Spreading Hatreds

 

You can feel it on Twitter, Facebook and the other social media. Hate is one of the subjects which infect most of what passes for news these days. Everybody has their own side and many people have defined their side’s rules for membership so tightly that they belong to a club of one. Needless to point out, even those in clubs consisting of them and only them believe that all those who are not in agreement with their club of one are wrong. Do not dare to disagree with the offended ones, as they will call down a fleet of defenders to rattle your cage. Then you will become offended and perhaps call in your reinforcements and then the flame wars are on. For hours, nothing posted is safe from ridicule and insult. Even some chat rooms have become poisonous pools dripping with sarcasm and mean spiritedness. The reality is that people on all sides are growing less and less tolerant of others. As stated above, the worst amongst us have withdrawn to the point that they are now an unstoppable force of one.

 

Many blogs are far to the left or to the right. Each finds their niche and from that point, they are off to defend the realm from those who would tear down the ramparts and destroy all that they hold dear and noble. They are always on the attack taking no prisoners along the way. Too many blogs monitor their comments removing any which state an opposing view with too great an ability. This past election in the United States was the perfect example of how far apart the two sides in the free western world have grown. The leftist camp was all in behind Hillary and the right extremes were all in behind The Donald. Well, that was the official line as the media and the power structure in the United States is based on there being only two parties who share the chance to lead. If one were to scratch the surface and peek below, they would find a few more political parties with only a remote few well enough known that any might be able to name. A few of the names which you might hear when asking are the Libertarian Party, Green Party, Constitution Party, Reform Party, Communist Party USA, New Black Panther Party, Socialist Party USA and maybe a few others largely depending on where in that great nation you do your asking. We could go into the long explanation for why third parties have such an uphill battle that they will almost always not be competitive. Perhaps the real and historic reason why would serve better.

 

Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton

 

Once upon a time, there were two major parties in the United States. Despite this, the first President, George Washington, was an Independent belonging to no party. President Washington did not believe that the United States should ever have political parties. Washington predicted that political parties, especially once two parties became all but exclusive, would be the only ones with power to be elected to major office. Here is the comment in his own words, President Washington,

“However [political parties] may now and then answer popular ends, they are likely in the course of time and things, to become potent engines, by which cunning, ambitious, and unprincipled men will be enabled to subvert the power of the people and to usurp for themselves the reins of government, destroying afterwards the very engines which have lifted them to unjust dominion.”

Despite his opposition to such, political alliances such as parties, the first two major parties were formed during his terms in office, the Federalist Party and the Anti-Federalist Party which would become the Democratic-Republican Party and finally simply the Democrat Party. The Federalist Party lost power and was replaced by the Whig Party which later split on the issue of slavery resulting in the formation of the Abolitionist Party which became the Republican Party soon thereafter. Once there came to be some consistency in the parties and to consolidate power after the Civil War, the Congress decided to pass laws making it difficult for other parties to place their candidates onto the ballot for President and Congress. States realized the advantage to having set standard parties and followed suit making ballot access laws more restrictive also exempting the two major parties. These laws allow for any party making a ballot in one election an easier route thereafter for as long as they are able to post what are considered viable candidates determined by their reaching a threshold of the popular vote. Despite such, it has been difficult to next to impossible for any third party to show consistently in sufficient states to pose a threat to the Democrat and Republican Parties. That is the story of how the United States came to the situation where you have professional politicians who hold office for decade upon decade starting as their high school president and then city council, state legislature, mayor, governor on to the House of Representatives and then on to the Senate or maybe the White House. Rumor is that it is difficult for a Senator to become President though it appears to be an easier possibility for a Representative or a Governor and even a Mayor. This is why many political stalwarts are so completely out of sorts over President Trump as he is an outsider who has never held any political office and thus completely unfit to be President. Additionally, he never served in the military and was not a commanding general who accomplished great victories like Washington, Grant and Eisenhower. The politicians look down upon the business world as a dirty line of work unbecoming statesmen such as themselves and that is why they are so free with passing regulations to limit the freedom of those unfit and unworldly lesser beings in the business world whose only real source of assistance to society is the campaign contributions they give to those very politicians. Perhaps President Washington was correct in his assumption that political parties would lead to unscrupulous behavior by those who were designed to be public servants and they might instead become self-serving.

