The trouble with Liberals is that they are too open-minded. They are, they themselves insist, “pro-choice”. And this is why liberalism is incompatible with the human condition — becuase human beings suck at coping with an abundance of choice. This is where conservatism resonates — it offers a straight path (in the real sense of the term) that appeals to the human condition.
Liberals themselves suffer from this human frailty. Their ideology had become inconsistent because of an inability to coherently frame the vast portfolio of “choices” that characterises their ideology. An example of this inconsistency is evident in the way they are now throwing tantrums over the spectacular rise of Donald Trump to power. The current Leader of the Free World is, in fact, a product of choice. Americans have opted to beg to differ to the artificially “polite conversation” that had come to dominate mainstream media and the cafe chatter of American coastal cities. Yet the Liberals now rail at this legitimate choice.
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Is this being pro-choice? Is this being tolerant of a variety of ideas? It is interesting to note that in 1915 in the US, Democrats in Congress voted 170-85 against a bill that will have granted women the right to vote. The Republicans, on the other hand, voted 81-34 for. Inconsistent. Liberals.
The greatest American President of all time was Abraham Lincoln, a Republican. He spoke out against slavery and went to war to make good on this advocacy. The den of political snakes that Lincoln had to deal with is not unlike — and probably more toxic than — that which Trump (and that which Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte) has to deal with today. Lincoln’s victory in the 1860 elections prompted seven southern slave states to form the Confederate States of America before he moved into the White House – no compromise or reconciliation was found regarding slavery and secession. As the leader of the moderate faction of the Republican Party, Lincoln confronted Radical Republicans, who demanded harsher treatment of the South, War Democrats, who called for more compromise, anti-war Democrats (called Copperheads), who despised him, and irreconcilable secessionists, who plotted his assassination. Politically, Lincoln fought back by pitting his opponents against each other, by carefully planned political patronage, and by appealing to the American people with his powers of oratory.[4] His Gettysburg Address became an iconic endorsement of the principles of nationalism, republicanism, equal rights, liberty, and democracy.
Sounds like familiar landscape? We, of course, digress.
It is therefore important to note that Donald Trump is a product of a system that is a source of American pride. As such, this system should be afforded the chance to work itself through. The free market, after all, works best went left to its devices. Rather than raise girly stinks about the Trump presidency, Americans should, instead, reflect on why Trump rules today. One could even argue that, beyond reality TV, Trump is a product of the presidency of Barack Obama over which simmered the anger and frustration that was to eventually propel Trump up the polls.
Finally, consider that Trump is a product of American culture.
Indeed, Trump embodies America’s strong tradition of cut-throat enterepreneurship. Chase the money, scorch the earth, and bring back the gold. Great railways and highways were built and awesome wars waged on the back of that cultural ethic. California — America’s most iconic and most well-known state — was won and shaped by it. So, really, those hipsters out in Silicon Valley ought to be a bit more appreciative of that old American Way of doing things. Closer to the present, Trump is a product of America’s reality TV craze. So, yeah, the Trump presidency today really made it real for Americans. Reality bites. Perhaps Americans should come to terms with the reality that reality just needs to be dealt with like adults.
[NB: Parts of this article were lifted from the Wikipedia.org article “Abraham Lincoln” in a manner compliant to the terms stipulated in the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License that governs usage of content made available in this site.]
benign0 is the Webmaster of GetRealPhilippines.com.
benign0, you’re asking the world to abase themselves before a fucking douche (I’m being polite here because he’s a special snowflake and we gotta respect his lies, I mean alternative facts).
…
No.
The alternative is a murdering psychopath who will lead the world into a third world war.
Easy choice.
Except not. But of course she’s been dogged by controversy since Whitewater and is a part of an establishment that nevertheless wants to off itself, appearances notwithstanding.
In the Trumptastic realm of alternative facts — oh, begging his worship’s pardon, I meant “lies” — the decisions by courts and congressional committees mean nothing — she’s evil!
More evil than a foul-mouthed dirty-minded megalomaniacal authoritarian crook, I tell you!
Here, have a cookie. Now go back to your safe space. 😛
Safe spaces are what we’re gonna need for the hell a Trump administration is gonna unleash on the world.
Then stay there. The rest of us, on the other hand, are going to confront the challenges, as they are, of this ever-changing world head-on.
Including challenges that the present administration will create (or at least cannot help creating) in order to please itself and its supporters.
He’s not a convicted felon and as such qualified to be President of the United States. Ain’t the system a bitch. ????
… what are you driving at here?
Why don’t you at least have a guess. Then we’ll talk about how close or far off your guess is.
Here’s something for you:
I have tremendous respect for benignO having regularly studied his articles over time but his perspective regarding American politics is badly skewed this time. First off, there was actually a re-alignment of American politics that took place between the 1920s until the 1960s. The pro-slavery conservatives who founded the Confederacy used to be associated with the Democrats whereas the progressive-minded social advocates of that time were associated with the Republicans. From the 20s to the 60s, several events took place resulting to the reversal of roles and ideologies for both parties. The conservatives shifted to the Republican party and the liberals became modern-day Democrats. In other words, it doesn’t make sense pointing out the inconsistencies of liberals (and Democrats by extension) since both parties have gone considerable transformation in their stance over social issues.
Also worth noting is that the reason most Americans are fuming about Trump is because of the fact that he was not voted by the majority of the people. He lost the popular vote by 2.9 million to Clinton but he clinched the presidency by virtue of electoral votes as mandated by the US constitution. Majority of them simply didn’t vote for him which is why most of them are cringing over his presidency.
