A Recipe for Disater? Or a Time for Cross-Generational Hope?

This Presidential primary has all the makings for Disaster Stew. A Republican candidate who is bombastic, juvenile, rich as Croesus, mean as a junkyard dog, and as bigoted as they come. His rivals are not much better, just somewhat more polite, unless they are on stage with The Donald and then it's Katy bar the door. Cage fighting is more civilized. Mud wrestling cleaner, and cock fighting fairer. Talk about cock fighting...if you saw the latest debate, you know what I'm talking about.

How low can you go? And what is the appeal of an oligarch whose claim to fame is firing people, kicking out small businesses for his mega casinos and serial misogyny? And why am I even talking about this lout on my blog? Here's why. If Trump (real name Drumpf. Look it up) is allowed to win, he will be serving up major does of toxic slop to you and me alike.

Compared to that Epicurean nightmare, Moose Turd Pie is a gourmet delight.And don't be fooled; if any of these bozos on the Republican bus have a chance at the White House, expect to choke on your dinner for at least four years, if you even get any dinner. You could be deported, interned in some desert encampment or conscripted to be cannon fodder in a never ending "War on Terror." Never ending that is, until someone on one side of the conflict or the other pushes the button.

I'm not going to give you a recipe today. No Disaster Stew or Toxic Slop. We may all learn more than we want to know about that soon enough. I am going to offer my antidote: Get off your duff and vote. (I'm talking to you Democrats and independents; Republican go back to your Fox News broadcasts)  Not just in the primary, but in the General, whoever the candidate is. I'm for Bernie, no secret there. But I'll vote for Hillary in a heartbeat if she gets the nod. We need to build an ongoing effective coalition of progressives this year and beyond. The way to do this is for millennials and baby boomers to start working together now on a common future. If your guy or gal is not nominated, do not sit this one out. Do not cast a protest vote for the Green Party candidate. Even if you are a Green.

Think George Bush.Think the Supreme Court. Think Nazi Germany; yeah, go ahead, think it. The stakes are too high. The youth and us old codgers who were young rebels once ourselves need to join forces, organize, vote, and then hold their feet to the fire.If not, it's gruel for you, me and everyone else for the foreseeable future.

If, like I said, there is to be any future at all.

Democracy is Coming to the U.S.A.

At the County Fair this Sunday, I staffed the Democratic booth.  At first, the usual ho yum, yawn-worthy nothing happening day.  Then, we started noticing something. Kids were queuing up to play the "democracy game," something one of our members invented.  They would divide into teams, boys versus girls usually, or some might get a little coaching from mom or dad, but most of them (average age 12) were eager and bright, and knew most of the answers to questions like "Is the United States a constitutional Republic?" "How many stars/stripes on the US flag and what do they stand for?" and my personal favorite, "Does democracy require that voters be informed to vote?"

The creator of the game gave the answer of "SO True!"  meaning a real Democracy, a working democracy, needs informed voters.  However, most of the kids said "No," realizing as do most of you, I'm sure, that any idiot can vote.  

After I said there were no wrong answers to that question, I did my spiel on the importance of being an informed voter. But that alas, you don't need to know anything to cast your ballot.

Then, everyone got a kazoo for playing the game and joined in a rousing rendition of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic."

But the high point of the day was registering a young "Dreamer," a woman whose parents had brought her at age 6, seeking asylum. It took twenty-two years for their asylum to be granted, and their daughter, a real American, to become a citizen.   We were proud to register her to vote, and as a Democrat.

Starting out

I started young. At age 11 I campaigned for my dad when he ran for sheriff.  On the Republican ticket.  He did not win, but I was hooked, walking around wearing my LeMieux for Sheriff sign as big as I was. 

From there I went on to lose my campaign to be class president in seventh grade. But stayed interested in politics.  It was 1960 and John Kennedy was running for President against Tricky Dick.   My Mom was an avid Democrat so you can imagine dinner table talk during the Kennedy campaign. I was 12, and got to stay home to watch the inauguration on TV.

Somehow he wrangled us tickets to the Governor's Ball!  That would Governor Romney, George, not Mitt.  A Republican's Republican his son could never be. 

Then, there was that fateful day in November, 1963. I don't know if school was closed or if we just stayed home, but I saw Oswald get shot on live TV, and knew nothing would ever be the same again.