Aug. 9–Like Odysseus, sailing between Scylla and Charybdis on his long voyage home following the Trojan War, we are faced with a stark choice in this Presidential election year. Unlike Odysseus, we do not have the option of sailing between the two candidates; and unlike the Greek hero, who lost six of his men to the six-headed monster Scylla, we stand to lose a great deal more, depending on the outcome of this historic choice.
I do not think it necessary to go into great detail about the shortcomings of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. There have been oceans, galaxies, of words written on this subject, and that continue to be emitted from the nation’s press and other news outlets. Let me just point out a few things:
Stating the obvious: The Donald is a clinically narcissistic personality–shallow, self-absorbed, thin-skinned, misogynistic, racist, and avaricious. He lacks empathy, shifts his positions from one minute to the next, flaunts his weird hair, and is totally unqualified for anything except being a reality TV star. And despite his claims that he is “the only one” who can “make America great again,” there is scant evidence that he would even know where to start.
As to his opponent: Where to begin? Unfortunately, this just ain’t the Hillary of 2008. She, sadly, has been in the middle of every failed policy of the past eight years–especially during her four-year term as Obama’s Secretary of State. Let’s not rehash all the grave national security errors of those years, from Libya to Syria and more (which are aired daily on Fox News and similar right-wing outlets). This is definitely the most serious of Hillary’s flaws, and will have to be addressed as the top priority in an incoming Clinton Administration.
Now, as to the choice to be made:
Only One Option
This is really a no-brainer, however much one must swallow a lot of unpleasant-tasting reality. The fact is:
Donald Trump must not become President of the United States.
So, that leaves just one option.
Then the question becomes, how do we shape the incoming Clinton Administration?
And the answer lies in intensifying some of the already existing pressures and influences impinging on her campaign. For starters:
- Expand the drive for Glass-Steagall, being pushed by a broad coalition of Democrats and Republicans, especially Sen. Elizabeth Warren, and spearheaded by the intrepid organizers of the LaRouche movement. There is also extensive support on the state level, where resolutions in support of G-S have been adopted by numerous state legislatures; the issue is guaranteed to come up at the National Conference of State Legislatures Summit, now underway in Chicago.
- Increase pressure on free-trade pacts. There is already pressure from some of the same quarters, along with many in the trade union movement, to jettison the TPP and other odious trade pacts.
- Push for adoption of a pro-growth energy policy, based on fossil fuels, but especially nuclear power, with a crash program to develop thermonuclear fusion power. Leave the windmill to the Dutch.
- Drop the pro-war policy, and work to improve relations with Russia and China, etc., as Secretary of State John Kerry is already doing. Here, interventions from outside the tight-knit circle of Hillary loyalists is the best approach. Do such people exist? Yes, and Hillary knows who they are: They are the people whom she relied on during the “Russia reset”—arguably the high point of her diplomatic career.
Advice to Hillary–Don’t Let Your Enemies Play Your Profile!
- National sovereignty; not regime change. It’s well known Hillary reacts on cue when someone yells, “human rights violation.” While Obama’s regime-change witches Susan Rice and Samantha Powers scream bloody murder at every vulnerable head of state they’d like to overthrow, the fact is, there can be no human rights without national sovereignty. This is something that our Founders were clear about, when they fought for our independence from British imperial oppression!
- You don’t need to prove you have bigger cojones than any man. While embracing the idea that you may become the first woman POTUS, you don’t, at the same time, have to show how tough you are by marching off to war at the drop of a hat. Real courage is something else. Think of JFK’s war avoidance policy in the Cuban Missile Crisis (and his Profiles in Courage).
- Leave the “Goldwater Girl” behind. Bipartisanship is a good thing. Turning the Democratic Party into the GOP to gain votes is not. This is Clinton “triangulation” 2.0. Hillary believes she has the Democratic vote locked up, but that to secure an electoral victory, she needs the support of a significant number of Republicans (especially since the Southern populist Dems will likely go for Trump). Last week she met with Gingrich (a supporter of Trump). This week, she’s trying to get the endorsement of Henry Kissinger and Condoleezza Rice! And the endorsements of Warren Buffet and Michael Bloomberg don’t really reflect an anti-Wall Street, pro-working class orientation. It turns out that Ted Kennedy was right. You don’t need two Republican parties.
–J.L. Finch