Why I Would Rather Watch Big Brother than the Republican Convention

Okay. So I DID watch some of the Republican convention. I saw Don Jr. do a fantastic job speaking with a TelePrompTer. I saw Ivanka do a phenomenal job making her father appear conservative, all while using progressive, left-wing talking points. I also saw Trump himself speak. But I seriously wanted to cry, so I ended up turning it off half way through and just listening to it on the radio. I missed the one speech I wanted to see - Ted Cruz's - because I had a previous engagement and my DVR decided to forget what I told it to do.

Side note: all the fuss about Ivanka wearing a dress that "only" cost $135 is lost on me. I wouldn't spend $35 on a dress, let alone $135. I literally spent $60 on my wedding dress. But maybe I'm the only one. And I can't help but feel as though it was more about promoting her brand than it was about being frugal. But maybe that's just me, too.

But I digress.

The reasons I have started watching Big Brother instead of election coverage and the news about Black Lives Matters and ISIS are as follows:

1) They don't talk about it.

Really. I have never heard the words Trump, Hillary, Black Lives Matter, or ISIS uttered in the house. There was one guy who compared himself to Obama (and Jesus), but the house evicted him the first week. Mostly because he compared himself to Obama and Jesus.

I kind of envy them, really. They are immune to the news from Paris and Munich. They are unaware of the drama surrounding the convention in Cleveland. They are oblivious to the recent deaths of policemen in Dallas, Baton Rouge, and Kansas City. People say that ignorance is bliss, and I'm jealous of both the housemates' ignorance and their bliss.


2) Housemates are making friends, forming alliances, and evicting nominees based on merit and character rather than the color of their skin.

Da'Vonne dislikes Frank, not because he's white but because he's a jerk. Tiffany didn't like Da'Vonne or Zakiyah because they lied to her, not because of the color of their skin. Honestly, it's my idea of utopia. In real life, I'm so tired of race being an issue. I find affirmative action offensive. People of color have talents and abilities worthy of employment and acceptance to college based on merit. They don't need the government to ensure their success. They are perfectly capable of ensuring it themselves IF everyone will just get out of their way and let them.

 Of the three showmances (yes, that's a word), two of them are inter-racial. For any of you who watch,
I'm definitely Team James & Natalie.  It should be noted that, in addition to politics and race, religion plays no part in relationships or gameplay.


3) It gives me the opportunity to escape reality.

I am by nature a realist. I'm an optimistic realist, but a realist nonetheless. I spend a lot of time reading about, listening to, and thinking about the world around me. I don't know how I became the way that I am, but I have a nearly compulsive need to know everything about everything. My mother finds politics and current events to be too stressful. My father was an immigrant from the UK so he just wasn't terribly interested. My brother was a Bernie supporter, to be honest, but it's still not something with which he is overly concerned. I, on the other hand, have been slightly obsessed with politics since middle school.

In addition to my obsession with politics and learning about the world around me, I am also the mother of four children, a senior in college, and spend my days working in the public school system. Like a lot of you, my family struggles financially. We have a roof over our heads and food on the table, but we don't have a lot of extra money and I worry already about retirement.

I have told you all of that to say this: my days are filled with a lot of harsh realities and Big Brother is a means by which I can escape reality, just as the housemates have. For one hour I don't think about the disaster that is Trump or the corruption that is Hillary. I just enjoy watching people dress in odd costumes for competitions and then try to negotiate and bargain with one another so that the "right" person is evicted. I think I'm better off than they are, however, because while they're stressing out about being nominated for eviction and competing for power, I'm chilling on my couch with my daughter or jogging on the treadmill.

Thanks for indulging me ;)

2016: The Year of the Dumpster Fire

In the words of a spokesman for Senator Ben Sasse (R, Neb.), "with these two candidates (Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump), this election is a dumpster fire." I cannot tell you how much I love that quote. It encapsulates the current condition of politics of this country perfectly.

How did America get to this place? How did the country that George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin worked so hard to build get to the place that Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump were the chosen presidential candidates? How did the country that both Kennedy and Reagan worked so hard to fight Communism decide that Socialism was a viable - even preferred - option? How did the country that idolizes Martin Luther King, Jr. get to the place that entitled college students could scream about Black Lives being the only ones that matter?

I'll be honest. After writing the last blog entry, I became a big fan of Ted Cruz. He seemed to be the one candidate that understood the importance of the Constitution, the value of the Human Life, and who was willing to stand up for what he knew to be right even when faced with the opposition of the entire Senate, both Republican and Democrat. That is what I wanted in a president. After Cruz dropped out I felt defeated, and I frankly haven't been nearly as invested in this election as I was before he left it.

Ted Cruz and Carly Fiorina

This isn't to say that there weren't good qualities among the other candidates. Marco Rubio was certainly someone I would have supported if Cruz had dropped out before he did. I would have also supported a Cruz/Rubio ticket. Carly Fiorina was fantastic, and I would have gladly voted for that female candidate had she won the delegates. I initially thought she would make a great Secretary of State, but was happy when Cruz chose her for his running mate. I also liked Ben Carson. I didn't think he was ready to be president, but I thought he would make a great asset to the cabinet and, once he learned the ropes a bit, could have made an excellent candidate in eight years.

