Election Takeaway

What the Trump election run has taught us, is that it doesn't matter how unfavorable the candidate is. What really matters is his/her appeal to the anti-establishment crowd. While the Clinton camp rightfully focused on Donald Trumps apparent flaws, it didn't detract from his appeal to the people who saw him as a change-up to the conventional politicians. 

Just look at the number of newly registered Republicans, Democrats and Independents that voted for him. Look at the people who have never voted before - these are the people who have been apathetic towards politicians, because they believed that conventional politics did not serve their needs.   

Now Trump will rightfully receive a backlash for not delivering on his outlandish promises, that is certain. But what is also certain is that the landscape of politics in the United States has changed forever. For the first time since I can remember, the politicians have been forced to consider the entire population and not just the target electorate segments. The average American, one who isn't aligned to any of the conventional segments will have to be considered in future elections.

And that is the right way to do things, for all of American people's sake. It is just a shame that we had to take the narcissist Orange Julius Caesar to the Oval Office in order to get people to care enough to get out and vote the establishment out of power.

Where do we go from here? Well that is all up to us - the people. We can either go to our opposite corners and throw feces at each other, or we can come together as a whole and build a broad consensus that moves us forward and forces our representatives to actually represent our interests. 

Hillaryous Liar

Hillary Clinton may well become the Democratic Party's nominee for the President of the United States. And while we have been verbally bombarded enough to accept that the political version of reality includes a certain degree of bending the truth, the amount of straightforward lies told by the former secretary of state Hillary Clinton is astounding and obliterate that standard entirely.

The plethora of events in her life around politics support the fact that she is a pathological liar. She lies to achieve a certain political objective every time. And we have witnessed these lies in plain view over her entire career. Some highlights of these spectacular lies are listed below, starting with the most recent, and ending with her unethical role in the Watergate proceedings. The lack of ownership of what she says and inability to fact-check is truly remarkable. Yes, Hillary, you are a natural politician - you have learned to shamelessly lie in order to get what you want.

1) Hillary Clinton's claim that she didn't know where Bernie Sanders was, when she was trying to push forward the healthcare reform in 1993 and 1994, when not only was he standing right behind her, but she also turned around and thank him directly in a speech.

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2) Hillary Clinton's claim that while Bernie Sanders criticizes Bill Clinton and Barak Obama, while he doesn't criticize George W. Bush. That was a flat out lie, which Sanders struck down with "I gather Secretary Clinton hasn’t listened to too many of my speeches".

3) Hillary Clinton's use of personal email account for official business purposes. As the Secretary of State, she has undoubtedly had a lot of classified information pass through her email account. Which is why it is important to use the official email account which comes with all the security protections - so that no classified information may fall in the wrong hands. Her action is currently under Federal investigation, for which she may very well get indicted; unless she greased the wheels of the Federal investigators like she has of the Democratic super-delegates. Her excuse for using the private email account instead of an official one is that her predecessors were doing the same thing and that it is no big deal. Hypocrisy runs rampant in her logic. If it is no big deal, Hillary, then why did you send out a notice to all of your staff stating to only use their official email accounts when you took office?

4) Hillary Clinton's responsibility on the Benghazi tragedy. As the Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton lobbied for a reduced military presence around the American embassy in order give the impression to Libyan people that the United States. But in that office, her primary allegiance should be to the American people and to keep the American people safe. Just as she has in much of her career, she has put the interests of foreigners ahead of her own countrymen. As a result of the diminished security around the embassy, American lives were lost. However, when asked about her role, she decided to play dumb and say that decisions about the security of the embassy compound were made by other individuals.

5) Hillary Clinton's "Clinton Foundation" is a Slush Fund. She and her husband have consistently boasted about how much good this non-profit organization provides. However, the figures just don't add up. When you bring in $140 million dollars in donations and only pay out $9 million in aid, while spending the rest on payroll, administration fees, conferences, flights, etc.; you're helping yourself first and foremost. While not directly on the foundation's payroll, the Clintons do receive free flights and other perks that fall into the administration fees category. Lying to the American public is natural for Hillary, but when you do it under the guise of aiding charities and noble causes, that's downright disgusting and fraudulent.
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999)  Hillary Clinton was dishonest and unethical from the very beginning. Forging political relationships with Ted Kennedy's campaign team and lying to skew the rules in his favor at the sake of due process in the investigation of Richard Nixon's actions leading up to the Watergate scandal. While working on the Watergate investigation in 1974, the lawyer who shared an office with her, John Labovitz, came to the Chief of Staff of the House Judiciary Committee to report Hillary Clinton for "her erroneous legal opinions and efforts to deny Nixon legal counsel". Upon further investigation, that same Chief of Staff  who supervised Hillary Clinton, came to the conclusion that she "engaged in a variety of self-serving unethical practices in violation of House rules". That lie was also politically motivated - she was doing everything in her power to aid Ted Kennedy's potential bid for the White House.

