The "Trump" Thing.....

It's past time to believe that Trump doesn't have a chance to be the Republican nominee for president. In fact, it's MUCH more likely than not that he will win the delegates to become face of the GOP in November. How do I feel about that? A little bit "weirded" out by it, but mostly, I'm on board with his being the nominee. The GOP and frankly, the country has it coming. It's what we want. It's what we deserve. 

Look, we can't have a hateful, angry, and deceiptful political climate that is allowed to flourish in Washington DC and act like we (the voters, the American people) are not the biggest part of the problem. We refuse to wake up. Well, some of us have. You can read back about 5 years through this blog and know that I've been preaching on how much trouble we are in for awhile. It's our fault. How? Because we have treated our political parties like they are teams we root for. The country is just a big game and the Republicans and Democrats are the teams. We love our team so much we become apologists. We hate the other team so much that we demonize the people in it, regardless if its' supporters, candidates, or "leaders" seem to want to do things that may be in the nations best interest. We punish those that may want to help, by demonizing them simply because they don't wear the same color we do. To be able to hold our people in office to a standard, we should be that standard. Instead, we watched Honey Boo Boo, the Dumb Fuck Dynasty, Real Housewives, and Survivor until we ruined any sense of decency, dignity, or respectability. People have absolutely no respect for anyone else (especially those that disagree with us) when it comes to listening to an opinion. We have killed off debate. We have killed off being open to new ideas.

The only way I could be happier with what is happening with the political climate this year is if Sanders becomes the Democrat nominee. These two parties need an enema, and we need to take a look at who we are and what we expect our leaders to be going forward. What we have right now, is what we want. A loud mouthed, alpha male bully and a two-faced, elitist criminal. An enema for the parties? Hell, what we really need is total collapse. 

Trump has risen because there is a growing segment of our population that is tired of the people they vote for not doing what they say they are going to do or at best, not even trying. Any Republican that cares or votes regularly should be angry about the lies they have been told by their candidates for the last 20 years. Ideally, conservatives should support the individual liberties of the citizens. They should not support our military being used for nation building. They should not be OK with healthcare, war, and education being insanely "for profit" enterprises for major corporations. A real conservative would demand that the leadership attack the size of government, including the role government can play in controlling our everyday lives. A real conservative would demand that federal programs (and even a non-federal entity like the Federal Reserve) be audited and investigated  from time to time to eliminate fraud, waste, and the misuse of tax payer money. Not to mention the Fed controlling our money, but not being accountable for it. Stop trying to get involved in everyone's bedrooms and personal lives. Stop stifling civil rights. Stop trying to push the nation towards theocracy and using a 2,000 year old book as a template for foreign policy. Those are the things that conservatives should be thinking about. The so-called conservative leaders that people keep voting for are definitely NOT conservative. They are social fascists that spend more time trying to retain power and strip rights from others than they do dealing with the collapse of our healthcare, economy, and educational system.  

The hate heaped on Bill Clinton, and I remember it well, pale's in comparison to what happened to George W Bush and Barack Obama. The outright hatefulness of our nation has been on display for 24 years and we are now paying the price. We believe it's our duty to shout down the opposition. We now believe it's our right to take away the rights of others if we disagree. The mealy mouthed politician that says one thing and does another is the norm, not the exception. The weak way congress has approached problems, by tacking on lines to bills that have nothing to do with the subject so they can make some fat cat somewhere happy, has caused delay in action and most of the time it causes inaction or at the very least a weak stab at working out a problem. 

Which, now leads me to "The Donald". He is everything that the hard core GOP voter wants, but for some reason, they hate him. They say he's not a conservative. Well, as I outlined above, there are not many conservatives left, or at least they now call themselves libertarian (as this writer is prone to do) and the people who THINK they are conservatives are going ape shit crazy hating Donald Trump. Why? He is offering everything they want and he's doing it in a way that should be right up their alley, yet they back the establishment. The very people, like Cruz, Romney, McCain, Graham, Bush, and Rubio, who have paid lip service to conservatism are the ones they will support to the death. They are the haters of Obama who will pull out all the stops to tell you how socialist Obama is or how he is coming after their guns....or how his wife is really a man, or how he is really a Muslim. The same kind of shit they vomit on Obama is in essence the same kind of stuff they are spewing at Trump. THEY are the hateful ones. THEY are the ones that want to stifle freedom. It's team politics, the nation be damned.

