2016 Elections Provide a Breath of Fresh Air

Most GOP presidential candidates gathered in Des Moines this past weekend at the Iowa State Fair to show that they were just common folk and great Americans.  The Associated Press wrote a lengthy story describing the activities, emphasizing several times throughout that the leading candidates sampled a pork chop on a stick.

The odds are against me casting a vote for a Republican in the 2016 election; especially since I neither eat pork nor other meat derived from four-legged creatures. For that matter, I would vote for only one of two candidates from the Democratic Party, but I won’t reveal his name now.

I have actively campaigned for only two presidential candidates, and doing so for Norman Thomas in 1948, almost caused me to be ineligible for the Michigan National Guard.

In 1968, when I was living in New Jersey, I was very active and worked hard in Eugene McCarthy’s bid for the presidency. I was optimistic after McCarthy gathered 42 percent of the Democratic primary vote in New Hampshire, but quite disappointed afterwards, when an opportunist Bobby Kennedy decided to run.

I still have a faded McCarthy poster entitled, “A breath of fresh air.” This is in marked contrast to the GOP debates, which could be labeled “A lethal mixture of hot air.”

I also possess a red, white and blue button that reads,  "McCARTHY FOR PRESIDENT”

The red, white and blue color scheme has always been alive and, well it’s alive today on both sides of the aisle, as you can see here, starting with the GOP. Somehow, they all look the same, or so it seems, except for Donald's and Jeb's.

The GOP’s symbol is an elephant, which is indeed an endangered species, perhaps with Trump as the adversarial poacher, out to kill the establishment. However, is there a candidate for either party that you can truly trust?

In 2008, John Edwards seemed like a decent presidential candidate, so I sent him a check. In August 2008, he admitted having an affair with a staffer, at the same time that his wife Elizabeth’s cancer returned. She died in December 2010, and my contributions to presidential candidates also died, until this year.

As far as the party with an ass as its symbol, I have finally sent moneys to 2016’s version of Gene McCarthy, and prefer him and his button to both what’s her name's and Joe Biden's.

There seems to be more than a kernel of honesty and integrity with Sanders, and he is the only breath of fresh air around today.