Politics

The first election that I can remember much of was in 1964.  Presidential election that is.  It was Barry Goldwater v Lyndon Johnson.  Johnson became President after the assassination of President Kennedy in Dallas Texas in 1963.  Goldwater was a Senator from Arizona.  At this time, I was completely ignorant of politics, so I had little idea of what it was all about.

All I remember about it was that I didn't like Johnson.  Funny recollection about Johnson.  He was called "uncle cornpone" from what I understand.  For some reason, I felt that that he had something to do with the assassination.  I had faint memories of Kennedy.  What I remembered was that he made people laugh at his news conferences.  Goldwater lost to Johnson in a huge landside.

By 1968, the Vietnam War had taken its toll on Johnson, who dropped out.  I remember watching his speech on TV.  It seemed like that war was never going to end, and I might get drafted to go fight in it.  But hardly any relatives of mine actually went there, and I don't think anybody got hurt.  Of course, a lot of others did.  I didn't like Humphrey any better than I liked Johnson.  Dad didn't like Republicans, it seemed.  But he didn't like Kennedy either.  As best as I can tell, he didn't like politicians much.  I can see his point now.  Nixon won that one in a squeaker.

In 1972, I was getting close to voting age, but not there yet.  I didn't dislike McGovern, but I didn't respect him.  There has always been this respect issue with Democrats.  They seem frivolous.  McGovern nominated a guy for his veep who had mental problems.  He had to drop him.  That destroyed his candidacy, little doubt. The Democrats never forgave the Republicans for that.  They've been running against Republican veeps ever since.  Dole was too mean, Bush was a wimp, and Quayle was a dummy.  Cheney had no heart and was the living impersonation of Darth Vader.  And Palin hunted moose.  Anyway, Nixon pasted McGovern, but things didn't improve in the Democrat Party, even though they had plenty of reforms.

I could vote in 1976, but didn't.  I favored Ford even though he couldn't walk and chew gum at the same time.  Carter smiled too much.  He raised peanuts.  But what worried me most is that he wanted to pull out of Korea.  Ford told us he wasn't a Lincoln.  As if we didn't know already.  Even though he was a screw up, the peanut farmer had all he could manage in pulling out a close victory.

But peanut head didn't fare so well against the Gipper.  I did vote in 1980, but not for Reagan.  The reason: cutting taxes without cutting spending was guaranteed to cause huge deficits, and I was right.  But I thought there would be hyper inflation from all the deficits.  As things turned out, deficits do not cause inflation.  Monetary policy does.  Milton Friedman explained that in his book "Free to Choose".  I had not read it by 1980, though.  It wouldn't have made any difference.  Reagan seemed almost a frivolous as the Democrats.  Maybe that is why he won.

I skipped voting in 1984.  Reagan v Mondale didn't seem like a fair fight.  Besides, I wasn't paying much attention.

By 1988, I was.  I voted for the wimp, because Dukakis had such a funny name.  How can anybody with a name like that become President?  Besides, he said he wouldn't whack any guy who raped his wife because it just wouldn't be the fair thing to do.  Bentsen won that election by creaming Quayle in the debate.  But Bush stole it anyway.

Clinton showed up in 1992.  This must a been a watershed in American history.  That's because before this election, no draft dodger would ever have a prayer of winning.  But win he did.  The country hasn't been the same since.

Clinton was always known as a skirt chaser, but the big scandal hadn't happened yet by 1996.  As the veep said, "the force" was with them.  The force meaning the economy, of course.  Peace works too.  People will forgive a lot if they've got a good job and nobody has to go fight in a war.

People were not quite so forgiving by 2000.  Gore was having trouble keeping himself in control during the debates with his antics like sighing and stalking Bush.  It was even worse after the election itself, when it took him several court decisions before he finally decided to give it up.  Talk about a Sore Loserman.

Now we are up to 2004, and I start my first blog.  I can't believe Kerry.  He wasn't a draft dodger, but he was nearly as bad, accusing US troops of acting like Ghenghis Khan.  It was closer than what it should have been.  As the Clinton election showed, the American people just didn't take this stuff seriously anymore.

In 2008, we got our first black President.  Hooray!  /sarc  I know that people would call that racist, but how can it not be racist if they are so busy noticing what Obama's race was?  The worse thing about that election is that people took pride in something that was quite questionable.  One of Obama's buddies, Ayers, was photographed standing on a flag.  Obama's pastor said "God damn America" and the people must have liked it because they voted the guy in.  We were going to get change because we really needed it.  But that leaves the question: change from what into what?  This election left a really bad taste in my mouth.  It has been two years and counting, and I can still taste it.  There is talk about this country's decline.  If you believe that, just look who's been winning elections.