Who is Trump and how do his views line up with the modern conservatives? 

Trump has a strong view on Mexican immigration and wants to fund the building of a wall by imposing a tax on imported goods from Mexico.  Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

Trump is firmly and without apology a supporter of no changes to the 2nd amendment (gun ownership). Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

Trump wants to pour more money into the military and says he will destroy ISIS. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

He wants to defund Planned Parenthood and is anti-abortion. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

He wants a firm debt limit. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

He wants to destroy the trade deficit (which has been overseen and brought on by both parties for decades, killing middle class manufacturing jobs) and make it smart economically for manufacturers to being jobs back to the US. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

He wants to teach citizenship to school children and encourage competition between schools to gain students. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

He wants to either cut into the EPA's budget or eliminate it. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

He wants to kill Obamacare and allow health care savings accounts. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want?

He says he is a Christian and by the accounts of his family and friends, he doesn't drink or smoke. Or do cocaine. Isn't that what the so called conservatives SAY they want out of a leader?

Do you get the picture? Now, you can say "Well, some of the issues he has changed on and I don't trust that he's a real conservative." OK, so what in the past 20 or 24 years have you seen that leads you to believe that any of those things have been worked towards by the status quo politicians you keep voting for that are bought and sold by major multi-national corporations and special interests? Basically, people want to keep rooting for their team and even though Trump says all the things they should be wanting to hear, they can't let go of the status quo. They can't stop hating the opposition or being apologists for their own team long enough to see they are really being duped and taken for granted.

Do not take ANY of this as some sort of endorsement of Donald Trump. My reasons for wanting him to win are not that I necessarily believe what he says (although I have agreements in areas like trade and the scope of government), but it's about repairing our system. I am a supporter of Gary Johnson and will remain a voter for the Libertarian Party until I have a reason to move in another direction. The only mainstream candidate I would truly consider would be John Kasich, although I have a soft spot for what Bernie is trying to do. He is trying to open a dialogue about our damaged educational and healthcare systems. A dialogue that we need to be adults about and need to start considering if the richest nation in the world should be sliding into the teens and twenties when talking about rankings world-wide in those two areas. It's a disgrace and he will talk about it on a wildly different level, even if his grandest plans are not attainable at this point in time. 

If someone was serious about helping this country, they would want Trump to win and for the GOP to unravel. The Dems need it too, but the topic front and center right now, is the GOP. Trumps voters are attracted to him for what is probably a myriad of reasons, but one of the chief components, in my opinion, is his alpha male leadership quality. He's not spitting out a bunch of mealy mouthed rhetoric, designed to protect his words from being parsed by voters or the media. He is stating things plainly and directly. He's not asking the "tribe" to pitch in and help, he's telling you his going to take care of the problems. He is direct, assertive and without apology and that makes him seem like a very strong man that can be relied upon. Our country is at a crossroads. Many of our citizens are concerned about the future. They are scared of what is happening and uncertain about the future or about what can be done. Trump has tapped into that. In some ways, much like Ross Perot did in 1992. Many Republicans were fed up with George Bush and Perot gave them a simple speaking, direct alternative. Perot spoke like a man that would take charge and lead the nation and many Republican voters left him and some left the party for good, helping Bill Clinton win a 2nd term and turning the nation 50/50 on presidential politics. Trump is running that same game, but it's at a volume of 11. 