 

In many ways, it is that exact system which has brought the United States to its present state. In all honesty, most western nations have fallen into the trap of two and at most three main parties between which the lion’s share of power rest. The current speed with which the world is progressing technologically has revolutionized communications and the means and influences which news is transmitted has brought about changes which few if anybody could have predicted leading to making it possible for people to find what became echo-chambers where they simply only hear those things supportive of their views. This has led to many becoming isolated in their own cocoon with venturing out being considered a risky venture. Largely because of this effect people are no longer capable or even desirous of understanding or even knowing of views other than those of their side. This makes each set of cocooned people isolated and spending their energies and time isolated but warm in their pool of reinforcing ripples. Everything around them measures their views as the best and often only answers to today’s problems and everybody spends most of their time reflecting within a mutual admiration society. The unfortunate thing is that everyone has apparently sought out their own echo-chamber and all are resting comfortable in their warm pools of self-reinforcement. The one interesting item is when the supporters of the most divergent extremes desire to protest, they will find the other arriving to oppose their right to be heard. Depending on the location of the confrontation and the political orientation of the reigning politics, the ensuing altercation will be predetermined. If the location be almost any college campus, then the more conservative side will be silenced. Each major city will have different priorities and the police may be instructed to assure the two sides are kept safely separated or they may be instructed to allow or even prompt confrontations. The media will be equally divided with the usual suspects supporting their preferred side. The media makes little difference as they will mostly be read or watched by people already in complete agreement. Few individuals actually attempt to become acquainted with the facts, opinions and views of the other side or sides. The fragmentation of the population will eventually lead to one outcome; the political class will utilize the separates societal groups in such a manner to grant themselves unparalleled power.

 

Currently, in the United States, the two major parties are not that far apart in their views. The hierarchy in both parties desperately desire centralizing all power and decisions in Washington D.C. right there on the Capitol Mall. They have slightly differing views as to what should be accomplished with said power. Both of the parties desire a completely unified one party structure where all of the power rests with the political class. The scary part is they were very close and this is part of why even the political class of Republicans, the ones who have been in Washington D.C. far too long and believe they are entitled to their own policy making, are so put out by the defeat of Hillary Clinton by an outsider who not only is not part of the grand plan, but one who is set on disconnecting and undoing everything accomplished over the past half century. The political class was so very close to total power and control that all they required was perhaps another decade of the right people in the White House. But Donald Trump was the worst possible person to have win the Oval Office. Had Bernie Sanders been permitted a fair fight and actually rallied sufficient support to win the Democrat nomination, then perhaps he might have prevailed against Donald Trump and the dream would have continued forward and possibly gained speed. Hillary Clinton was all in on the continuation of the Europeanization of the United States. Single Payer healthcare is the largest individual item to reach that goal and is still in play. This is part of why there is a core of Senators and members of the House of Representatives who are mostly known as the “Never Trumpers” and are still working hard on forcing the single payer plan as the sole answer to Obamacare. This has been what was behind the failure of the former attempts to repeal Obamacare. These central Republicans fighting not completely to foil Trump, though that is a plus, but to enact the final point for which Obamacare was enacted, European style single payer healthcare in order to drain the resources of the government such that the United States will no longer be capable of a strong military and will become no more of a world power than Canada (no insult intended to our friends in Canada). There has been minimal consideration of what will happen to the remainder of the western free world when the United States can no longer project power. That will leave the world open for any rising power to attempt to walk through and expand their power until fortune or a rival power brings their expansion to an end. This was the exact situation when Islam first rose to hold significant power around the year 625 leaving the Arabian Peninsula spreading across the Middle East and North Africa as the Roman Empire had fallen and the Byzantine Empire was in retreat though still had sufficient strength to protect eastern Europe long enough for other powers to build strength. With Islam becoming resurgent once again, this would be an inopportune time for the Western world to become weaker and potential of being relatively defenseless. The idea of making the United States more European than Cowboy is probably one of if not the most shortsighted ideas of all history. But that has often been the way of the world, just as the world sits on the brink of reaching a pivotal point where a great advancement is apparently close at hand, the entire house suddenly makes decision turning themselves into a house of cards which tumbles down into ruin. Let us hope, pray, do whatever each of us finds they are best suited that the leadership of the United States are not as short-sighted as those of former empires which self-destructed at historically the least opportune time. Should the United States cease being the preemptive power and sole-super power, the question is what will replace them and what will that civilization bring to the fore. We can only pray that humanity and the freedom of the individual remains at the fore of those who hold the power in their hands because otherwise we might find mankind enslaved for all eternity.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

The Lens that Clears the Vision, Thomas Sowell

 

