2016 May 18^th

Cal Thomas is at it again! The poor man is so full of angst that it overflows in to his column.  He cites a poll claiming that 66 percent of respondents believe the country is “headed in the wrong direction.” He points out that members of Congress spend most of their time raising money so that they can be re-elected rather than in governing. He has very unkind things to say about the candidates each party is presenting for the Presidency. In his column he presents the expected right wing exaggerations when describing Hillary Clinton’s faults. He calls Mrs. Clinton “…a corrupt, lying, entitled, shady, and unaccomplished woman who has ignored her husband’s affairs in the pursuit of power.”

Oh come now, Cal!  Donald Trump is currently pillorying Mrs. Clinton for attacking her husband’s paramours years ago. How can you be taken seriously when you say that she ignored her husband’s affairs? Your own party’s nominee contradicts you.

Hillary Clinton, an “unaccomplished woman;” that is simply ludicrous. She is a former Senator from New York; winning her Senate seat twice, in 2000 and again in 2006. Then after losing to President Obama in the Democratic presidential primaries she accepted a position in his cabinet as Secretary of State. This is your idea of “unaccomplished?” Mr. Thomas, you are hopelessly out of touch.

Now about that 66 percent who view the country as headed in the wrong direction: It is election season and the public has been bombarded with “ain’t it awful” messages from the major political candidates. Their entire message is that change is necessary and they are just the person to bring it about. Trump’s “Make America great again” implies that it is not great now, indeed he’ll tell you that the country has been victimized by “bad deals” that he will correct given a chance.

Sanders brings much the same message: both Sanders and Trump appeal to the not so latent paranoia in the American psyche. They tell us that the election is rigged, that the government is corrupt, (much of this is probably true) and that all will be well if we just elect them (this most certainly isn’t true).

The morning paper has advertisements offering jobs for at least 50 people; so much for the terrible employment picture. That’s just more hype by the candidates. If America needs to be made great again and things are so bad here now, why does Trump believe we have to build a wall to keep people out?