The GOP needs to burn. It needs to splinter. The established leadership has gotten too comfortable, just like the Democrats have and it's ruined our nation, divided us as a people, and aided in making us a large group of narcissistic "me" monkeys that have little regard for anything other than their own instant satisfaction. Our ego, as a nation, is out of control. We no longer want to "Walk softly, but carry a big stick" as Theodore Roosevelt viewed our role in the world. We want a big cannon and we want to dare someone to look at us wrong so we can flex our nuts and impose our will. The past two weeks have been epic. I love seeing the party I once voted for and supported coming unhinged. They left me and many others behind. They are showing out to be who the Democrats said they were; cheating, manipulating, do nothings. All of this open talk of changing the rules before the convention (which is perfectly legal, up to one day before it begins, due to the rules drawn up by party establishment), actual collusion between the other candidates, and the mocking of his voters are only going to strengthen the resolve of those supporters and I believe it's going to bring him new supporters. He is making some heads explode and for better or worse, that's not a bad thing. The GOP establishment has been exposed, not by Trump, but by themselves. They have come out of the shadows to pull their monkeyshines and there is no way that the more astute and honest GOP voter can feel good about it. These are people that are going to punish status quo politicians and there are actually new people coming out to vote. The GOP turnout and registration rates are sky rocketing above the Democrats and it's largely due to Trump.  

We need a new system. The two party thing is broken and it may have corrupted and damaged our nation to the point of no return. We need political revolution and I hope it's close for the sake of future generations on this planet. I believe Ross Perot was conception. The Tea Party/Occupy Wall Street movements were the heartbeat and now Trump is the kicking baby. Let the party splinter and hopefully the establishment can go their own way and the true conservative party will be born that is motivated by moving the nation and the citizens forward will embrace libertarians and Republocrats. 

A vote for anyone but Trump is a vote for the status quo. It may hurt, but it's past time to break this thing and then allow for some real leadership to emerge. The wolves on the right have shown themselves. Run them off and then hopefully we can get to work on the Democrats! The worst thing that happens is that Trump gets stone walled by both parties and is a lame duck right after he is sworn in. You have to believe the two parties, if not the GOP only, would have to evaluate what is expected of them from the voters going forward to the next election cycle. Wouldn't it be nice to have 3, 4, or even 5 parties? Wouldn't it be great to be able to find a group that aligns to your beliefs and has to stay beholden to the voter instead of big money interests? Currently, each party knows it has a monopoly on big money contributors and that they are only one election cycle from power. There is little reason to do anything that works against the interests of those that fund their campaigns or to do anything that would limit their time in office. The status quo isn't working. It's time for change. Real, tangible change. 

The Dark Knight Rises: An analysis of sorts

STOP!!!!!! Right now.....right here!!!  STOP!!!!!!

Read the first part here and then make up your mind if you want to continue on.

If you have not yet visited your local cinema to watch "The Dark Knight Rises", then you may not want to read further. I will reveal major plot points and give away certain themes about characters that you may want to reserve for your own sensibility and interpretation. So with that, if you read further, just know that you have been warned. 

KEY: 

BB is Batman Begins

TDK is The Dark Knight

TDKR is...you guessed it, The Dark Knight Rises

In no way am I telling you that anything I write is the true intent of the film, the filmmaker, its' producers, writers, or cast. I'm simply giving you my interpretation of how I perceived the films against the backdrop of our current place in history. 

In BB we had a film which explored the origins of Batman. But more than that, it set the tone for what kind of hero that Batman would be during the series. Bruce Wayne was an angry young man who had his parents and the promise of a certain way of life stripped from him when he was a child. Anger and vengeance were the things that drove him to leave his life behind and he chose to become a rogue agent, traveling the world and trying to punish bad guys in a fashion that lacked discipline and lacked a plan. He was "rescued" and trained by Ra's Al Ghul, who took Wayne under his wing and trained him to be his greatest pupil. Al Ghul's vision of the world was that once something got so out of control with corruption that it shouldn't be allowed to continue. That it was broken beyond repair and had to burn and be rebuilt for the world to see as an example. Oddly enough, he brought Bruce Wayne back from his broken nature and rehabilitated him, without having to destroy him. BB gives us a sense that Batman understood the problems with his city and believed that it could be rehabilitated and rescued from itself and he could be the man (symbol of doing what is right). At the time of its' release I considered BB to be the best "super hero" or "comic" movie I had seen and really didn't consider very much past that. 