I cannot fathom what America was thinking. We essentially have two narcissistic criminals running for office. For all intents and purposes, we have the choice between a Democrat running as a Republican and a Socialist running as a Democrat come November.

According to the FBI, Hillary is so ignorant, she doesn't know how to tell classified information from unclassified. After spending eight years working in the White House with her husband Bill, and after spending four years as Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton is so stupid she doesn't realize what information needs to be restricted? Hillary Clinton is a lot of things, but she is not stupid. However, for the sake of argument, we'll say that she is. If that doesn't disqualify her for the office of the presidency, it should at the very least make us question whether or not she's the right person for the job. Do we want a president who "accidentally" sends classified emails to friends on an unsecure server? I don't.



Hillary Clinton (D) and Donald Trump (R)

There are two schools of thought about our little dumpster fire. The first is that we need to vote for
Trump, because no matter how awful he is, he's got to be better than Clinton. The second is that we need to vote third party because Trump will not only ruin the country, he will also destroy the Republican party. That is how bad he is. He may well destroy the party that gave us Abraham Lincoln 150 years ago.

Now, I don't think for one moment that Trump will have caused the destruction of the GOP single handedly. No, politicians like Mitch McConnell and Pat Roberts have been chipping away at the party of conservatives for years. Both of these men were among the Republicans that voted to pass Obama's omnibus spending bill last December. And then there is Paul Ryan, the man who was supposed to regain some ground for conservatives after John Boehner was ousted as Speaker of the House. Currently, he is spearheading gun control legislation after the Democrats staged their sit-in.

Donald Trump is the unfortunate result of all of the hard work of the Republicans to become Democrats and the Democrats to become Socialists.  He is the result of the people in fly-over country who are angry that their representatives aren't representing them. What they failed to understand is that Trump, who will say anything that comes into his head, has very little substance. Sure, he can call a spade a spade, but he's playing poker in a bridge tournament. He doesn't know what he's talking about most of the time, and he's too narcissistic to realize it or to care about it.

So which is worse? The candidate that knows exactly what she's doing and is going to take us all down with her, or the candidate that hasn't got a clue what he's doing and is likely going to take us all down with him? Either way, it's a dumpster fire. Our only hope is to free the delegates. Please. For the sake of our children and our children's children, let them go.

The Call to Patriotism

There comes a time in every patriot's life when the decision is made to act. For some, it is an intense desire to serve and to be part of something greater than themselves. Many have felt that desire over the years, from Jefferson to Reagan. For others, it is a calling. Everything I've read about George Washington suggests that he had little interest in being the first President of the United States, but felt compelled to act because of his love of country and fellow countrymen.

Watching the circus that is the presidential primary race of 2016, I have been cautious to make up my mind about the candidate for whom I will vote. Each of the Republican candidates bring something different to the table. I had high hopes for a members of both parties that have since dropped out of the race, and of the Republicans remaining, there are two or three that I really like.

While I do not know with certainty the person for whom I will be voting, I know with every certainty the people for whom I will not be voting. It goes without saying that I will not be voting for Bernie Sanders. He seems to be a nice enough person, and I believe that he is sincere in what he says. He truly believes all of the drivel he has been spouting. This makes him a rather dangerous socialist. Looking throughout history, it's nearly impossible to find a Socialist government that, in reality, was best for its people. Sanders' utopian goals are noble in their idea - who wouldn't like to live in a world where everyone is equal and we can all just get along? - but in reality it's about government control and the loss of freedom for citizens.

Like Sanders, Hillary Clinton has qualities that encourage people to vote for her. The most obvious is the fact that she's the first female candidate that has had any real chance of winning the general election. It's unfortunate, but many people are willing to vote for her simply because she's a woman. In their minds, I suppose she represents all women throughout history and by voting for her they are undoing all of the damage done to women around the world for centuries. Never mind her unethical and illegal behaviors. Never mind her narcissism and dishonesty. She's a woman, and therefore deserves to be the Commander in Chief of the greatest nation on Earth. I can't wrap my head around this logic, but it persists, nonetheless.

According to everything I've read in the media, I am one of the few that will not be voting for Donald Trump in the primary election, either. I cannot, in good conscience, vote for a man that I believe stands for everything I detest. He believes in big government like Sanders and is every bit the narcissist that Clinton is, but because he is running with an R behind his name, conservatives everywhere are willing to overlook it. His views on everything from abortion to the Second Amendment have changed so much over the past couple of years. This combined with his contributions to the likes of Hillary Clinton and Harry Reid have me questioning everything Trump says.

Having said that, I am grateful that Trump has run for president, and grateful that he has run as a Republican. While he likes to take credit for the discussion about immigration and amnesty, I think it's much more appropriate to credit him with the new-found freedom Republicans have to speak openly and honestly, without regard for being politically correct. Trump has shown both politicians and the media that the average American doesn't want to hear more politically correct rhetoric that displays the fear our leaders have had of offending the left-wing. He calls it like he sees it, and has inspired Ted Cruz, Ben Carson, and Marco Rubio to do the same. For that, I am grateful. I am grateful that those running on conservative principles no longer feel obliged to pander to the media out of fear.

But that doesn't mean I want a President Trump.