HAVE AMERICANS LOST THEIR MORAL COMPASS?

During the 20^th Century, most people had never heard of a moral compass. A compass was a piece of metal with an arrow showing you which direction you were headed. Still a pretty handy item if you’re navigating in unknown territory. And then, a couple of decades ago, we started hearing the term “moral compass.” It first came into popular use in the year 2011. The Chief of Staff of the British Army observed that many UK citizens no longer had a sense of moral compass, while in the past, it would have been instilled in them by their parents. He said it would be up to the military to teach recruits the difference between right and wrong. When I hear that the majority of Americans are perfectly willing to vote for either Trump or Biden, you have to wonder. Have Americans lost their moral compass?

What is a moral compass? The dictionary defines it as : a set of beliefs or values that help guide ethical decisions, judgments, and behavior : an internal sense of right and wrong.

This doesn’t seem too complicated. Even little kids have a moral compass. They know not to hit or spit on one another if they’re mad. Teenagers with a moral compass don’t sell drugs or beat up on a guy they disagree with. It goes on through life. Even at my age, I know that if someone steals a package from my porch, that person lacks a moral compass.

We used to expect elected officials to show that they had a moral compass. Voters may not have liked Eisenhower, Truman, Ford or Carter, but they respected their integrity.

All that’s changed now. Few seem to care if the person they vote for has committed a crime or sexually harassed a member of the opposite sex. Lying and cheating seem to get a rubber stamp. If we look at recent polls, it would appear that voters in both parties are only interested in whether or not the person they elect can fulfill their personal wants and needs. No one seems to care about the common good, or uniting the country.

According to recent polls in Iowa, a majority of Republicans strongly support a presidential candidate who has been criminally indicted four times and been involved in numerous sexual harassment suits. The Democrats don’t care in the least that their man’s son had 40 different banks accounts in order to launder illegal payments to the current president’s family from foreign governments.

Both Biden and Trump have clearly demonstrated a lack of moral compass. If either one of these men are returned to the white house in the 2024 election, what does it mean? Have most Americans lost their moral compass? Or do they even know what one is?

July 1, 2022July 1, 2022

6 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENT

Once you’ve turned 80, you realize how many presidents you’ve known (or endured) in your lifetime. There are times when I think the country might do better without a president, because we’ve lasted through so many of their poor decisions and mistakes. Thankfully, they’ve done a few things right, which is probably one reason we’re still standing. Not sure if I’ll be around for the 2024 election, so just in case I’m not, I have a few suggestions for the next President of the United States of America.

6 suggestions for next president: Don't throw ketchup on the wall — 6 SUGGESTIONS FOR THE NEXT PRESIDENT: #6 Don’t throw plates against the wall. Someone will have to clean up the ketchup.

#1. Don’t ride in an open convertible during a parade. Presidents used to do that all the time. I remember the thrill of looking into Dwight Eisenhower’s beautiful blue eyes on one of his visits to Chicago. However, it didn’t work out well for John F. Kennedy in Dallas. .

#2. Bury the tapes. If you’re going to do something so foolish as to break into the opposing party’s election headquarters, for heaven’s sake, hide the evidence. Nixon thought he was preserving an important part of history by saving all of his conversations regarding Watergate. But the tapes came back to bite him. If the next president tries such a break-in, it will be much more complicated. He’ would have to erase all the text messages, e mails, and records of cell phone calls. Better yet, he should conduct any communication regarding such an activity one-on-one, inside a big closet. But make sure it’s debugged.

#3. If you’re feeling sick, don’t attend a state dinner with the Japanese Prime Minister. You’re liable to vomit in his lap, and it will make international headlines. George W. Bush later claimed it was just a simple case of the flu. Unfortunately, it was right around election time, and many people thought that episode contributed to his defeat.

#4 . Don’t smoke cigars, and if you do, keep them out of the oval office. Especially while conducting a tryst with an intern. And if things get out of hand, make sure you have a change of clothes available. Unlike Bill Clinton, don’t let her leave the room with the evidence . And once you have the blue dress, cut it up in little bitty pieces and flush it down the toilet.

#5. Speaking of toilets: Don’t use the toilet while talking to reporters. LBJ was known for sitting on the pot while conducting interviews. He got away with such crude behavior for awhile, but in the end, he realized he couldn’t get re elected.

#6. Unlike Trump, don’t throw plates against the wall when you get mad. Somebody will have to clean up the ketchup, and eventually, they’re going to testify before some congressional committee about your poor anger management skills. There are lots of apps now that help with that. Subscribe to something like CALM, meditate once a day, and do some deep breathing exercise before meeting with your attorney general after the election .

I don’t know about you, but I’m really hoping the next president won’t be an octogenarian like myself. We need a younger candidate who has demonstrated some common sense. But why would any sensible person want to run for president?

January 24, 2022January 23, 2022

PLEASE NOT CLINTON VS. TRUMP 2024

Just when I thought things couldn’t get much worse in this country, I see news flashes that the Democrats and Republicans have gone bonkers. They’re talking about a Clinton/Trump rematch for the next presidential election. Someone tell me this isn’t true. Please not Clinton vs. Trump 2024.

Since I’m older than both of them, I guess I can say this without it sounding like ageism. Why in the world would both parties run a couple of broken down, scandal ridden has-beens? Everything from White Water, to the fake Russian dossier, the Benghazi debacle and good buddy Epstein hang over Hillary’s head. From there, we go to Stormy Daniels, Trump University, the Covid debacle, and current investigations for fraud by the New York attorney General–all a dark cloud following Trump. And those are just a few of the problems each of them have faced. Enough already.