Whenever one sees an article written by Thomas Sowell one can safely believe it will be entertaining, instructive and likely to clarify to its crystalline essence whatever subject or conjecture on which he is writing. Thus was his recent article on his favorite subject, as he is a renowned economics professor, income inequality and why everything in life is not fair or evenly distributed. He writes on this from varying angles always providing examples which even the lesser and uneducated in economics will fully grasp. His example this time was precious as it showed two examples in one lesson, something he likely intended. Apparently somebody seeking high and low for inequality recently attached onto a new cause célèbre which is as silly as it is laughable, the uneven distribution against women at the highest levels of chess. To use another of Prof. Sowell’s examples, this is like asking why midgets are so underrepresented in the NBA or the NFL, as one would have to conclude there has to be some position they would excel at making them desirable. As Prof. Sowell makes as his main point, not that many women, especially young women in high school or college desire playing chess, not even the most nerdy (my observation), and you find largely male membership in Chess Clubs and competitions. My observation was the under-representation of females on the Math Team in my high school of over three-thousand students where there were two out of twenty plus members on the math team, including one reluctant me (long story includes threats of failing grades from my math teacher and faculty advisor to the math team), and we elected one as the team leader. Still, even representation would have required eighteen additional female students or cutting the team down to two boys and girls and being disqualified as each team must have eight members to compete. If memory serves me correctly, there were no girls, young women, in the chess club or on the team and, knowing the fellow nerds who populated these groups, these boys would have killed to have a young woman, or any woman, join their club and team and such a person would have been treated as a goddess or something close.

 

Professor Thomas Sowell

 

Anyway, back on subject. As Prof. Sowell makes clear, the top positions in chess are computed by games won and lost and against whom. I had an uncle by marriage who was a rated chess master with competition points and he never was able to rise higher than competing in local area and sometimes had qualified for state wide competition but never higher. We played a game of chess; he destroyed me eventually, where he commented that I had a head for the game and played a very disorganized but effective game. He wanted me to start entering tournaments and studying the game seriously. Anyone who knows me knows I take very few things seriously, even politics, and find amusement wherever I can find some. Yes, this presidential race in the United States should provide me entertainment galore, or will it be entertainment of gore? I expect it will be a mud-slinging contest with blood drawn on both sides and whoever wins will emerge a walking wounded with wounds the press will allow to heal or continue shooting at depending who wins. End tangent. Chess positions do not care what gender you are, what race you are, what religion you worship or even if you have a religion at all, they care about your proven record and nothing else. One gains points for every win even if it is minuscule as one would gain beating me in a first round match of the Northwest Israel Chess Tournament, if there is one. I am unranked and likely would need to find a more local tournament, say one from my apartment complex, all two buildings of it, or slightly larger (being in Israel I suspect there is a high density of chess players with any serious players). Should you be ranked and placed against a past champion and lose there might still be points, I am not sure how their ranking points are gained, and should you win there would be a larger number of points than beating little old me. So, if a woman, and my guess is there are many ranked women players even if few if any are in the top ten, were to amass serious points and rise in the ranking then she would rate entering the top level tournaments. This is where things get sticky as one might point out that since men hold the top spots, a woman might be on edge and off her game facing all male competition in a tournament. So what are the tournament managers to do, give her a tranquilizer to calm her, which would definitely be an egregious interference and led to investigations that they were attempting to keep her from winning. Believe it or not, they do not simply give women one-thousand competition points for showing up and men two-hundred-fifty-thousand competition points for showing up. They give points for winning games and only for winning games at the beginning and on throughout competition the big points go to winners and others, well, it’s tough when you lose.

 

