 

If I'd had my way I would have been a magician. Magic relaxes me, and I don't try to figure out he illusions because that would steal the magic, and if life has no magic, no mystery, then it all becomes mundane, like Belton, Texas on a Saturday night. I'm no good at magic so I decided to create literary illusions. It's the same thing actually. A magician pulls a rabbit from a hat, I pull a thought  from someone's mind. The results are almost the same, and like the rabbit, the thought was always there, someone just had to make it appear. 

No one will ever accept you as a writer. That's because everyone thinks they are a writer. They do not think there's a skill to it. I've met people who wanted to write children’s books, not because they love children, but because they thought it was easy, and anyone could do it. Writing is not easy. Many are called, but few are chosen. Just think about it. How many people have you ever met who weren't  talking about writing something? Everyone has some book idea in their head, and it always has something to do with their extraordinary life. Yet very few can actually pull something together. That's where he money thing comes in. “How much money have you made?” All writers have heard that. When you meet a plumber, does anyone ask, “How much money have you made?”

The writer gets paid in other ways, and it looks like a dodge, but it's not. How much money have I made writing? More than I've made doing anything else! Does that make any difference? Not one bit. If you struggle in the arts you will always have that. It goes with the territory. If you are going to write, and survive, you must derive a reward from somewhere else. When you learn to pull the rabbit out of the hat every time then the satisfaction of being able to do that alone will be your reward. When you get an email from someone who read an article you wrote three years ago, and they SAW the rabbit, that's about as good as it goes.  

In all likelihood you will never achieve fame, and fortune will always be just around the corner if you can keep the lights on, but if you're a writer, a real writer, this very adversity is what drives the words, and if you can put those words across then that, and that alone is your pay. The plumber fixes your toilet, and maybe you think about him once in the morning, but if you can pull that rabbit out of that hat your reader will see that rabbit again, and again, and in fifty years some little girl who was born long after you are gone will marvel at the eternal rabbit just waiting to amaze her, and that, my friend, is immortality!

Persephones Choice

The story of the Greek goddess Persephone is a tale that might provide proper guidance for the American people of today's world. According to the story, Persephone, the daughter of Zeus, was raped and then abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld, to serve as his wife. As the narrative goes, this was very much against the will of Persephone, and there were offers from other gods to go into the underworld to save her. Persephone, however, chose to accept her fate, and to rule in the underworld beside Hades, as long as he would permit her spirit to emerge into the world of men for a season, once a year in the spring to provide warmth and sustenance for plants, so that the earth might replenish itself each year.

In the last election the American people were presented with a choice: Donald Trump, or Hillary Clinton. Although Trump had little chance of becoming the nominee, much less the POTUS, the inevitability of Clinton as the democratic nominee caused his popularity to grow considerably. Eventually we had an election which proved, not who the American people wanted as their president, but rather who it was that we decidedly did not want.

Many readers may disagree with this, but to my eye this situation is analogous to Persephone’s dilemma.The Republican and Democratic parties are both privately held corporations. You may not buy stock in them, and they are not transparent nor are they subject to open records review. The only influence you, as an American citizen have over them is your one fragile vote; and as events have proven more than once, even that influence can be vetoed when expressed by the majority, by the Electoral College. In other words, the ultra rich who own those parties decide who will run, and who will win. Armed with this somewhat disheartening information, I believe it to be no great stretch to liken the rape and subsequent abduction of Persephone to the forceful violation of the American citizens by forcing a choice between a man who collaborated openly with the Russians to gain advantage, and the justifiably reviled mastermind of a global economy which has razed our own economy to the ground, and determined a future world in which American people will be sidelined. Segue to Persephone's abduction into Hell, and the next four years of our lives.

One might reasonably speculate that a strong and healthy Tea Party could have forced the Republicans to nominate a more palatable candidate: I certainly believe that to have been true, but, by luck, or by design, the Tea Party was raped and then murdered in broad daylight by super PACs chaired by attorneys who suspiciously had strong republican ties. It's even possible that some folks could be led to conjecture the possibility that the two facts, that the Tea Party would have strongly influenced the republican choice of candidate, and the openly amoral attack on the Tea Party, are somehow connected.

These events make it clear that Machiavelli was right! Divide and conquer he said, and, divided, we have been conquered. Persephone, when faced with the possibility of playing the role of Helen of Troy, and possibly setting off a war between the gods, chose rather to accept her role as the wife of Hades, while negotiating an important outcome for the world over which her kind ruled. An example of statesmanship rarely seen in myth, or history.

Now it is our turn to choose. Will we, as the spoiled and divided children we have become further divide ourselves until we are nothing but a mob, soon to be ground completely under the heel of our enemies? Or will we accept our fate, humiliating though it may be, and negotiate an outcome which, like all true tides, raises all ships in the harbor? Which will it be, will we continue to cry out to God “why me?”, or will we begin to live our Christian values. Setting aside those differences to which we are, after all entitled to by our own lights, and rebuilding a great America? Each of us must choose, and I say, let each man or woman with courage and determination, reach out to other Americans of a like mind, whether they be democrat or republican. In fact, let us shed those costumes, rented at such a high price, spit in the eyes of those who undermine the notion of a third party, and rise up. Let the silent majority be silent no longer. 

Sent from my iPad