How to Destroy the Republic

Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz. listens during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington, Wednesday, March 28, 2012, to discuss a Congressional resolution condemning the government of Syria for crimes against humanity and supporting the right of the people of Syria to be safe and to defend themselves. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)

Senator John McCain, a conservative Republican from Arizona, slammed President Donald Trump’s attacks on the media this week by noting dictators “get started by suppressing free press.”

“I hate the press,” the Arizona Republican sarcastically told NBC News’ Chuck Todd on “Meet the Press.” “I hate you especially. But the fact is we need you. We need a free press. We must have it. It’s vital.”

But he continued, “If you want to preserve — I’m very serious now — if you want to preserve democracy as we know it, you have to have a free and many times adversarial press,” McCain said in the interview. “And without it, I am afraid that we would lose so much of our individual liberties over time. That’s how dictators get started.”

“They get started by suppressing free press, in other words, a consolidation of power — when you look at history, the first thing that dictators do is shut down the press,” McCain said. “And I’m not saying that President Trump is trying to be a dictator. I’m just saying we need to learn the lessons of history.”

Imagine if President Trump announced that he wanted to oust California from the United States. If it weren’t for us, after all, Trump would have won the popular vote he so lusts after by 1.4 million votes. Trump just might be happy with the Calexit petition. Petition signature gathering for a “Calexit” vote was approved by the California Secretary of State on January 27. If approved by California voters it would begin the long, multi-step process for withdrawing California from the United States.

Read those 14 Characteristics Of Fascism listed on this web site and elsewhere and tell me Donald Trump is not on the path to creating a dictatorship.

Presidential Debates where the Candidates Tell Us Nothing About Real Issues

A bizarre three hours.

After listening to the second GOP debate you would think that the choice for president is all about who would have his/her finger on the nuclear button and who has been the smartest CEO. Trump says the leaders of other countries are destroying American jobs but offers no solutions (at least he has identified the loss of jobs as an issue).

Or is the real threat to America the Muslim world.

Republican presidential candidate Dr. Ben Carson said he would not support a Muslim as President of the United States. Responding to a question on “Meet the Press” today, the retired neurosurgeon said, “I would not advocate that we put a Muslim in charge of this nation. I absolutely would not agree with that.” He also said that Islam, as a religion, is incompatible with the Constitution.

On that Meet the Press program commentator guest Hugh Hewitt, who is also a constitutional scholar, pointed out that the sixth article of the Constitution specifically says that religion shall not be a criteria to hold any office. The end of the last sentence in that article reads, “but no religious test shall ever be required as a qualification to any office or public trust under the United States.”

The problem is that the voting public can decide they do not want anyone to hold office that is not a Christian. This is not a new issue.

We have a spotty history of bias against those who hold beliefs that are not held us (that personal us). Laws aside, the first Catholic to run for President was campaigned against because of his religion. Al Smith was the first Roman Catholic presidential nominee, and lost the 1928 election in a landslide to Republican Herbert Hoover. Influential Lutherans and Southern Baptist ministers believed the Catholic Church and the Pope would dictate Smith’s policies.

Source: Boundless. “Al Smith and the Election of 1928.” Boundless U.S. History. Boundless, 21 Jul. 2015. Retrieved 20 Sep. 2015 from https://www.boundless.com/u-s-history/textbooks/boundless-u-s-history-textbook/from-the-new-era-to-the-great-depression-1920-1933-24/resistance-to-change-188/al-smith-and-the-election-of-1928-1045-2231/

Much of those very same arguments against Al Smith were again used when John F. Kennedy ran for president. Americans were not dissuaded by the anti-Catholic arguments and Kennedy won. The 1960 presidential race was one of the closest elections in U.S. history. The popular vote was 49.72% for Kennedy against 49.55% for Richard Nixon. 303 electoral votes for Kennedy of the 537 total electors.

Anjem Choudary, a famous Muslim cleric in the U.K., in 2013 said, “Inevitably, I’m convinced, I’m 100% certain that the sharia will be implemented in America and in Britain one day. If we have enough authority and power, we are obliged as Muslims to take the power away from the people who have it, and implement sharia law.”

Chris Christy accurately pointed out in that last debate that the public wants to hear specifics about what candidates would do to help Americans obtain decent middle class jobs. Did any of the other candidates hear his message? I doubt it.

In my opinion no candidate in either party are worth voting for. None have proposed any specific actions they would take on any issue.

Socialism

When Chris Matthews asked Debbie Wasserman Schultz explain the difference between Democrats and Socialists she wouldn’t answer the question. Instead she chose to respond by comparing Democrats to Republicans. The question was again brought up on Meet the Press.

So even after that Hardball interview Ms. Schultz either was not prepared to answer the question restated by Chuck Todd or she fears the comparison. However Chris Matthews did define the difference in stating that America is the country of free enterprise that is supported by both political parties.

CHRIS MATTHEWS: “Democrats have had a record in this country for 200-some years of being for social security, Medicare, civil rights, interventions in the market, but not getting rid of the market. Clearly, they accept the power and the efficiency of a capitalist system. Socialists do not. This is a fundamental difference.”

Too bad Wasserman Schultz didn’t say that.

A socialist is someone who supports the political philosophy of socialism, which is a governmental system that advocates community ownership and control of all lands and businesses rather than individual ownership.

Bernie Sanders is an Independent and an avowed socialist. He admits it.

That definition of socialism forces me to not support Bernie Sanders for the presidency.