Of course, Hillary is not complaining as she know the rules of the game. If that happened in the Philippines and Duterte lost the electoral votes (assuming we adapt the same system), benignO would be writing countless articles about the violation of the democracy and all sorts of negativity about our electoral system.
I personally don’t give a damn about Trump’s presidency as I’m not even a US citizen and his election is pretty much the legitimate result of America’s political structure whether you consider it flawed or not, but if you’re one of the those who did not vote for trump, you’ll understand what it feels to represent the majority and be disenfranchised by the mechanics of the system.
In the end, I just wish the writers of this blog won’t write anything else that talks about making Americans swallow Trump’s presidency as it merely demonstrates a very shallow understanding of America’s complex political landscape. Duterte’s election in the Philippines is clearly validated by the majority of votes and not the product of a flawed system. Let Trump be a problem of Americans and let’s stick to our own issues here.
Electoral system in choosing U.S. President is in the U.S. Constitution ; written by the Founding Fathers of America…
This was to make every State of the Union of America; no matter how small, be represented in choosing a U.S. President.
Most of the state Hilary Clinton won, were where the “tago ng tago” (TNT) people were. California,New York, Illinois, for example…some of these people even voted , as claimed !
Pres. Trump won in the heartlands of America…the mid states….truly Americans…rural America gave him a resounding vote !
Nah. I’ve got a lot more articles on America in the pipeline. I speak for all the authors here when I say we write what we wanna write here in GRP.
Sure, America is a complex society. But those “experts” who claimed to know a lot about that complexity failed to read where the vote (or rather the electoral college) was headed in 2016. As such, analyses on America is now fair game. The “experts” got it wrong and they and their mainstream corporate employers are now the world’s laughingstock having fallen off the lofty “thought leadership” pedestal they fancied themselves to be sitting atop of.
No one can really be considered an expert anymore given just how unpredictable the dynamics of American politics have become over the past decades. For all its negativity, I personally hope that Trump’s leadership will be successful if that will lead to a more peaceful and stable global community, otherwise he may end up being remembered as the president elected by the minority who screwed up an entire country. Whatever political agenda you are advocating now may be instantly revoked by the public in the next election cycle, and nobody will be able to explain what just happened.
It may not be possible for us to fully distance ourselves from the effects of US political affairs but we can do something to make our country more self-sufficient and not be too vulnerable to whatever predicament that will result out of the things happening around the globe.
Pres. Trump was elected by overwhelming majority in the electoral votes: 320 votes versus 218 votes for Hilary Clinton…
Popular votes majority, do not count, because , there are large states, like California, against small states like Maine…
Anyway , as I had written, these large states were where the , Tago ng Tago (TNT) are residing. These are where most of the manual jobs are open, where Americans don’t want them …job pays are even below the minimum wage level. Filipino TNTs work mostly as caregivers. Mexicans as agricultural manual laborers. Some are paid as low as U.S. $5 an hour, without benefit…some are overworked overtime, without overtime pay and fired, if they do not work !
Given the USA’s preeminence in world affairs, trying to distance oneself from it if you’re the least bit political is next to impossible.
Would you defend a Philippine citizen if he flew the Chinese flag instead of the Philippine colors? Or wear a hat that reads “Make the Philippines China”
One of the reasons why it’s’ so hard to immigrate to the US is that 95% of the people standing in line at the US Immigration office are Latin American, don’t you think that Latin Americans have had that unfair advantage long enough. I had this horrible experience while waiting in line so I can petition for my adopted kids here, wow the rules and cost were many gave up and retired here.
I’ve heard that alignment stuff before only on Liberal forums and yet Abraham Lincoln was a hard, honest lawyer that signed the Emancipation Proclamation to free the slaves and was a Republican.
How many of the twitterati will scream about ‘attacks on their constitutional rights’ while attacking Trump’s legitimacy for being elected in accordance with the constitution?
I believe there were two main reasons for the experts misreading the tealeaves in preselection polls.How many Trump voters declined to show their true intentions to avoid the abuse,which now seems to have been a sound tactic? How many voters were equally unenthusiastic about both candidates,and voted against their traditional patterns?
Different countries have different electoral systems. Many operate quite happily using proportional representation,which often means the smaller groups have disproportionate power.
More to the point, the noisy media-owning liberals completely forgot that an entire sector of their own society actually existed and wielded the vote.
Pres. Donald J. Trump, embodies the America “can do” attitude…innovation and resourcefulness.
Hilary Clinton and Obama, were of far left ideology. More of a Socialist leaning politician. Some of their followers are: anarchist; Hollywood Liberals; pro choice abortionists, black lives matter politicians, etc…
I am against a welfare state. People must work, and lead productive lives. Not, free everything…from cradle to grave !
America was built by great people, who work hard with their hands, and tamed the West.
Pres. Trump is a very successful businessman. He is not a politician. He never held any political office; except now that he is the President.
His choices of cabinet positions are excellent.
He promised to build a wall, along the U.S./Mexican border, to stop illegal immigration, and the flow of illegal drugs.
He promised to “drain the swamp” in Washington…
He promised to bring back the jobs, that have migrated overseas.
He promised to defeat ISIS and radical Islam.
We wait and see, and give him a chance to fulfill his promises !
So how many times did you have to smash your head on a wall to be that deluded? Judging from Trump’s first week alone, looking at his 2000-plus executive orders, it seems delusion is the order of the day.
benign0,
I’m sorry but I’m too lazy to back read. Do you support Trump or at lwasr most of his policies?
Thanks,
interxavier01
*least
Just keep moving forward and don’t give a shit about what anybody thinks. Do what you have to do, for you.