As Prof. Sowell points out, life is full of examples of inequities. Jobs, wealth, careers, sports, and any other category one can measure even including numbers of the population and numbers of registered voters, both of which women have the slight advantage of fifty-one or two percent against men being forty-eight or nine percent. Women could elect nearly an all women Congress with at least three-hundred out of four-hundred-thirty-five Representatives and easily sixty-five Senators against thirty-five men. President would equally be a woman should only women support their candidacy. This is an important statistical fact which will be very important in the coming Presidential Election as if for any reason Hillary Clinton does not win the Presidency, it will not be because she was a woman and men did not support her as she would win if women and only women voted for her in high nineties percent so Hillary loses only if she does not win the votes of all women. And do not for a minute think her advisors do not know this as it is partly what is behind the “First woman President” sloganeering which is aimed at the whole of the population but is even more targeting women as with the women’s vote Hillary could win with almost no male votes. Hillary is counting heavily that she can win and force a high turnout of minorities, women high amongst them, and swing as many married women to vote for her despite their husband voting for Trump or third party candidates as splitting the household votes by gender Hillary can win hands down as she knows she likely has the singles vote in her favor. The Presidency is Hillary’s for the taking and if she loses, it will be solely because she was unable to convince sufficient women to vote for her and Trump somehow wooing these women voters. With the accusations against Trump and his public history of divorce and other alleged and some proven activities, he should have some degree of difficulty winning the women’s vote. His one saving grace has been that his hosting of women’s pageants and reality television without even the suspicion of improprieties, there is little proof of him acting in any manner other than respectfully over the years of such involvements. Any such accusations which may appear now seemingly out of the blue, they should be considered to be opportunists or politically motivated attempts to take advantage of his candidacy and probable desire to end such intimidations with minimal publicity. The problem, as we see it, is that even if advised to fold before such challenges as quickly and quietly as possible, Trump will be more likely to take these challenges on directly and very publically when he feels assured of no actual wrong-doing. As far as Trump is concerned, if he can win the suit, he can also play this as campaign advertising of his being above board and forthright in his dealings. This is something we will have to observe as the campaign quickens this fall.

 

There is another front that will be brought to the fore, the companies in which Donald Trump has invested and went bankrupt, some almost immediately. One need know about finances at the level that Donald Trump lives in as they sometimes are purchased companies which have assets or other qualities which are required by other assets. In such instances a failing company can be restructured and made profitable providing it can be purchased or merged with other assets or with a structured payment schedule to meet obligations and thus bankruptcy is a means of saving as much of an investment as is economically sound. These bankruptcies are an intricate and necessary part of investing and making the needed adjustment to gain a return on your investment. It is the same as when one buys a new car and trades their older vehicle as the down-payment. When would you trade in your thirty year old baseline truck which barely functions and has not been driven in ten years, in a regular trade-in or when the dealer offers that if you can drive it in they will give you $5,000.00 in trade-in? The answer is obvious and investments are exactly the same, you do what maximizes your return or, in a bad situation, what minimizes your losses.

 

It would be wise to remember that business is business and politics is not. Politics is all about painting your opponents as the greatest evil the world has ever witnessed. This can be accomplished easily with anyone whose life took place outside of politics as the political world is completely opposite of the business world. In politics it is all about looking at inequalities and promising the masses at the bottom you will give them monies from those at the top. This is due to the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of those at the bottom for everyone to ten at the top. A truth which no politician will tell you is that somebody earning two-hundred-fifty-thousand dollars a year is in the top ten percent and those earning over seventy-five-thousand dollars a year are the top twenty-five percent. If minimum wage is pushed to fifteen dollars an hour, that is slightly more than thirty-thousand dollars a year for a forty hour week, that currently in comfortably in the top fifty percent. As it is not possible to have even minimum wage earners be in the top fifty percent, what does one think will be the result? The result is that employers will invest in the construction of robotics to perform these minimum wage jobs just as Wendy’s has already done by replacing cashiers and delivery people from their burger operations and made it an automated system. Similar but less polished systems existed in the 1950’s and were called automat food stores and were big because it was in these years that the minimum wage was increased above the median salary for workers. When this is what happens and those positions which used to be below median salary are forced by minimum wages to be above median, then they will be minimized or erased from the job market as they become unsupportable. When politicians tell you that a company is making undue profit, they are spinning an evil tale that making profit, the driving impetus of all businesses, is an evil when in reality if a business comes close to breaking even and producing no profit, the seeming desire of politicians, then the entire operation comes under inspection and the weaker links are optimized, automated, or cost-lotted out to another company and the people in that department stand for some or all to lose their jobs. Business is in business to make profits and profits tend towards the top but all gain when the company gains as then there are more funds for salaries. All business models have a set percentage they denote as for salaries and the management is tasked with seeing that salaries remain within those guidelines. Often management is granted a bonus for keeping salaries in check and not exceeding their budgeted amount. Anything below budget will then be shared with a set percentage, usually under five percent, is given to the manager for keeping salaries below target. That is simply how business functions at all levels as the vice-president of a company gets a bonuses for keeping costs, including salaries, below target for expenditures, thus giving management limits and limiting managements’ salaries under their control.