So when you head to the polls in the Primary, remember that we have no idea what self-interests Hillary will bring with her to the White House. But we can be certain of one thing - it will be primarily a self-serving tenure at the expense of the American people.

The Anti-Establishment Candidate

The race for the POTUS post in 2016 has been anything but conventional so far, and we are only mid-way through the primary season. By all indications, it will ratchet up to reach new highs and lows in the coming months. Both major parties' primaries have seen the rise of an unconventional, anti-establishment if you will, candidate.

The Tycoon
In the case of the Republican party, we have the bombastic and brash businessman Donald Trump. He was born with a silver spoon in hand and progressed the Trump empire to the point where organizations now pay him a substantial amount of money to simply license his name. By his own account, he knows the art of the deal, and there's even a book about it. Judging by the way he has worked the Republican party and galvanized his supporters to this point, he is certainly a shrewd tactician. His freshman entry into politics is described as being out of the love for the country and the desire to make it great again. He speaks his mind, regardless of whether or not it is abrasive, thereby angering both the liberals and the Republican financial supporters.

The Activist
In the case of the Democratic party, we have the self-described mild mannered Democratic Socialist Bernard Sanders. He was standing at the picket line out of the womb, standing up for the rights of those who have been wronged by society, government, etc. He spent his early life struggling and writing, before entering politics. He has been, if nothing else, consistent in his career. He stands up for the poor and the middle class, using his vote to surgically pursue his agenda while striking down any notion to help the wealthy and the elite. He doesn't get into mud-slinging exchanges, even when provoked. He is financed largely through social media (crowdfunding), thereby posing a threat to both the Washington Lobbyists and the Democratic colleagues who are backed by corporate sponsors.

Dividing Bulworth
Both candidates bear resemblance to the fictional character Jay Billington Bulworth, a disillusioned senator played by Warren Beatty in the 1998 movie "Bulworth". In this movie, the character finds a purpose to his life by becoming a beacon of hope to the minority population that has become apathetic toward the political process, convinced that the government doesn't care about them.

Trump certainly brings the open speech with blunt sledgehammer statements that became the trademark of Bulworth. He is willing to attack the establishment status quo and its sponsors without fear of retribution. He has a plan to deport illegal immigrants, build a wall on the Mexican border, tax imported goods at a high percentage, temporarily suspend immigration of Muslims, and revise international trade deals in order to reduce the deficit. He does not believe in political correctness and believes we have become too sensitive to small issues, while being desensitized to the larger problems. The bravado and flamboyant orator skills of Bulworth, without a question belong to Trump.

Sanders has been an activist his entire life and is relishing the moment to speak during his campaign about the existing injustice on a national stage. Just like Bulworth, he aims to disclose the minority discrimination in both the legal and economic arenas. In addition, he attacks the insurance companies and their close relationship with the government. He also attacks the big businesses and bank industry for destroying the incomes of the poor, middle class, as well as the income race to the bottom that has been spawned by businesses exporting American jobs overseas. Furthermore, he insists that public colleges and universities should roll back their tuition to close to small fraction of their current cost. The initiative of Bulworth to protect minorities, poor and the middle class certainly belong to Sanders.


Establishment Opposition
Both parties wanted to oust Trump and Sanders as soon as they saw their candidacy being viable. It is worth noting that both Republicans and Democrats initially laughed at the rookie politician coming from real estate industry and the socialist activist independent. However, when they gained sifnificant momentum, both parties started 'greasing the wheels' in order to stonewall both campaigns.

For the Democrats, who have the most undemocratic means at their disposal in the form of 'superdelegates', it is a simple task. Therefore Sanders' only opponent, former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, began to kiss superdelegate ass right away, and now has a gigantic lead over Sanders in this aspect - virtually assuring that Sanders will not be the Democrat nominee, even if he wins the popular party vote by the time of the Democratic convention. But if he wins the popular vote, the outcry against Clinton nomination will be justified and could turn the predictable outcome the other way.

For the Republicans, they came to realization that Trump is a real contender way too late. Now that he has a sizable delegate lead heading into March 15 primaries that will put 25% of Republican Delegates up for grabs, they have poured tens of millions of dollars into negative ads against Trump, has senior party members speak out against him and use the media to place him in negative light every step of the way (even when the spin is a far stretch from reality). But if Trump runs the table on March 15th, his nomination is almost guaranteed.

The Conclusion
For far too long, both parties have enjoyed their status quo lobby money and corporate sponsorship. For far too long, we the public have been sacrificed for the good of the corporate America by the very politicians we elect. And we have all grown apathetic towards the election process for this very reason. We now stand on the precipice of a tremendous event in politics - where our next President is not guided by the corporate sponsors nor influenced by lobbies in any way shape or form. Our elections could have a deep meaning again, if we can only reject establishment candidates.

Obviously, your vote is yours and so is the decision you make when your state votes in the primaries/caucuses and the general election. But I urge you for the sake of our country, please consider the non-establishment candidate when you go to the polls.