Wednesday, March 2, 2016

I Hear "Taps" Playing In The Distance

                                                                     

This past week I wrote what was going to be my final regular blog entry...ending my regular three or more times per week submissions, and four years of daily submissions.

On the 17th of January I celebrated five years of blogging, and, as stated, with four of those years being a daily issue.  (I still can't imagine how I managed to do that!).  During these five years I have gotten more than 1.1 million page views, so I guess at least some folks have enjoyed reading them.

While I had intended to cease blogging regularly, I had anticipated blogging occasionally in the future; perhaps five days in a row when I was really fired up about something...but I had planned no more blogging with any kind of regularity.

Today, I've changed a bit...but only a little.  I have now decided that I'll continue to blog until it becomes clear that Donald Trump wins the GOP nomination.  Should The Donald emerge as our party's nominee, I'll end my blog entirely.

To me, the emergence of a Donald Trump signals my surrender to the forces ruling our political landscape.  It tells me that anything I write will mean nothing to the folks who embrace a Donald Trump...someone as deadly as a Jim Jones mass grape Kool-Aid suicide event.

A Trump victory means that we have become a nation that can birth a Hitler, a Stalin, a Mussolini...that we are so desperate for a champion that we will give credence to a man who owns no principles, a man who will say or do anything (and has, on both sides of any issue) to win favor with those who will help him realize his own personal ambitions.

I don't wish to be a part of a nation like that.  Only once during the past five years have I ever seriously contemplated ending my writings....after Barack Obama was re-elected in 2012 I stopped blogging for a month or so.  Then, intent on pointing out the deficiencies of a "man-child" community organizer, I resumed writing.

Barack will soon be gone.  I didn't know if I would live long enough to see his departure.  But I simply cannot take another round of charlatans, be it Trump or Hillary.  I wrote earlier that I thought Cruz stood the best chance of righting this country.  Sadly, his political style has proven to be a bit preachy, bordering on the hokey.  But Cruz, and only Cruz has been the only Presidential candidate that has stood up time and again to the Washington establishment...that's why his fellow Senators hate him.   I could even take Rubio or Kasich because I believe either of them will build the fence and will not have the gall to insist on illegal amnesty until the fence is built,  e-verify is revamped to efficiency, and any immigration bills are passed through the people's Congress to be passed or rejected, as is proper.

But I can't take either a Trump or a Hillary.  I gave my country twenty-two years of fighting for her.  I've sacrificed hundreds of times during those years, as did my family.  But I'm tired, I'm old, and I can't fight any more.  So, sometime this month, after Super Tuesday, and after the mid-March primaries, I'll know if I still have a country worth fighting for.

If Trump wins it will assure a Hillary victory come November.  And, even should Trump triumph in November, it is my deep belief that we still lose, in far larger ways.  So, the Ides of March are upon me.  I'm prepared to raise the white flag of surrender.  This old vet is tired and I hear "Taps" playing faintly in the distance....."Taps" for this blog....and, in my view, "Taps" for this once great nation.

10 comments:

Jerry Carlin said...

Good Morning! I still read your blogs even after being summarily dismissed!
Trump has become the vessel and spokesman for the Anger in America and I would wager half your readers will vote for him:( When we needed guidance, reason, understanding and education we got spit and venom fueling hatred. Regretfully, Trump is the logical conclusion and many of your readers will fail to understand why you don't support his anger and "make America Great Again"! We get what we deserve. Yes, Hitler was Elected and we are that close!
The Republican Part was hijacked years ago and the reasonable, moderate Conservatives have been drummed out, beaten down by the ultra conservatives and super religious and Corporate interests. Where are the Republicans who wanted to protect this planet, those who began the EPA under Nixon? Where are the Republicans who broke up the Democratic cronyism and racist Deep South? Reagan couldn't get elected today from these new Republicans! The Republicans destroyed themselves from their exclusionary attitudes and self righteous hatred. Trump is rising from their ashes.
Here is what to hope for: and it won't happen for four or eight years. It is time for a Third Party. One that can join the Best from the Republicans and the more Conservative Democrats and Unite us together, not leading us into the past but to a brighter and optimistic future for everyone. For now it will be Trump Vs Hilary and we did it to ourselves.
Keep blogging, my Friend, I would miss you, Jerry

A Modest Scribler said...

Thanks for coming on and having a say, Jerry. I don't know what you refer to by being "summarily dismissed". I always enjoyed sparring with you. Perhaps it was a comment from someone else. For a long while I visited your blog, just to see if you were well as I cared deeply about my "liberal" friend. And there were days, when I felt I had written something fine, that I felt a spot of warmth on my shoulders and imagined it was you out there..cheering me on.