But then came TDK and its overt look at terrorism and how to respond to it. I believe some of TDK to be fairly supportive of how America and the Bush Administration responded to 9/11/01. I also see areas where it questioned the validity of our response. The Joker was a great villain and one that law enforcement and certainly Batman couldn't quite understand. The Joker destroyed to destroy. He killed to kill. He didn't have rules. Terror is a form of warfare that is truly off the charts. The targets are not always military in nature. The targets can be random and hit the very conscious and heart of its target. The Joker took advantage of the survival nature and fear of Gotham's people. He took advantage of Batman having a certain set of principles that he bound himself to when taking on crime and corruption. He (Batman) wouldn't kill in response to killing. Harvey Dent was interesting to Bruce Wayne/Batman because he was a representative of the people, right out in the open, saying that it wasn't acceptable to terrorize free citizens. That it was not acceptable to take advantage of the nature of the common man. He even believed it was not acceptable to draw justice from the well of vigilantism. That is why Batman saw Dent as the true leader of Gotham's anti-crime movement. He didn't hide. He represented the people and looked the bad guys in the eye. He had no fear and didn't hide from the chaos brought on by the criminal element. The law is important and following the law to bring down crime validates the law. Dent didn't lie or distort any part of his determination to bring crime to justice. That is why at the end of the film, Dent was hailed as the hero. Batman was not taking on terror or crime within the law, he was circumventing it. It was the only way, in the short term to deal with an immediate problem, but Batman knew that it wasn't the way to change things in the long run.  

Thus, the connection to America, terrorism, and how our leadership chose to approach it. Remember, Batman developed a system of spying on the citizens of Gotham, just like the Bush Administration pushed and got with the Patriot Act.  But unlike Luscious Fox in TDK, our political leadership has not drawn down from using techniques that are a violation of our right to privacy. Batman, like Bush felt there was a need to approach this enemy different than any they/we had ever dealt with. Rules were out the window. If you watch TDK carefully enough, you can grab on to the undertone of Batman being secretive about the things he was working on to combat crime. He was willing to go to some dark places to combat crime and terror, just like America did, but how valid and right is that approach. Fortunately, Batman seemed to consider those things. Sadly, at times, we as a nation have not. The Joker actually brought out the worst in Batman at times (ie, the beating Batman gave the detained Joker while in the holding cell). Batman also wanted a life and saw Dent as his ticket to dumping the Bat Suit and pursuing a relationship with Rachel Dawes and running Wayne Enterprises. He longed to get out of the way and let freedom and justice prevail out in the open. Wayne and Commissioner Gordon thought it was the right thing, to deny the truth, so the people could feel safe and embrace the right way of taking on crime.  

TDKR comes back to some of these themes. I believe the film showed how problematic it is to create a fake sense of security and prosperity. Underneath the lie is the truth. The truth was that despite the "comeback" that Gotham was enjoying in the aftermath of the Joker's "defeat", evil was reloading right under their feet. Literally. This deflection of the validation that was seen at times in TDK, wasn't pushed upon the audience for the most part. It seems that Nolan, through both films, put the success and failures of our battle against terror out there for us to consider and judge for ourselves. This ties a bit into the way that he handled social injustice (in the film) in our monetary system today. The battle lines are drawn and Nolan touches on both sides and the middle, then lets the audience consider the good, the bad, and the ugly of it all. 

There is definitely a fantasy glimpse into the mind of an Occupy Wall Street supporter. The Wall Street scene felt both good and bad. It hinted at the prosperity that is constantly being traded among our society's elite and how satisfying it would be to see that world interrupted and exposed. At one point in the film, the common citizens and thugs begin to run Gotham City and it has dire consequences for those in law enforcement who perpetrated a lie about the safety of the city and those who enjoyed life on a premium level, while the mainstream citizen struggled. It shows the illusion of control that the elite portray, as if they are shining brass on the Titanic, even after the iceberg has been hit. Bruce Wayne is not immune from it. His sensibility towards society and culture were washed away by his pain and anger and the false notion that he and Rachel Dawes were going to be together if not for her death. Alfred had lied to him and in that way, failed Bruce Wayne. The lie spared Wayne's feelings, but was not good for him. Much in the way that the lie of the mass media and consumer culture tries (and largely succeeds) to lead us into a sense of security socially, even as people are hungry, jobless, and homeless all around our nation. Things are failing all around us, but like Bruce Wayne, our feelings are spared, so we don't react to life based on truth. 

