Guest Editorial
By Don Bitler | JANUARY 6, 2016
The establishment
Donald Trump and Ted Cruz battle it out if you believe the polls. However, margins between the other candidates means nothing with the polls now. Top two and bottom is all that is important right now. Eleven months from the election and over four until the nominee is chosen. Third place down means little if anything, at least at this time.
Donald Trump seems to have changed everything. The establishment GOP despises him. Now the question is is this good for Americans and America?
Not if you ask the establishment Republicans. Consider this. The “good ole boys” who make up the establishment are livid. They make no effort to hide their contempt for Trump. They are losing control which will mean billions to them. So they appear to be on a path to lose party control. They have chosen Marco Rubio as their “golden boy” choice. A rather strange choice since he was elected as a Tea Party candidate and they also despise the Tea Party. In essence they find repugnant any challenge to their authority. However, Rubio has proven to be easily influenced (controlled); therefore he is their choice. The gang of eight proved that shortly after Rubio was elected. The same was true with McCain and Romney. How easily Rubio is swayed is probably a good thing for conservatives to know.
Many conservatives as well as liberals have left their respective parties very disappointed and changed to something other than the two major parties. They changed mostly to Independents. So change is in the air and it is not fundamental transformation as Obama promised. Hatred of George W Bush helped Obama get elected, there should be little doubt about that. Hatred and mistrust of Barack Obama may also elect the next president which barring any unforeseen circumstances will be a conservative, possibly Trump or Cruz. Perhaps both!
Both current leaders, Donald and Hillary, have led nearly from the time they announced their candidacies. Not unprecedented, of course, but rather unusual for an American running for president. Hillary Clinton has so much hanging over her head, especially whether or not charges will be brought against her over her knowingly reckless use of a personal server in an illegal manner. That has yet to be determined. However it has already been proven she used bad judgment. And there are her constant untruths. So what effect will that have on her chances in the general election?
The ranking among the Democratic candidates is even less important and even appears to be only a matter of show. A pretend opponent is not a real serious challenge. The race (if it can he called a race) was over before it started. The “establishment” Democrats have determined it is Hillary’s turn!
The demonstrations taking place right before our eyes are interesting at least. Do we citizens really wish to rid ourselves of this seemly built in corruption of our election process? As with nearly every corrupt organization “follow the money,” takes all the guess work out of the decision as to whom becomes president.
Donald Trump without even trying has pointed out major flaws within our electoral system, that we all knew about but ignored. If we look closely enough we can and will see how obvious it is. In some way we must eliminate donations in all presidential races after the nominee has been determined. This must not be an option as self funding has made obvious. Of course those who realize money can buy a win even if the candidate is not the best qualified. Such a change will also have dissenters. Will the voters dissent?
There is also another major flaw in our system. Certainly if we choose to ignore these obvious problems the situation will devolve until we have lost this once great nation. We are presently on a corruption pathway to our destruction. Once we solve the money problems in our presidential races we need to address the lobbyist problem. But that is a question for another time. We have put too much trust in our elected officials thinking they would self police and remain honest. We were wrong, it seems; the temptations are too great. The attraction of money has become overwhelming. Not for all but many! We must not wait for Diogenes of Sinope to look for an honest man. But how do we recognize him if we do find such a candidate in today’s world?
It seems we need to relearn a once known very valuable lesson ‒ governments will, if left on their own, become corrupt. All must be watched extremely closely and have a system in place to remove those who are less than trustworthy and truthful. The duty of monitoring is never ending, but one of great importance.
America seems to be seeking someone who is not big government and corrupt. Someone who is not a member of the “good ole boys club” but a good patriotic, honest, truthful and trustworthy American. This is going to be a difficult thing to do but it must be done to “save” America and Americans’ values. That is the American answer! There used to be many! Can we find just “one” now? We all know they are out there! Can we get rid of the PC lies? Can we, all of us, realize we are losing the most important thing in the world, our liberty from corruption?
Donald Bitler of Scottsdale is a disabled veteran, retired pilot, published author and fifty plus year Arizona resident.