Perhaps great minds think alike...my next blog draws parallels between today's America and Hitler's Germany...a poisoned climate that produces ogres.

I'll blog until at least Super Tuesday...it should be clear by then if Trump is the winner. After that I doubt that I'll be around much. Since I'm a writer by "need", I'll write somewhere...perhaps even on this blog from time to time...but it will never again be like the days when I pounded out a "daily", or even a "weekly". I'm glad you visited and stopped to say hello...even if it is on my "deathbed".

Be well. Be happy.

theRandyGuy said...

Lighten up, relax: We survived the Anointed One, we'll weather the storm regardless of whomever wins in November. The establishment R's are the reason for the rise of Trump, and I think it's hilarious to listen to them now that their RiNO politicians are being hammered. Trump, like Obama, is all show and no go. He'll find he has almost NOBODY in Congress willing to support him, let alone work with him and that includes members of both parties. I'd be much more concerned with Clinton: Dims will back everything she proposes and she'll take office furious over being passed over 8 years ago. I don't read many blogs, but I do read yours. Reconsider your intent to quit. BTW, Jerry Carlin: The moderate Republicans disappeared at the same time the Blue Dog Democrats went extinct. If the R party has been hijacked, the Democrats moved willingly.

A Modest Scribler said...

I always appreciate your insight, Randy. Thanks for taking the time to voice your thoughts.

Frank R. Krzesowiak said...

Scribe: You and I have agreed on most everything since I started reading your blog a couple years ago. Trump being our only descent. When one has to choose between Satan and the Devil, where do you go? Hillary is a product of the worst this Country has to offer. She's evil. Any one(of many) of the things she's been accused of would have derailed a Republican(see Herman Cain). I agree with theRandyGuy. We have survived much worse. One person can not take down this nation. Obama has tried, he will fail. The reason I would vote Trump is not because he's a "Republican" because we all know he is not. But he will not be given the same passes Hillary will always be given(and Obama has had). His Presidency will be put under a microscope. I see the key to the election is the Vice Presidential choice. Whoever that is, will probably be President b4 the first term is up, no matter who wins. I would be sorry to see you go as I have enjoyed posting my own thoughts on your blog. But we all have to do what's right for us. And if that's the right decision for you, it's a GREAT decision. ps I know Satan and the Devil is the same. :)

Wally said...

Do we need Donald Trump as President? The answer is a resounding yes. Why? Because it will mean that Hillary Clinton didn't win the Presidency. I too, like you, served my country with 25 years in the Army. During that time, I had assignments as a Top Secret custodian, and I continue to read in total disbelief, the top secret and above emails that Hillary had on her phone and server. I too, wonder how in the world is she staying out of prison because of that? Has this what our country has become? I don't worry because Hillary or Donald are self serving, are jerks, are incompetent, I have sat and shook my head the last 7+ years watching Barry. But I do worry about our country and the system that will let a person have the highest classified information we have on their private computer and they are still out walking the streets. Did the leak of information cause any Americans to die? We probably will never know. We do know that one of her Ambassadors and 3 other Americans died on her shift. I would vote for the Devil himself before I would vote for Hillary, even if that means voting for Donald.

Frank R. Krzesowiak said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
A Modest Scribler said...

Sorry, Wally. I'm not buying your "Trump or Hillary" scenario. We're still voting. It appears to me you've join the "Trump lynch mob", deciding to vote for a charlatan just because "everyone else is". Until Trump wins the nomination you have other choices.

Wally said...

And I did. You notice that Trump didn't carry Texas.

Anonymous said...

Hi,, this is the Veteran, still in the reserve. 25 years of service. 3 combat tours. etc
I am not a republican nor a democrat. however, if I could, I would re-elect Obama (if it was possible) Hillary, is corrupt old-lady, a true politician. if Trumps is the GOP Nominee, Hillary is the next president. In my view, if she wins, the country will not change much, it will be more like the last 8 years, it will not get worse, it will continue the current course. Even if Trump wins, things wont change much as far as the economy, education etc etc BUT what will change, is how the rest of the world see us. They will laugh at our stupidity, they will think America is America: the land where anything is possible. it will be an interesting yet sad experience to have in the white house a complete disgraceful character.
what I would like to see is Rubio or Cruz winning the Nov election. but more than likely what will happen is that Hillary wins over Trump. So, we will save world embarrassment but we will have a "Real" politician leading the fate of the country we have fought for. Respectfully, a veteran in Times Square NYC