Like anyone I know who might have the slightest modicum of intelligence, I and my wife, who despises Donald Trump, immediately recognized that Trump's comment about the Russians providing the FBI with Hillary's 33,000 missing e-mails was a JOKE. The media reporters and politicians who have jumped all over this, even to the point of calling it treason, are displaying what can only be termed idiocy. What minimal respect we may have had for any of them has vanished, but to think that the voters could be so misinformed by the media is most frightening. One of two equally disturbing assumptions must be true. Either the media are acting in ignorance, or they have found a means of dealing with the cognitive dissonance such an obvious conflict presents by forsaking any semblance of truth.
There is no question but what a Trump presidency would be a total disaster for our nation, but if the idiocy shown by the opposition in this matter is any indication of their ability to govern, I can see little difference in the end result. Of course, when both of our candidates have disapproval ratings near 70%, what else could we expect? It is difficult to believe that any moderately informed American could in good faith vote for either one. My fondest hope would be that a write-in vote for Bernie Sanders will save the day, although I realize the futility of my dream.
Another aspect of this situation that cannot be overlooked is the horror with which our idiots express shock and disbelief that any nation would have the audacity to interfere with our elections. Do they actually believe that our government is so upright that it would never stoop to do anything so low? The truth is that such a government would be driven from office if it did not, in the name of national security, engage in such a practice. Not only has it been our policy to spy on our supposed enemies, we also have been known to spy on our allies, as with Germany and Israel, which has been an embarrassment calling for apologies to both nations.
Then, if this were not enough to highlight the incredible extent of the sheer hypocrisy of their claims, are not these supposed students of our democracy aware of the number of countries whose governments (some of them democracies themselves) have been overthrown by our own CIA-instigated coups or actual military invasions? Regime change is an acknowledged component of our foreign policy.
This whole episode brings to light one of my greatest fears, and that is the loss of truth. From time immemorial, the axiom has been handed down that truth is an absolute necessity for the survival of any culture or social structure. It then becomes difficult to understand why history is replete with story after story after story of tribes, nations and even empires, often founded on a principle of truth, as was the United States of America, which have ultimately failed for lack of adherence to that one principle. I now imagine that many might consider such an idea to be a bit simplistic. The complexities of such failure are varied and many--so many in fact, that it becomes impossible to fully understand, with an accurate assessment, the whole picture. But, might it be possible to trace all of those complexities to an underlying, undermining and insidious refusal to adhere to that one indispensable principle?
It seems to me that most human enterprises of any kind, be they private or governmental, fail because of either coups or corruptions. Since any such enterprise will have placed someone in authority to formulate policy, it is certain that not everyone can be counted on to agree with the stated policy. Thus, it is not hard to believe that a disgruntled underling or cabal might formulate a plan to unseat the anointed one. "Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown," as Shakespeare wrote. We can be sure that behind every throne lie aspirants in waiting, and wouldn't one naturally assume that any plots for a coup would be kept in a most secret fashion, and would such a conspiracy not demand deceit with an absence of truth? Then, of course, with any successful enterprise comes the inevitable laxity that leads to a lack of oversight, which in turn leads to the tendency for some to become not only derelict in duty, but to begin the practice of deceitfully taking, for themselves, privileges and properties undeserved. This disease, commonly referred to as "corruption," then spreads to bringing down the enterprise.
Assuming that the reader might agree so far, you might be interested in just how I believe deceit or the lack of truth can be understood as a basis for most human failure. It is really quite simple. With the absence of truth, there can be no trust. With the absence of trust there can be no respect or love. Without either of those, brotherhood vanishes and human relationships crumble. We become alienated from one another, and ours becomes a "dog-eat-dog" environment in which every man must fend for himself. Please understand that such an anathema is contrary to human nature. As we have been told by all the sages of all the ages, truth along with brotherhood is paramount to our very survival, and tragically, we are closer than ever to their total loss.
Please allow the sorry state of this ridiculous excuse for an election to serve as a wake-up call to the distinct dangers we face.