I
don't typically pay much attention to political party conventions, preferring
to focus on the live debates when candidates have to answer real questions. I have to admit,
however, that I did watch Bill Clinton's speech at the Democratic National Convention and also listened to President Obama when he accepted his party's
nomination and spoke about his vision for the future of America.
Like
most Democrats, I was impressed by Clinton's oration. Aside from Barack Obama,
Bill Clinton is my favorite president. When he was in office, I could have
cared less when it was discovered he was cavorting with a woman in the Oval
Office. I thought: "If that's what it
takes to provide a flush economy, let
him have at it." I felt sorry for Hillary, naturally, but the big
hullabaloo perpetuated by the morally jaded right-wing at the time was a joke
at best.
Back
to Clinton's speech…Perhaps my favorite part was when he talked about
"arithmetic" when reminding everyone about the differences between Democrat and
Republican records. Later, Think Progress provided a snapshot Info-graph of the
tallies. One of the "info-graph" comments left by reader Jim Wolf put my own
thoughts into a nutshell:
When you're
stated intention is to make sure that the President is only a "one term
President" (Mitch McConnell) and block any and all job-creating-legislation,
you don't deserve the right to lead.
Using
one of Clinton's phrases, the Republicans have "brass" in attacking President
Obama for lack of progress in the economy. Not only do they forget to mention
or take responsibility for the bloody mess in which their party left the
nation, they have also purposely blocked attempts by the President and most
Democrats in Congress to address the issues.
The
right-wing moral harping also rubs me the wrong way. For the most part,
conservatives claim to God-fearing Christians yet they don’t bat an eyelid when
it comes to suggesting cuts to benefits for seniors and low income families.
What sort of Christian is it who deliberately abandons those less fortunate
than themselves? Does the word hypocrisy
ring any bells?
In
my opinion, Romney is as dry as salami and as phony as a three dollar bill.
There's simply nothing there. It's
not just his right-wing political views and apparent lack of empathy
with common people that present as glaringly obvious; it's the slyly minimized
but still-looming issue of Romney's religion that remains a turn-off for me.
Prejudice
in any form is not amongst my personality traits. I typically don't give a hoot
about anyone's race, religion or sexual preference. However, having lived in a
place dominated by the Mormon religion for many years – not by free choice, but
through circumstances beyond my control - I'm extremely leery about a
presidential candidate who is not only an ultra-rich conservative but who also happens
to practice the same said religion.
In
my experience, which spans over several decades in intermittent fashion, the
specific religious influence is appallingly duplicitous in regards to business
as well as everyday living. Don't be fooled by pious claims of decency and
concern for fellow human beings because my bird's-eye view of the culture does
not bear this out. I have never lived amongst a more selfish or judgmental group
of people in my life who in reality care little for the disabled, poor,
minorities or otherwise disadvantaged. They will be the first to donate money,
sure. Yet when it comes to treating the aforementioned people with common
decency and respect, their self-proclaimed Christianity goes right out the
window and is replaced with derision and dismissal. This is not a fleeting
observation or rare occurrence, but rather events which have taken place on a
daily basis over many years. I've lost count of the times I saw an able-bodied
man, woman or child cut in front of a disabled person who was either struggling
with a cane or pushing themselves along in a wheelchair; or a grocery store cashier
who treated a customer with barely-veiled contempt when they presented a food
stamp card in the form of payment for goods.
And
no matter how much Mormons profess to be accepting and non-racist, don't
believe it for a minute. I worked at a lumber company in Salt Lake City in the
1980s, where I began dating one of the drivers. He was tall, handsome and
black. The backlash of hatred and vitriolic remarks we were both forced to
endure – often for just going out to lunch together – was a sickening eye-opener
into the real local culture. Their track record speaks for itself, frankly. The
Mormon church had a strict policy against ordaining African-Americans into
their "priesthood" until 1978, when one of their leaders conveniently had a sudden
"revelation" to reverse the non-black policy following intense criticism by civil
rights and other religious groups. To me, the worst stains on American history
are the country's despicable treatment of blacks and native Indians. The fact
that Mormons effectively participated in the racially-motivated ostracization until
just thirty-four years ago speaks volumes.
As
for business, perhaps the narrow-mindedness is not unusual as it seems common
to many corporate environments across the globe. The same people who spend
every Sunday in church think nothing of stabbing their co-workers in the back
during the week, most often when trying to leap-frog to a promotion. I worked
at an insurance company – again in Salt Lake City – for more than seven years,
where the vicious modus operandi of doing business horrified me.
Money was the bottom line, and woe the person who stood in the way of the
grubbing. I think many of them would have stepped over their own mothers or
best friends to get ahead, let alone someone just trying to survive.
There
are exceptions, of course. I know a handful of Mormons who have vast amounts of
integrity without prejudice, but unfortunately they remain few and far between.
For all these reasons –
mingled with the tiresome right-wing fanaticism - I simply find it
incomprehensible that the American people will vote Romney into the highest
office in the land.