 

On another side, when a candidate claims they can control government spending, especially a presidential candidate who is from the business world, they are ignoring an important reality, they answer to Congress as equal branches and not as president to underlings. Congress can adopt an agenda and has the power to overrule a Presidential veto with a two-thirds vote in both houses. Should Trump win the Presidency he will not even have the total support of the Republicans in the Congress and probably none of the Democrats so he will be facing an adversarial Congress and will have only one means of defeating an objectivist Congress, the will of the people. This was what President Reagan used and made possible with his common sense appeals to the people he made during numerous policy speeches he gave in prime time. We expect a President Trump would need to do likewise as his appeal will be dependent on the support of the public. The one thing Trump would have in his favor is that many people who may not have supported his candidacy and voted for Hillary Clinton or one of the third party candidates (leftist liberals all including the Libertarian Party and of course the Green Party) might support some even if not all of his policy positions and thus legislation towards those ends. Where I find Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan to be somewhat a slur, I would change it to “Make America’s Greatness Known (Evident) Again” as a better and more accurate representation as America is still the world’s leading nation despite the efforts of the past eight years. As far as Prof. Sowell might say, we need a President to bring all America into the best and most competitive edge over the rest of the world so America can shine bright again. The secret for doing this is actually simple; America needs to make everything using smarter and more accurate precision and the highest possible quality and dependability and that will place America at the forefront again. America needs to be amongst if not the best over the rest making America worth the extra cost because the product is worth the extra cost. This is why the majority of the world buys American military equipment and how Israel, Britain, Russia, China, Czech Republic, Germany and a select group of others manage to sell their military equipment. Israel triumphs in avionics and command and control systems for military uses while the Czech Republic makes some of the finest accuracy rifles and dependable assault grade weapons and Germany has a high quality main battle tank every bit as good as the American Abrams and the Israeli Merkava and Russia has the best fighter jets per ruble using less technology dependent systems thus easier maintenance. These are simply proof that when you make the best for a certain price range then you will own that market and America needs to reclaim some markets which though not languishing have been inhibited from moving to the next level by regulations and tax policies which do not reward such improvements. That is it plain and simple and do not sweat that somebody makes more money than you, work harder and deserve that money and you will find you too will advance. Sometimes you might even be required to take a different position in your or in another company for a little less or the same but that is just another opportunity to prove oneself and take off from there. After all, you only make master point in chess by beating somebody who already earned their own masters points and the better chess players you can best, the higher the points you will earn and it is all about amassed points and nothing else.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

So Many Meaningless American Voters

Up front we encourage everybody who has strong, honest, compelling feelings about who they desire to win the Presidency to vote in the November United States Presidential Election. Vote in person or make the necessary arrangements to cast an absentee ballot. If you have strong feelings about a Township, City, County, State, Congressional or Ballot Issue that will be on the ballot, go vote and be heard. If nothing else, everyone who votes is heard even if it is simply as a number in a column in some registry that will be recorded for posterity, in this way your vote holds immeasurable value. But let us be rational and honest here. The vast majority of Americans voting in the Presidential race are casting votes which will have absolutely negligible if any impact on the election. If you live in the District of Columbia, Maryland, Massachusetts, or any number of true through and through Democrat bastions and you are voting for anybody other than the reelection of President Obama, you are wasting your time more than likely as these states are not in doubt. On the other hand, if you live in Texas, Oklahoma, Wyoming or any of the dyed in the wool Republican Strongholds, your voting for anybody other than challenger Mitt Romney is going to be meaningless.  By meaningless is that it will have absolutely no effect upon the final Electoral College vote. Sure, if Romney breaks 45% in Maryland or Obama breaks 45% in Wyoming, that will make news and there will be talk about how no State is truly out of the running and how candidates cannot take any State for granted, but that will be the limit of such a result. Such anomalies will be useful only to those of us writing editorial columns to use to denigrate the victory as being so very close and how the candidate could have lost or does not have such a mandate, but other than such posturing it will not make one whit of a difference.

