Fri AM

It was just brought to my attention that Bernie Sanders received 12 million primary votes, Trump 13 million.  Hmmm......

Hillary Clinton won about 7% more votes than Sanders.  Trump won almost as many popular votes as the next three Republicans, while Clinton scored just under 4 million more than Sanders.

Trump, unless someone like Mike Lee turns the Republican convention on its head, will be that party's nominee.  I repeat that I find that repulsive.

Sanders has been dismissed as not important, just some crotchety old Socialist with moonbeam ideas, if they can be called that.

Like Trump, though, Sanders isn't/wasn't about himself.  Think of the results.  Trump and Sanders, as terrible as they were/are as candidates, received 25 million votes.  Unless I'm mistaken, that's just about half of the ballots cast in the primaries/caucuses.  Think of those results.

Consider that many voters will vote for anyone or anything with the Establishment "D" or the Establishment "R" next to their names.

In a system dominated by the Establishment, whose goal is obviously the continued domination by the Establishment, people and country be damned, half the people said, "No!"  Neither Sanders nor Trump are "unimportant."  Many/Most(?) people have been pretty clear.  They are sick and tired, frustrated, angry, fed up with the Establishment.  25 million is not an "unimportant" number.  And it's not a small number.

A question might be, "What if those 25 million, after November, feel disenfranchised, marginalized or even ignored, yet again?"  That is, in a system that seems rigged against most hard-working, middle or lower-middle class folks, will people just suck it up and go about with business as usual?  Or, perhaps like petulant children (and I don't mean that pejoratively) seeking to get the attention of others, will they act out?  After all, the "99%ers" and BLM have "acted out."  But 25 million is a lot more than those groups.

I know a lot of folks and, esp, politicians, the academic elites, and even the LameStream media have touted the economic recovery.  They cite, among other things, the rebound of the auto industry, new housing starts, [fudged] higher employment statistics, etc.  They also ignore a lot.  For instance, statistically, there is a lower percentage of Americans in the work force than there has been for decades.  Anecdotally, there sure seems to be a lot of vacant houses out there, even here in Oakland County.  And the next time you drive past strip malls, note how many vacant store fronts there are; just the other day I was startled by the vacancies at two of them.

Both parties talk about personal freedom.  Bologna/Baloney!  It's all blather!  Both of them, elitist and arrogant, want to tell us how to live.  One professes to take care of "the little guy," while the other looks after "the big guy."  Hogwash!  You can't watch the television you want.  You have to use the light bulbs and toilets they want you to have.  And more......

Who'd a thunk, maybe 50 years ago, all this government regulation would restrict our lives?  That considered, who doesn't reasonably think that's just a start?  What's next?

Perhaps worse, we can't even talk about anything.  We don't have real dialogues or discussions.  The Democrats won't talk.  The Republicans at least might entertain discussions, but I don't think they are honest about them; that is, they lie in nodding, but have no intention of doing anything.

And what we are left with are Clinton and Trump in November.  I'm sticking to my mantra......