Friction Endorses Hope v. Hate (v. The Status Quo)
Bernie Sanders offers a vision of hope, based on the best of America’s New Deal past even as Donald Trump stimulates hate based on fear of the future. Given the Memorial Day just past in which we honor not war but the veterans of war, a reader points out the Politico.com story wherein Trump commented on John McCain: “He’s not a war hero. He was a war hero because he was captured. I like people who weren’t captured.” Trump received four student deferments from military service between 1964 and 1968, according to Politico.com.
Trump, the fear-mongering candidate, panders to vets and angry mobs. Just as he was too selfish to serve then, now he refuses to release his tax returns, which would reveal the ruthless side of the American Entrepreneur. The ruthless businessman turned “Reality TV show candidate” presents the New Mexican electorate on June 7 with a choice between a potential tyrant, Trump, and a vision of hope in the person of Bernie Sanders.
Hilary Clinton supporters vote for the status quo: support for the Wall St wealthy and right-wing war mongering. Clinton, like Trump, won’t release the contents of the speeches she made to the Bankers. The legacy of the Clinton years haunts us: incarceration of black men, welfare to work (starvation), the deregulation of Wall St and more war. Hillary and Bill destroyed the principles of the democratic party just as Donald Trump is destroying the republican party. Obama, a neoliberal, privatizer and progenitor of endless war is supported by Clinton.
Before you vote for “the lesser of two evils,” vote for “The Bern.” Send a message from the Land of Enchantment where the sun still shines despite the clouds on the horizon. Hillary gives “lip service” to issues of inequality, racism, and sexism, while passing legislation to enrich the rich, who keep the hoi polloi divided against itself just like Trump. A vote for Clinton in the primary means you’re whistling dixy and a tune the elite liberals love to hear.
Here in Taos County there’s only one candidate deserving of an endorsement: Gabe “The Good” Romero, who is running for county commission against an unknown, who, allegedly, doesn’t even live in the district. Gabe consistently sticks up for fairness and all the people, not just the few émigrés or down and dirty politicos.
The judgeship in the 8th Judicial District has been hijacked by a hard-working self-righteous former Deputy DA, selected by Gov. Martinez. His record of “unethical” behavior in office is only surpassed by the incumbent DA for whom he did the dirty work. This DA has rewritten the book on “selective prosecution” (call it “persecution”) during his decade and a half in office. Even as he transformed the judiciary into a safe haven for criminals, “la buena gente de Taos,” he trained judges and let any number of homicidal perps slide down the slope into the no man’s land of the lawless.
The righteous Judge (above) whose image suggests he’s doing a toothpaste commercial, and the DA, whose pious pronouncements contradict his actions, both epitomize the false pieties of the “righteous.” But the record of the DA’s office has undermined respect for the rule of law.
In northern New Mexico today the political customs of self-interest (selfishly understood) transcend the laws of justice, economics, and common decency. At the Town, Coop, and the DA’s office, today’s politicos appear to take their cue from rising Trumpism. Vote for Gabe and Bernie and feel good about yourself and helping out your vecino, contrary to the raw ambition of Clinton, Trump, Reyes, Bellis, Barrone, Gallegos, Chavez.