Monday, March 7, 2016

quotes

"I believe in aristocracy, though -- if that is the right word, and if a democrat may use it. Not an aristocracy of power, based upon rank and influence, but an aristocracy of the sensitive, the considerate and the plucky. Its members are to be found in all nations and classes, and all through the ages, and there is a secret understanding between them when they meet. They represent the true human tradition, the one permanent victory of our queer race over cruelty and chaos. Thousands of them perish in obscurity, a few are great names. They are sensitive for others as well as themselves, they are considerate without being fussy, their pluck is not swankiness but power to endure, and they can take a joke."
          ~E.M. Forster

"For a godless man, E.M. Forster had a profound understanding of heaven."
         ~Charlotte Henderson

Kurt Andersen, in an NPR interview on the prospect of Trump winning the presidential election:
"I think it would be a great American failure of a character test."

"Amen, Kurt."
          ~Charlotte Henderson


Wednesday, March 2, 2016

Please Vote in the Caucus. Please Don't Vote for the Donald.

The Kansas Secretary of State has declared his support for Donald Trump. I listened to his rational on the car radio, something about how both parties in Washington have made government more intrusive and we need someone like Trump to shake things up and get things done.

I don't doubt Trump's ability to get things done. What I question is what he's going to do and how he's going to do it. Nothing he's said or done has convinced me he cares AT ALL for individual rights and freedom. He opens his mouth and I hear, "I love money, power, and Donald Trump, not necessarily in that order. You're all idiots. Unless you vote for me, in which case I love you." At least President Obama is guided by his ideals. Donald Trump is guided by Donald Trump, Donald Trump, and Donald Trump. His astonishing march to the front of the presidential race is depressing, maybe even terrifying. If he gets the Republican nomination, I won't know what to do. I can't vote for him. I can't vote for Hillary Clinton. I might stay home.

Why aren't there any George Washingtons or Abraham Lincolns anymore? I wonder if people of that caliber are un-electable now. You probably have to be an egomaniac to survive (and thrive in?) the current political process.