Just Call Me Popeye-I Am What I Am

SIGH

Just Call Me Popeye-I Am What I Am

I DID IT!

I managed to keep my thoughts concerning the election to myself, for over a month now, after finding out just how much anger is out there. There are a lot folks in America, who would like to set the clocks back in this country, at least two generations, and who are comfortable with a climate of hatred and bigotry.

I am an intellectual...

I can’t help it, but like Popeye the Sailor man, I am what I am: I am an intellectual.

The word sparks terror in the minds of many, because it implies that my head is in the clouds. Because accuracy in reporting is of paramount interest to me, I must admit that that description works just fine for me, at all times. Unfortunately, it frightens others because their minds are tethered to the ground.

What does the Republican Party candidate project, that appeals so many American people, particularly the uneducated? He has that which these people crave: money and status. He has it-they want it.

It’s the Horatio Alger (1832-1899) approach to life. Alger was a nineteenth-century author, known for his novels portraying the rapid rise to wealth and power, of humble young men who started out as impoverished boys. 

The Republican candidate has made and lost billions of dollars. He’s good (?) at moving and shaking the money tree. Money rings his bell, money calls his shots and money is what makes the world spin on. He is a bully, and has no compunctions about shoving weaker people out of his way.

He ridicules those who are not perfect human specimens, including those with physical handicaps, reminding many of us of a certain 20th century dictator in Europe, who rose to power with a platform of white supremacy. Shudder.

No one supporting the Republican Party wants to align him or herself with Adolph Hitler, but what other conclusion can possibly be drawn? Intellectual or not, this isn’t rocket science. If you support a candidate who spews hatred and bigotry, you are this individual.

Of course, if you are this individual, then you are not reading this. I recognize that. I lost you back at the part where I copped to being an intellectual. 

That there is some scary shit.

Aside from his bigotry and hatred, the Republican candidate uses women as depositories for his vitriolic nature, both verbally and physically. Women are here for one thing only, and that’s a good time. The younger the better.

My skin is far too thin to engage in rhetoric with people who are stuck on hatred. I am into love. I love Annie, I love those near me, and up until recently, I thought there was love all around me. It is disconcerting, to say the least, to have that balloon popped by the needle of hate.

Unfollowing folks, who up until recently I would have thought of as dear friends, is just plain sad. I saw a post from an individual who recently moved cross-country; she and her wife were at a Republican rally, and she was gushing about how good it felt to be with others who shared similar values. The Republican Party candidate had even paid for their transportation to the rally!

I have never heard of hatred classified as a value, but it sure does make sense. Hatred, racism, bigotry, misogyny…I guess they are all values for those who support the Republican candidate. 

I am no fan of the Democratic Party candidate, either, but the reality is she is nothing more than a politician. The programs that are in place that benefit the little guy, even Republican Party supporters, will remain in place if the Democratic Party candidate gets elected.

I am a champion of the little guy. I hate social injustice, which I define as fifty million people, myself included, who live at or below the poverty level. The Republican Party candidate will not do anything for me, an elderly veteran, nor will he do anything for my Stage-IV, cancerous wife.

Finally, the Republican Party candidate will do nothing for this country except fuel the hatred.

There is ample gasoline out there and the republican candidate has an unlit match in his hand. Considering he can’t control himself on social media, how can we trust him with that match?