"I'll Never Vote For Her"

Well, it seems like Bernie finally realizes there's no way he can win the nomination.  It was clear to most of us months ago.  A lot of his supporters will probably ignore the math, and some have said they absolutely will not vote for Hillary.

I kind of understand the appeal of "I won't vote for her."  I have voted for third party candidates before, who had no chance of winning.  Usually not in close elections, or ones as important as this one, but I understand the idealism.  Sometimes you really don't like the major candidates.  This happens every election, though.  Kucinich, Nader, whoever- what has your vote for them brought us?  Has it changed the system?  Has it really pushed the candidates one way or another?  Or did it, for example, bring us W?

Sometimes you have to pick the best option, not the perfect one.  No candidate is going to match you perfectly.  It's going to come down to a choice between two people who you may not like much, or at all.  Life is about choices.  You don't always get unlimited options, with one that is exactly what you want.  Sometimes you get a couple of crappy options- or a dozen crappy ones.  Then, you still have to decide on one.  If you decide not to pick, you still get stuck with something.  That's how life works.  So, sometimes you have to pick the least bad option, the lesser of two evils.  It's still better than the more evil option.   Honestly, what I hear right now is a lot of children, saying "If I can't get what I want, I'm going to sit here and pout."

As for me, if it's Bernie I will vote for him.  He's far better than any of the Republicans.  And if Hillary supporters refuse to vote for him, I will be pissed at them too, for the same reason- their lack of support could bring us a President Trump.

If you hate Hillary so much that you will never vote for her...  Well, knowing what we know about Donnie, if you don't hate him even more, I am appalled at your judgment.  The vehemence I have heard from Bernie supporters saying "I'd never vote for her.  I'd rather have Trump," sickens me.  If you'd rather have Trump, then you're an asshole.  If you'd rather do that to the country, you're an awful person.

I haven't heard the same comments from Hillary supporters.  They say "well, if Bernie gets the nomination I will vote for him."  They mean it- they know he is better than Trump or Cruz.  And I think I know why Bernie supporters are so upset about this- it's because they know he is going to lose.

You know why this really matters?  You know what the reverse of the Bernie/Hillary thing is?  I know lots of conservatives who can't stand Trump, and if he is the nominee they won't vote for him.  And I hope they don't.  Because that helps whoever the Democratic nominee is win.  That's how elections work.

Why On Earth Would Anyone Vote For Trump?

I'm still trying to understand Trump's appeal.  I mean, I guess for some people it's "Yeah, he's as big an asshole as I am!  We have so much in common!  I'm a racist scam artist too!"

I hear from seemingly-rational Republicans that the main draw is anger about the economy.  But "I'm angry that I lost my job, therefore I'm going to elect a lying bigot"?  The trade-off doesn't seem good to me.  Besides, it's not like Trump will be good for the economy.  Has being bigoted been good economically for Indiana?  How about what is going on in North Carolina right now?  Businesses know that looking racist or homophobic is not good for the bottom line.   Building walls and putting up trade barriers are two more iffy economic ideas- generally, isolationism and protectionism are not good for the economy.  And in terms of his personal experience... Well, he has made a lot of money.  But then he started off with a lot, and has under-performed the stock market, so maybe he is not all that great a moneymaker.  Plus he has bankrupted dozens of his own companies, and thousands of people.  I don't think of him as a good businessman; I think of him as a scam artist who started off rich and has gotten a little richer.

Why do I keep harping on Trump?  Why is it so important to me to have decent people running the country?  Well, I'm about to be a dad, and I want the country to be a better place.  I see a lot of nasty shit going on in the world.  I want my country to live up to its ideals, to be tolerant, to work for a brighter future.  I want to be optimistic.  Sometimes that means calling out the assholes, and working to make the world a better place by opposing those who would tear people down.  We can't ignore the bad; we have to deal with it.  That's been my philosophy anyway, but now I have someone to make the world better for.

Things I Don't Understand

--Why people think calling out police misconduct is somehow a damnation of all police. Most cops are good. Those who aren't should not be protected and coddled.  And if you are a cop and are rationalizing bad behavior, well, you're not a good cop anymore...  Seriously: you think protesting police brutality is the same as condemning all police?  Really?  Plenty of police killings are not protested.  It's when they shoot kids, kill someone who is unarmed, demonstrate clear racism- then there are protests, and they should be held accountable.

--Why people think building a wall on the border with Mexico is a good idea.  The history of walls (China, Berlin, Israel) is not good.  They don't work.  They are expensive and easy to defeat.  It's just another simplistic approach to a complex problem that makes a good soundbite (if you don't think about it too much.)

--Why ranchers think they are owed subsidized grazing. And that seizing government buildings and threatening violence is a way to prove their case. You look like a moron, with your conspiracy theories and shoddy understanding of the Constitution.  And I really hope you have to pay for all the damage you did to the refuge, and spend some time in jail to think about what an idiot you've been.

--Why some people think that theocracy would be a good idea for America.  It'd have to be their specific brand of their religion, of course.  I don't see how people don't see that that is un-American.

--Why some ignoramuses think a guy who doesn't understand the middle class or the poor is going to make us great again.  He knows nothing about us.  Or about much of anything, except how to make himself rich while bankrupting others.

--Why people think evolution and religion are opposites. They only are if you want them to be.

And that is the key to misunderstandings of Black Lives Matter, and to so many other ridiculous beliefs- deep down, you want them to be problems. You make them one.  You imagine that asking for fair treatment is the same as hating you.   You're creating conflict.  The Oregon standoff, evolution vs. religion; on so many issues, people want there to be conflicts where there aren't.  (Of course, there's a lot more going on in each of those situations, but bear with me.)

It's a cognitive dysfunction, common to people in general but very common among conservatives.  People contort and conflate things.    There is only conflict if you want it.  And why do you want it?  I question your motives- why are you not thinking clearly, or pretending to not think clearly?  If you find talking about race, or even mentioning inequality, divisive, then you have issues.  Apparently it makes you uncomfortable.  Ask yourself why.   We need to talk about, and fix, problems, not ignore them.  South Africa had a truth commission; maybe we need to do that.  Yes, talking about these things brings up bad feelings.  Why?  Because there is shit going wrong!

We live in a connected world, where essentially all information is online, and readily available.  And it is how you look for data, and interpret it, that matters.  You might have all the weather data in the world, but you still need to look at the sky and connect it to reality.  See what's around you.  You can look at someone's interpretation, or look at the raw facts and make your own conclusions, or combine the two.  Doesn't mean you will always be right, but you do the best with the info you have.    If you are pulling bad data (listening to Fox, or Rush or Glenn, or pretty much any conservative news source,) and if you are delusional/ dysfunctional in interpreting that data, you are going to come up with false conclusions.  Often repulsive conclusions, that have little to do with reality.  Even if you have good data you can draw bad conclusions.  If you start with bad data, you are almost certain to.