It is, as we all know not primarily the summer season or the
fall but the season of politics. And I have tried to be a ‘good girl’, especially
here, not writing much about politics as I know everyone gets a full share of
it elsewhere. But sometimes, as my 12 year old grandson, Austin likes to say,
“Nena, it just gets to be too much.” And that is the point I have reached. There
are so many things I do not understand, so maybe at this point, I will just ask
some of the questions that are really bothering me…
·
WHO was
the last candidate running for president who was a former law professor, had
served in the Cabinet (as Secretary of State), in the US Senate, and lived 8
years in the White House and seen the pressure that comes with being President,
up front and personal? Never before has there been a candidate running for US
President with this quantity and quality of qualifications before the 2016 election.
And it is NOT Donald Trump!
·
WHAT happened
to the day when parents could sit even their grade school-aged children down in
front of the presidential candidates as they appeared on television and have
them listen to the future leaders of our country? My parents had us, my sister and I, in the
first and third grades respectively, listen to John Kennedy and Richard Nixon
when they debated for the office of president in 1960. Do you want your third
grader to listen to the things Donald Trump says on a regular basis? I don’t
think I want my junior high and high school grandsons listening to a great deal
of what he says.
·
WHEN
did it become acceptable to stroll into Jefferson City or Washington D.C. and
decide to run for the top office, like governor (of the state of Missouri) or
president (of the United States), with no experience whatsoever, such as having
run for an elective position or ever holding public office (such as an
appointment)? Could I walk into a Fortune 500 company and say I wanted to be
their new CEO and be seriously considered? I don’t think so. The truth is I’ve
been elected to a school board, elected for 25 years as a political central
committee member, been appointed by the governor to two different state wide
task forces, been selected as a national adoption advocate, served as an
administrator for a county sheriff’s department for 10 years, and worked as a
part-time journalist for over 30 years. And while, I cannot fire an AR-15 or an
AK-47, my previous work and public service experience makes me a more qualified
candidate for governor than at least one of the men currently running for that
office. And no, I don’t want to be governor!
·
WHERE in the world does Donald Trump get the
idea that it is acceptable to bully and belittle women on a regular basis? Do
we really want our daughters and our sons listening to him for the next four to
eight years? A co-worker from years ago had a husband who regularly belittled
her, called her all sorts of foul names yet never lifted a hand against her.
She said she stayed with him because she thought it best for their four
children. She told me, broken-heartedly a few years later, that what she taught
her two daughters by doing so, is that it was acceptable and they turned around
and married men just like that, resulting in both of them having miserable
marriages that ended in divorce. More significantly, perhaps, women in many underdeveloped
countries are those countries’ greatest untapped resource and in many places,
they still suffer horrible abuse and death at the hands of their family
members, as a matter of daily living. How is a president who regularly refers
to women in a variety of derogatory ways going to improve the lives of those
women in terms of human rights, when he regularly disrespects the feelings and
dignity of the women of his own culture? How will he treat the women leaders of
other countries in delicate negotiations in matters of state? Women in this
country have fought too long and too hard to attain basic rights and privileges—everything
from the right to vote to equal pay for equal work to breaking through that
ever present glass ceiling—to give it up now to a president who respects none
of it.
·
WHY is it that during President George
Bush’s 8 years in office, there were 13 attacks on US embassies in which 60
people were killed and yet we never hear about any of those…we only hear about
Bengazi, in which, yes, regrettably, 4 Americans were killed. And why is it we never hear that the family
of the American ambassador, Chris Stevens, killed in Bengazi, has publicly
objected to those blaming Secretary Clinton for his death.
Who,
What, When, Where and Why…these are the questions that are taught in basic
Journalism 101, the questions all good reporters are supposed to ask and seek
to answer in any factual newsworthy article they write. They are just some of
the questions I have in this election and of course, the biggest one being, HOW could anyone answer the above
questions and still vote for Donald Trump?
Laura L. Valenti, author
The Heart of the Spring,
The Heart of the Spring Lives On,
The Heart of the Spring Comes Home, and
The Heart of the Spring Everlasting
Between the Star and the Cross: The Choice and
Between the Star and the Cross: The Election
Ozark Meth: A Journey of Destruction and Deliverance with co-author Dick Dixon
We know that Jesus had 33 years Between The Star at his birth and the Cross at his death. We each have a time between our star and our cross. We just don't know how long that might be. The real question is 'what will you do with yours?' Blessings, LV
