Political Junkie

If Marx was right that religion is the opium of the masses then politics must be the myopia of the asses. I know, I’ve been a political junkie for the past seventy plus years.

While other kids were engaged in wholesome activities like swiping broomsticks in apartment basements to use as stick-ball bats I was upstairs running from apartment building to apartment building distributing pamphlets against the Taft-Hartley Law. I went to hootenannies and listened to Paul Robeson singing about the Spanish Civil War. Most elections were a lost cause but we had the best songs.

Is it my imagination that each presidential race is a little more insufferable than the one before? It’s only February and I’ve already had my fill. I don’t think I can take another eight months of Trump’s inanities, Rubio’s robotics or Cruz’s snide mendacity. I also can’t handle Hillary’s je ne sais quoi. I’m even weary of Bernie’s rants against that famous street in lower Manhattan…. and I don’t disagree with him.

In fact I’ve been waiting lo these many decades for someone to say what Bernie is saying. Maybe that’s why his message felt stale to me upon arrival. I could have told the world that in 1945. Maybe I did but did they listen? No.

Now the truth is out there, the S word has been uttered in public and he has driven Hillary so far to the left she is squirming. He has ignited a new conversation. Yet on Monday, Wednesday and Friday I want Bernie to leave the race. On Tuesday, Thursday and weekends I’m ready for Hillary to do the same. One of them has to go.

It is beyond my imagining that my attorney Bernie could win a general election. More likely he would lose Yuge, unless the folks in Alabama confuse Bernie Sanders with Colonel Sanders and think they are ordering fried chicken.

Of course it is possible my myopia doesn’t allow me to see the revolution at hand, that the down-trodden masses are rising up and demanding their due, that racists are confessing their pathology, and big banks can be redeemed by Jimmy Stewart so we can all have a Wonderful Life.

It is also possible that those of us who dislike Hillary Clinton but don’t quite know why have been persuaded by a pervasive campaign of gender politics. Racism morphs easily into misogyny. Methinks her ambition and testiness would not be remarked upon if she were a he.

If the Clinton machine prevails on March 1^st they will most likely be the party choice with a big boost from those 712 super delegates. In that scenario I say, step aside, Bernie. Please. Hillary needs to address the unpersuaded. She needs to answer the Republicans not defend her credentials as a Progressive. She must recapture the narrative among the millennials in our midst.

If the Bern catches a wind and scorches Hillary she should know for whom the alarm tolls. Her time may be up.

Those who control the arsenal for Conservatives are salivating over the prospect of attacking a Jewish Socialist. I’m sure they also have Bengazi drones and email drones ready to drop on HRC. Let’s give each a chance to prepare strategies against their vitriol.

Ideology aside, the imperative is for a Democrat POTUS to insure a left-leaning SCOTUS. In the world of real politik our best bet for profound change is to sweep the stench of Scalia from the high court and install a progressive for the next generation.

Let me know when it’s over. I don’t think I can handle all the bluster and rhetorical noise until November. Yet I also know the hold it has on me and the pain of withdrawal. I don’t stand a chance.