 

None of this is of any surprise to most of us and is kind of liberating to an even smaller group. Among this small group are those who will be pounding their chests about their brave vote for some third party candidate and how they fought bravely against the two party monopoly. Humor them though I have a feeling there will be a greater number of such people this time around. It will not change the end result but it does mean there is some hope of real change coming. Some of us have felt this coming change for a while though not in sufficient strength to actually matter. Hopefully, that may be in the wind and blowing closer every day. There are two groups in our society who may be on the vanguard of such a change. One group are the true believers who may have thought the Occupy Wall Street Movement was the start of a new vision for the future. The other group is the combination of the Tea Party and the 9/12 Movement who are currently attempting to bring about change through the Republican Party and either will take over the leadership of the Republican Party or we may see the birth of a new political force named The Tea Party. But for this election, that day has yet to arrive. Despite the fact that this election will remain as a choice between the Democrat incumbent candidate and the Republican elite chosen candidate, the first election where a sea change may sweep in and surprise the establishment elite has begun as a small wave, a little swell in the middle of the ocean, but that swell, like its counterpart in nature, will possibly become a tsunami as it comes closer to fruition and crashes onto an election day shorefront in the near future. As many know, the two established parties have rigged the system so as to minimize any challenge to their preeminence and made the successful formation and election of a candidate from outside their ranks extremely difficult. There is evidence that there exists a large and growing number of Americans who have simply had all they are going to take from the corrupt two party system where a small elite cabal controls the path to election victory and power. The masses are growing restless and that can forge a new path to office and a new set of rules where for the time being the people’s will is heard and refuses to remain stifled.

 

In the near future we have the Presidential Election this November and a campaign in full swing. We will hear on the news almost nightly what one candidate or the other said today at some rally or in a press release or in response to questions from the press at a conference or when pressed at an appearance. Of course, depending on which news source you view, the slant will favor one candidate or the other. For most of us everything we hear will simply echo how we feel as most people tend to watch the news reports from people who share their views whenever possible. This trend has grown even more intense with the flood of choices between the internet and cable and satellite news sources providing both a wider range of choices and allowing a personal choice that is very tailored to one’s views. This has had two related affects upon the voting public. The first is new people often are so isolated into their particular viewpoint and do not receive any news or information which is contrary to their own viewpoint that they may actually start to believe that everybody believes as they do as they seldom if ever have cause to interact with news or people who hold differing views. This leads to the other effect which is an inability to understand or accept any results which are contrary to one’s seemingly universally held positions as such results run contrary to everything they have seen, heard or discussed with others. This is much of the reason why the American society has become so polarized and partisan. Most everyone has the ability to live in a closed world where everything with which they interact is a reflection of their beliefs and views. Some claim that this phenomenon is very debilitating as it secludes people from dealing with opposing views and leads to a more isolated existence insulating one from new or different ideas thus causing a kind of political and social tunnel vision. This is often exhibited by people expressing complete bewilderment when confronted with results from elections and such which are diametrically opposite of those which they expected. You will know you are witnessing such when you hear somebody claim, “This makes no sense because I do not know anybody who would have supported this.”

 

The most obvious side effect of this phenomenon is that the candidates for President only end up campaigning in those select States where the outcome is not yet a guaranteed known. President Obama is not going to waste his time attempting to gain a majority of the voters in Oklahoma or Wyoming as they are two of the most conservative States. Likewise, Mitt Romney is not going to spend much time in Massachusetts or Maryland as this would be a waste of his resources. What is possible is each candidate making appearances in States they already know they are going to win for two basic reasons. The first is they are guaranteed a huge turnout of wildly supportive and friendly crowds which will play well on the nightly newscasts. The second is that even though a Candidate is guaranteed to win a particular State, you do not want your supporters to think that you are taking their support for granted; you will want to spend some time, energy and resources as thanks for your support events in these places. To figure out which States are the ones where it is very possible that every single vote will be acutely important, just observe which States where both candidates spend the majority of their time, campaign appearances, advertising dollars, and have every locally known celebrity and politician hitting the stump for them and, of course, appearing with them giving laudatory speeches and introductions. The one advantage for those who do not live in what is called a swing state is that they do not have to suffer through the final ten weeks push with endless campaign commercials on their local television and radio networks. The local politicians usually only have sufficient funding for two or three weeks of such heavy hitting the airwaves while national candidates have not only their funding for commercials, there are Super PACs (Political Action Committees) running advocacy advertisements which are actually candidate ads carefully camouflaged in order to get around campaign laws and restrictions.  So, if you live in one of the swing states, you have our sympathy as you endure the last few weeks of being berated and barraged by campaign glitter, and the rest of you, enjoy the quiet and do check and see who it is that your fellow voters are going to choose so you do not get caught claiming, “Who won? How? I don’t know anybody so idiotic as to vote for them!” The rest of us will appreciate not having to explain and you very likely do not want to know why or how, just accept that they did win, even without the votes of anybody you know.

 

Beyond the Cusp