Friday's Thoughts: Election, Gary Johnson, and Wolf Children

By Kit

I barely watched the two conventions, though I did follow them. This election already has me worn out and there are about 90 days left until it finally ends. Unless, of course, it is a tie —a real possibility— proving once and for all that God has turned His back on America.

But here are some thoughts, anyway.

Parties United?

Despite the rancor online and on TV the parties are rather united, though not as much as they were in 2012. The cause of the ruckus in Philadelphia this week was largely due to the fact that, because so few local, grassroots Democrats were willing to go against the Clintons, Bernie had to dip outside the usual Democratic Party reservoirs to find delegates to represent him in Philadelphia. He had to find men and women on the left who did not care about making enemies of the Clinton family, which meant nutjobs, amateurs, and nutjob amateurs.

Folks who probably would not have voted Clinton, or even voted, anyway.

But… there are problems. Namely that you have two candidates that nearly everyone, except for their core supporters, loathes. They are damaged goods and we therefore have plenty of undecideds for either to pick up between now and November.


The Russian Connection

A few days ago Trump caused a stir (when does he not?) by saying, “Russia, if you’re listening, I hope you’re able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing.”

He was referring, of course, to the 30,000 emails wiped from Hillary’s private server. The media pounced on his statement, one Democrat panelist on Fox called it “treason.” Which begs to mind what she considers it to be when a Secretary of State uses a private server to exchange thousands of classified emails, opening them up to every foreign intelligence agency (including the Russians).

Of course, as over-the-top as the reaction on the Left is, it’s not like Trump hasn’t given them ammo. Evidence of coziness between Trump and Moscow are plenty. Let’s just look at recent events, shall we? Around Christmas he was praising Putin as a “strong leader,” a phrase which in his mind seems to be the highest compliment above all others to pay to a leader (one wonders what he thinks of other “strong leaders” like Stalin or Mao). When he dumped Lewandowski he hired Paul Manafort, a man who spent the past few years helping pro-Putin Ukrainian dictator Then in the week-and-a-half before the most recent statement he said he was not sure if the US should protect the Baltics if they don’t pull their weight in NATO (unaware that they do), talked about lifting sanctions and handing over Crimea to Moscow, and his folks pushed the RNC to soften its language on Russia in the platform. Any one of these would be eyebrow-raising, but taken together they craft a very disturbing image.

If he had spent the campaign season talking tough on Moscow then perhaps the Left’s accusation would have no weight, but since Mr. Trump seems to have a massive man-crush on the tyrant, it carries a bit of weight.


Why I’m voting Gary Johnson —or writing in somebody

I loathe the two candidates. James Woods recently posted a cartoon depicting a Hillary speech as fingernails scratching on a chalkboard. Well, I feel the same way about Trump. I feel that way about both of them. As Charles C.W. Cooke posted on Twitter, "Whichever candidate wins, I think I’m going to destroy my hearing with a screwdriver. Four years of listening to Trump or Clinton? No."

And, as I wrote above, it’s not just the aural aesthetics of their voices that annoy me. You could probably craft a Venn Diagram (they’re in, right now). They have both spent their entire lives using the government to advance their own ends be it the Clintons handing out treats to businesses in exchange for donations to their foundation or Trump buying treats from the government, such as getting the local government to try and force an old widow out of her home to make way for a limousine parking lot. They are symbols of everything that is wrong with modern America.

About the only really good thing you can say of these two crony parasites is that they seemed to have raised good families, but so did Joe Kennedy.

Charles Spurgeon said, “When given the choice between the lesser of two evils choose neither.” There is no reason I should have to choose between voting for Kang and Kodos, and I won’t. I will choose a third option. Since I am in Alabama, my vote won’t count much unless Trump has found ways to blow this election in ways So, that leaves my options rather open. I can actually register a protest vote, and I intend to.

I haven’t decided who, but by November 8 (my birthday, coincidentally) I will have made my choice. Which means I’m probably going to vote for Gary Johnson, or perhaps I will write somebody else in if my state permits it. Maybe F.A. Hayek, granted, he’s ineligible due to being dead and Austrian by birth but his Road to Serfdom is a perfect summary of our current state of affairs.

If I was living in a swing state like Florida or Iowa I would probably be racking myself a good deal more over the noxious choice between a crony politician and crony billionaire* but I don’t so I won’t. Instead, I will add my vote to someone else. It won’t matter much, but I figure every vote for Gary Johnson, Jill Stein, or some write-in is further evidence that both our major parties blew it. Big time.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go read Lovecraft. I could use the pick-me-up.

*Still not entirely convinced he’s a billionaire.


Wolf Children

If you want something cheerier, I recommend reading my review of Wolf Children a week ago, if you haven’t.

LINK

It’s worth a watch. It’s a wonderful film. The kind of movie that stays with you and it makes for pleasant repeat-viewings. Not in the “oh, wow, I never noticed this before” way but in the way of the warm feeling you get when you meet up with old friends. All of the emotions; the joys, the sorrows, you never want to leave and I always feel kind of sad when I do because I wanted to spend more time with Ame, Yuki, Hana, and Wolfman. But I'm happy that I got to enjoy the company.

I feel the same way whenever I re-read Harry Potter, by the way.