Among Republicans and Democrats

Well, a few months of time went between this post and my last one. I am still not back into blogging as I thought. So much went down between my February post and now! I get teased by my Democratic family members and friends about all the possible Republican presidential candidates. One online Democratic friend enjoys teasing me about how the Republicans love eating their own. That person is looking forward to the Republican debates to see that in great action. This person also feels the Republican eating of their own is the main reason the RNC cut down the number of debates for up and coming Republican presidential debates.

Of course, I responded with the fact that they had no choice and that there were plenty of Democrats who were not all that happy with only having Hillary Clinton as their only choice as their Democratic presidential candidate. Now, that has changed. Even though it is not much of a challenging choice, self-described Democratic socialist, Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent announced he is seeking the Democratic presidential nomination. I hear the former Democratic Baltimore Mayor and former Maryland Governor, Martin O’Malley most likely will also be a Democratic presidential candidate.

On the Republican side, I do not have one sure choice. I do like Sen. Ted Cruz and Gov. Scott Walker. For now, I am not even considering possible presidential candidates, Jeb Bush or Chris Christie or Republican presidential candidates who do not have any elective office experience. I admit due to sentimental reasons, I do care for Mike Huckabee. He has the RINO label, because of his taxing record as Governor of Arkansas. I was for Huckabee for President as a new Republican in 2008. I did not get to vote for him because Sen. John McCain had won enough votes and delegates to get the Republican presidential nomination before the PA presidential primary took place. Well, not being able to have my vote counted in the presidential primary/caucus season is another blog post.

Republicans are putting forth a great range of choice. We even have the one thing that we face accusations of not having and that is diversity. Besides whites, Republicans have a black man, latino men, and a woman as declared presidential candidates. The Democrats so far have two aging people of the same race, one being a woman. The third/new party cry is only coming from the conservative and Republican side. Oh, that would considerably split the conservatives and Republicans and again give the presidency to the Democrats. I do not want another Democrat elected to be our next President.

Blogging Return: Trouble Making Subject For Me

Well, it sure has been a while! The little posting that I did dealt with special days and holidays. Just when it was time to take this blog away from WordPress and make it my own, I lost the blogging fever. That fever has yet to fully return, but it is long past time to put a post on this blog.

Okay, I am blogging after a long while on a subject, that had me fussing in past blog posts, but it still gets to me and also gets me in to trouble. Last Saturday, a person angrily responded to my comments on his Facebook page and unfriended me. This self-proclaimed Christian man was so angry at my comment that he used some curse words. Of course it was about Pres. Obama. Just because, I respond with correct information that does not hurt Obama does not mean, I am secretly for him. As far as the unfriending goes, I replaced him with a new Facebook friend. I was commenting on his ‘Impeach Obama’ meme.  He did not like my comment of the required 67 Senate votes for conviction and that Obama was not going anywhere until Jan 20, 2017.

I see plenty of ‘Impeach Obama’ memes on Facebook. This tells me that there are many in this country  who have an inaccurate knowledge base of the presidential impeachment process. There are too many people who think impeachment equals removal from office and that is wrong. Remember Bill Clinton suffered impeachment, but he was not convicted and finished out his 2nd term. Oh, the millions spent on trying to remove Clinton from the Presidency and in the end, that did not happen! If impeachment does not result in a conviction and removal from office, then it is a waste of time and money.

Impeachment is really an indictment. The removal from office only comes after the trial and deliberation of the Senate with a guilty verdict. The guilty verdict requires 2/3 i.e. 67 Senate vote. In the Republican vs the Democrat realm, there are not enough votes in the Senate for a conviction. There is anger with the House so far for not getting the impeachment process underway. But the House knows the Senate does not have the 67 votes for a conviction.

I think many of those who want impeachment as my ex-Facebook friend are among the crowd that held back their vote or voted for some 3rd party candidate that could not possibly win in 2012 due to anger with the Republican Party. That anger was so volatile, that they did not care that Barack Obama would receive another term, but now they do. Desiring impeachment is a way of making amends with themselves for allowing their actions to help Pres. Obama to another term. Read up on the process of a presidential impeachment here.

These Endorsers and Ronald Reagan

A Facebook friend asked who were the black men in the photo. I was the first to respond. I recognized the first on the left, Charles Evers right away. He went on to be a mayor in Mississippi and go Republican. He was also the brother of the late civil rights activist, Medgar Evers. The other two black men in the 1980 photo with then Republican presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan are civil rights activists/leaders were Hosea Williams and Rev. Ralph Abernathy. These men endorsed Ronald Reagan for President. In my mind, I only remember Rev. Abernathy endorsing Pres. Reagan. I also remember my thinking that something was wrong with Rev. Abernathy for endorsing a Republican presidential candidate.

I tried to listen to and like Ronald Reagan as President, but back then, I was too engulfed in group black think. That had me viewing Pres. Reagan through the ‘Democrats only for blacks’ tunnel vision. So yes back then, I did mistake Ronald Reagan’s belief in keeping government out of the average American’s life as a cover for doing nothing about racial injustice. My thinking was also shaped by my Democrat voting parents and the legislative branch of government passing laws against segregation and against denying some legal citizens of color the right to vote in the 60s during my junior high years. Times grew different and finally so did my thinking.

And These are Young Voters

This is an example of ignorance among the educated. We have college students who cannot name a U. S. Senator. That means they do not know the two senators who represents them in the U. S. Senate. Now how sad is that? What where they taught the 3 branches of government in school? Were they paying any attention? Are these students voting? If they are, not being able to name a senator puts them in the low information bracket of voters.

Time for Term Limits

I remember when career politicians had a large admiration society. I remember the Kennedy’s getting high praise for devoting their lives to public service and elective office, because they did not have work for a living due to the family wealth. No so these days. Old career politicians do not seem to be able to relate to the every day working voters who put them into office. It eventually becomes what is best for them over their constituents. And then, many of us do not care, do not keep up with how they are serving us and continue to extend their years in office through our votes.

I feel it is time for term limits for elected officials in both Houses of Congress. Maybe the term limits should be around 5 terms/10 years for the House and 3 terms/18 years for the Senate. Whoever is Speaker of the House could only hold that position for 4 years and the Senate Majority Leader position would only be for 1 term.  Here are some elected officials who are still in office, but their time came and went.

Rep. Henry Waxman on the bottom row far right is retiring after being a Congressman since 1975. He needs to go and so do the rest pictured, both Democrat and Republican.