I’m having trouble understanding the Trump “derangement syndrome.” This syndrome seems to occur when a President other than a Democrat is elected. The syndrome was rampant during the Bush Presidency, manifesting as an unhinged reaction of liberal-progressive-Democrats to a Republican in office. Apparently, the same irrational panic, hatred and visceral emotions are again surfacing.
I can understand the media’s apoplexy because they’ve been discovered and rendered irrelevant. They spent four months trying to destroy Trump and they couldn’t, and now 70% of Americans say the media can’t be trusted. Try getting 70% of Americans to agree on anything. The NY Times is the standard bearer of the media, and in desperation recently plead mea culpa and apologized to it’s readers for lying to them. But all the major media and most pollsters lied to America, and continue to do so. Their immediate soul searching will soon pass and they’ll soon return to blaming stupid Americans for electing a Republican and their loss of power.
These same purveyors of the “big lie” now whine that Trump took his family out to dinner in NY and didn’t tell them. They complain Trump doesn’t let them fly on his airplane, and he hasn’t held a press conference since the election. Hillary Clinton didn’t hold a press conference for more than 260 days during her Presidential bid.
I feel sorry for those who were duped by the Grey Lady and other media propagandists. However, the hysteria is beyond: a CEO threatens to murder Trump on social media and loses his job; Cher says she’s leaving the planet – she left long ago; anarchists lead deranged millennials to destroy property and rant like three year olds in a tantrum; traumatized “snowflake” collegiates are given coloring books and Play-Doh to calm them; while counseling, hot coco and therapy dogs are made available to soothe their tears. I recommend these Peter Pans at campus cry-ins be introduced to Skeeter Davis’ The End of the World, and then be given the counsel of Pat Summitt, “Toughen up buttercup.”
I wish I could think about medicine again, but these are momentous times and the election is still on everyone’s mind. There’s even an on-line referendum demanding that on December 19, the College of Electors ignore the Constitution and vote for Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump. The argument is that Clinton won the popular vote and should be President. Perhaps she did garner more votes, but she lost the majority of states, and when illegals are finally tallied and excluded, she may have lost the popular vote. The Founders set up elections in the various states to give voice to ALL the people. Without the Electoral College, the President would be chosen by populous states like California, New York, and Texas. Candidates would ignore people in Tennessee, Wyoming and Wisconsin because their votes would be largely irrelevant.
As a boy I was a big NY Yankees fan and I remember the 1960 World series between the Yankees and the Pittsburgh Pirates. For many years I had a Bill Mazeroski baseball card showing his walk-off grand slam home run to win game seven. The series was unusual because the Yankees scored twice the number of runs as Pittsburg. However, the Pirates won four games out of seven and became World Champions. The Yankees didn’t whine that the rules of baseball were unfair and must be changed to give them the Championship. My response to whining Democrats, who want the rules changed after the election, is change the Constitution. It has been changed twenty-seven times previously.
The word democracy comes from the ancient Greek words demos (people) and kratia (rule). The first democracy was in ancient Greece, but only men eighteen years and older could vote. Women had no suffrage and were treated as chattel – the same as they are treated in Muslim countries today with sharia law. And infanticide and slavery were accepted practices.
The Founders of our country were afraid of democracy because 51% could terrorize the minority, as they often did in Ancient Greece. As a result our wise forefathers set up a representative republic, a system of government predicated on the rule of law. You begin to see why everything breaks down if the people or their leaders refuse to follow the law (the Constitution).
The alternative media and the internet are replacing the traditional “news” services who long ago sold their souls to the devil. These so-called “journalists” now beg forgiveness and ask us to again trust them. Trust is earned and they have not earned our trust. Most of us have heard the story The Devil and Daniel Webster. Did you know this 1934 story was based on Washington Irving’s story The Devil and Tom Walker, which itself is based on the German legend of Faust? I believe in forgiveness because we have all fallen from grace. However, I don’t believe even Daniel Webster could save the soul of traditional media.
We are in the midst of a “new American revolution.” This is true of politics, but is also true of education. The internet is a powerful investigative and learning tool. It must not be controlled by the government, Google or FaceBook. Of course I believe in safeguards to protect children, but not at the expense of our freedom. I highly recommend two educational videos for your reflection. Both are on YouTube. The first is entitled The Five Basic Forms of Government. The second is under the heading Praeger University and discusses The Popular Vote vs. the Electoral College.
Of course the internet can present false facts. However, that’s where your responsibility as a free citizen begins. All facts are conditional as I’ve discussed in previous essays. A compendium of facts is knowledge. Interpreting and using knowledge wisely is wisdom and may bring us to the doorway of truth. I trust Americans to use their common sense and virtue to sift and parse facts. I don’t trust Obama, the New England Journal of Medicine or anyone else to tell me what is truth.
Someone needs to tell the snow-flakes it’s not The End of the World. I believe in our Republic and the decency of Americans. I reject the moniker of racist, homophobe and unChristian as alluded to by the folksy columnist at the News Sentinel. And if I’m labeled “deplorable” because I voted for Trump, then I’ll stand next to my wife who IS a patriot and a plum of a deplorable.