There are three main characters that are responding to the failing of Gotham's capitalism. Bruce Wayne becomes detached from his role and responsibility to the community. His negligence of his company, and simply living off the spoils of the past, leads to the suffering of others. Bane and the League of Shadows sees the have/have not disparity as another reason that the corrupt Gotham City must be made an example of and destroyed. Then, you have Catwoman/Selina Kyle who is right in the middle. Not quite as ready to commit to the destruction, but quite at odds with the upper crest of society gaining more power and wealth while standing on the shoulders of the working class and poor. She and Robin....oops, I mean John Blake (by the way, I called that one, even as many people were telling me that Nolan/Bale were NOT going to have Robin in the series....sucker fan boys) are really the heartbeat of the film. Kyle comes across immediately has distrustful of the wealthy and Blake develops a distrust in being fearful of the enemy while hiding behind a badge. The bridge scene took him over the top, and amplified the words of wisdom he gained from Wayne/Batman throughout the film. 

In the end, we got hope. Bane at one point said that Bruce Wayne couldn't truly experience his punishment unless he had a glimmer of hope. It was a way to torture Batman. The hope that Nolan gives at the end of the film is that we can see that while the truth may hurt, a life built on lies feeds into the underlying fear of not having enough, of not being safe, and of looking out for ones self, instead of others. Trust, sharing, and truth are the ways to build a truly free society that gets us closer to everyone being able to enjoy the fruits of this country. Fear, anger, and hate play against those themes and are prevalent in many parts of our society today. 

A couple of things I noticed in the film that play into the notion of putting a glossy finish on a piece of garbage (metaphorically speaking) is the way that the mayor of Gotham just went about business as usual, attending a football game, even as an important crime fighting initiative was taking place. He didn't trust the people enough to tell the truth even at that point, when destruction could be just around the corner. Like George W. Bush told us after 9/11/01....if you want to contribute against terror.....just go shopping. The people paid the price. They were treated as children and left in the dark and paid a very high price for not being told the truth. For too long things seemed OK, even as horror was barreling towards them. The people of Gotham had given up responsibility for their city, much in the way we have done that with our country. 

I also caught on to there being no American flags in the scene where the kid was singing the national anthem. Some in the crowd were mouthing the words, most were silent. It was a false sense of patriotism that seemed forced and out of place. After the anthem, the crowd goes nuts waving flags and cheering. The distraction of the game was taking precedence over the truth....that their society was faltering. What is the old cliche'? "Fiddling as Rome burns". Later in the film, when Gotham is coming unglued, we see flags hanging off of buildings. Those flags are in tatters, but are still there. I take this as symbolism. We are still here. We are coming apart though. We need to recognize injustice and lies when they are right in our face. We need to demand the truth and not play the role of the child waiting for the daddy (the elite, the media, government) to protect us. The ideal of America is still right here, but we have recognize it and regain our place as the controllers of our own prosperity and destiny. 

Well, if you made it this far, I'll just close with a disclaimer; I am simply interpreting the films as I see them. There are things I didn't touch on in relation to national security and wealth disparity. I could really dig into those a bit deeper, but I seriously doubt anyone wants to read 3,000 or more words on this, if you've even made it this far. If there are things about the film that you want to share, please feel free to hit the COMMENT button and let it rip. I take film fairly seriously when the context is there for it to be done. I'm sure Christopher Nolan would laugh at what I've written on one hand, but probably be happy on the other that someone was thinking about his work on another level. Nolan is one of our great filmmakers and to this point, has not made a bad film. As of right now, Nolan's Batman series has taken over the top spot in my favorite film series of all-time. Sorry Mr. Lucas. If you had left the Ewoks and the "house band" sequence from Jabba the Huts lair out of "Return Of The Jedi", perhaps you would still be on top. 

Thanks for reading!