Friday, July 10, 2015

When a Would Be President Tells the Truth

Normally I do not weigh in on politics on my blog because with few exceptions I find professional politicians to be terribly boring and tiresome.  My tongue-in-cheek declaration has been, for many years, that I will vote for the first one that actually tells the truth about themselves.  I meant this:  the first gal or guy who stands up in front of a microphone and says, "I am a power hungry geek who wants to loot the country and the world for all I can under the guise of giving a flat damn about anyone other than myself, so elect me for President" would be such a break of fresh air that I would vote for them.

Yes, I am aware I sound cynical.

I am also aware of Church Teaching when it comes to politics.  The Catechism of the Catholic Church states, in part, that:

2246 It is a part of the Church's mission "to pass moral judgments even in matters related to politics, whenever the fundamental rights of man or the salvation of souls requires it. The means, the only means, she may use are those which are in accord with the Gospel and the welfare of all men according to the diversity of times and circumstances."

She also states:

407 The doctrine of original sin, closely connected with that of redemption by Christ, provides lucid discernment of man's situation and activity in the world. By our first parents' sin, the devil has acquired a certain domination over man, even though man remains free. Original sin entails "captivity under the power of him who thenceforth had the power of death, that is, the devil".Ignorance of the fact that man has a wounded nature inclined to evil gives rise to serious errors in the areas of education, politics, social action and morals.

So, taking all this into consideration (my cynicism, my joke about truth telling politicos, and Church Teaching) I am finding it very hard to believe that anyone with a mind for Jesus Christ and His Church can support Donald Trump's candidacy for the Presidency.

Look, I am not saying you cannot support him.  This is a free country and by golly you can support him if you want - my problem is, I cannot figure out why you would want to, especially if you are part of the working class of Americans who struggle each day to keep their head above water, send their children to good schools and keep some semblance of joy in your life.

Now, why do I feel this way?

Is it because he has spoken so despairingly about Mexicans?  Not really.  I am a Catholic and a woman and a child of immigrants. I have heard slurs about my kind all my life.  The fact that another member of the power elite doesn't like an entire group of people based on the presence of illegal immigrants in this country does not surprise me or even hurt me.  In fact, I am a little surprised at all the hand wringing and wailing about this from some of my 'look at how sensitive I am' friends.  I mean, come on...this surprises you?

Is it because he is a several times married, documented adulterer, serial father and outright hypocrite when it comes to moral behavior?

Oh heck no...shoot, if that is why someone does not vote for a candidate we would have very few from which to chose.  A bigger group of moral reprobates you cannot find than that in Congress.

Nope - it is for a simple reason that I cannot support this blowhard.

He told the truth.

On July 8th, during an interview with NBC, Donald Trump stated that Jonah Goldberg's opinion of him and his ideas should be summarily dismissed.  Why, you ask?  Was it because the opinion was not well thought out?  Oh no, no, no! 

The reason we should dismiss the man's opinion is because he is not as wealthy as Donald Trump.

http://www.mediaite.com/tv/trump-steamrolls-nbc-reporter-takes-shots-at-krauthammer-and-jonah-goldberg/

Suddenly, in the blink of an eye, my old joke about a truthful politician became a reality.  Donald Trump stated what his criteria for determining the dignity of a human being, for listening to his or her opinion and for making the decision as to the value of that opinion - wealth.

By that criteria, not only would he not listen to anything I have to say about what I think has gone terribly wrong with my country, he would dismiss me as having any value whatsoever (unless I am cleaning his house, I suppose).

I am not really surprised.  I have suspected that every office holder in Washington thinks this way.  I have held out hope for people like Rick Santorum or Bernie Sanders actually caring about what the opinion is of someone like me but I have my doubts.  I hear a top contender for the GOP nomination say outloud how he determines the worth of a person and it just seals the deal for me.

He wants to be President for one reason - POWER.

Donald Trump, and I suspect all the other candidates because none of them have made his statement a rallying point, feels that people like me owe him our allegiance because he is a billionaire.

Now, to his defense we are a nation that slathers attention of men who become women and then pose in women's underwear on a magazine cover to protest being called less than attractive.  We are also a nation that breathlessly watches grown, overly medicated and surgically altered women throw champagne in each others' faces while screaming about how much they love their (probably) gay husbands. 

However, I really am shocked that the average American - in other words, people just like me - would let him get away with thinking that he should be worshiped and lionized because he is rich.  I am upset that the average American is defending his statements about illegal immigration when he has basically told them that he could give a fat rat's patootie about whether they like him or not because their net worth makes their opinion worthless to him.

Have we lost all sense of personal pride?  Do we not want someone in power to acknowledge, as acknowledged by The Catholic Church, that we possess an inherent dignity simply by virtue of being created by a loving and merciful God?  Doesn't a billionaire saying outloud that someone having less money than he has means he can ignore that person and their ideas bother ANYONE AT ALL?


Apparently not.

Apparently, Donald Trump thinks we are a bunch of sheep easily lead by flash and lots of glitter.


By the looks of the polls, he may be right.

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