Someone once said that the best training for a future president of the United states is having served as a state governor. I’m not so sure of that. Reagan from California was a success, and former Texas governor Bush did get re elected. But look at poor Jimmy Carter, former governor of Georgia. He didn’t fare so well.

Nevertheless, I took the time to review the governors of every state in the union. The majority are Republicans. A lot of them are in their sixties and seventies. None of them strike me as red hot presidential material.

Naturally, I favor our own Indiana governor Holcomb, who is 53. He’s extremely well liked in Indiana, but I don’t think he’d stand a chance on the national stage. For one thing, he comes across as too honest and sincere. The media would see him as a dud. Others have mentioned fellow Hoosier and former mayor, Pete Buttigieg as a Democratic possibility. Maybe, but I’m not sure that a gay man could be elected president by the majority of the population.

That takes us down to the Senate and House of Congress. There must be dozens of young, charismatic office holders scattered throughout the country. Surely, the Democrats and Republicans can pick a winner out of that pool. Somebody. Anybody. But please not Clinton vs. Trump 2024.

January 2, 2022January 2, 2022

UNSUBSCRIBE TO BIDEN & TRUMP

My emails have been piling up incrementally during this pandemic. I used to get about 10 a day, but lately, it’s been closer to 100. Not being too tech savvy, I tried to unsubscribe the hard way: by slowly opening the email on my desktop, then searching the fine print that lets me unsubscribe. Very time consuming. Just found out that my smart phone makes it much easier. Most of these spam emails on my iphone have a bright blue UNSUSCRIBE link at the bottom. One quick click, and the pesky ads from clothing and insurance companies vanish, and don’t return. Now. I wish to unsubscribe to any news flash coming across the screen that contains the name Biden or Trump.

There was a time when I was actually interested in hearing about what those two were saying or doing. That was way back before the pandemic began. Everyone either hated Trump and loved Biden, or vise versa. You had to stay on your toes to defend your president of choice whenever the subject came up—which was often. But the truth is, nobody really cares anymore.

Trump rants and raves, but his base is dwindling and you pretty much know what he’s going to say. Biden only got elected because of Trump’s handling of the Covid Crisis. Just about any of the more viable Democratic candidates could have won. Biden’s made mistakes and he’s not getting any younger. You get the feeling the country is being run by a bunch of suits in a back room who are telling him what to say and when.

So, what I’d like to do is block anything coming across my newsfeed or email that has the name Biden or Trump in it. That would probably cut down of at least 50% of my spam e mail and Iphone news flashes. . But where would I find out what’s going on? How could I keep up with current events? Probably, the old fashioned way. By reading newspapers and magazines, I could go back over any story and sort out fact from opinion.. Most big city newspapers are pretty liberal, And you know that certain magazines are predictably conservative. But at least you can cut through the chaff and figure out for yourself what’s going on without relying on Twitter and AOL.

I wish I could unsubscribe to Biden and Trump. But I can’t.

October 8, 2021October 8, 2021

WE MAY NEED A THIRD PARTY CANDIDATE

For the past two presidential elections, most American’s voted against one candidate–not for. Even Trump was surprised when he beat Hilary Clinton in the 2016 election. But the fact is, lots of people didn’t like her at all, for various reasons. Misogyny, mainly. But others disliked her defense of her husband’s affairs, and the way she threw the women he targeted under the bus. And there was Benghazi, when our American ambassador was left hung out to dry while she was Secretary of State. And then came election 2020. By then, Trump had made so many ridiculous gaffes and mistakes with the Covid-19 pandemic, that people were willing to vote for anyone who opposed him. Hence, we elected a 42 year political hack who never had what it took to run for president—until now. Seems the Democrats and Republicans are so mired in their own party politics that they can’t come up with a truly appealing candidate. Makes you wonder. We may need a third party candidate.

We may need a third party for America to come to its senses. — We may need a third party candidate, since Democrats and Republicans can’t come up with an appealing one..

I’m an independent voter which has it’s disadvantages, because you can’t vote in the primaries. But I’ll be darned if I will go all out for any politician I don’t think would do a good job, just because I want to be part of a crowd. In the days before internet dating sites, young people used to join politically active organizations as a way to meet members of the opposite sex. Remember, those were the days when you were supposed to be a joiner if you were looking to find a spouse, Churches and political parties were fertile mating grounds.

The majority of young people I know vote Democratic. They love causes, and joining protest groups. Give them something to march about , and they’ll be there in rain, sleet and snow. Most older people are fairly quiet about their opinions, which more often than not are conservative. Middle age conservatives are a bit more vocal—driving around town with American flags and signs that say f*** Biden. But the truth is, neither party has produced a truly dynamic, appealing candidate for the past two elections.

I don’t know how anyone could support either party’s platform 100%. Do we really believe that all Republicans oppose abortion rights, and all Democrats want open borders? I don’t think so.

It may be time for a third party. Call it Common Sense, or whatever you like, but let it be centrist. And please, come up with an intelligent inspiring, candidate

June 16, 2021June 16, 2021

WHATEVER HAPPENED TO CHARISMA?

Decades ago, charisma was a popular word. The first time I ever saw a charismatic politician was when I lived in Chicago. President Dwight Eisenhower came to town in 1960, and over one million people stood in the streets to cheer him on. I happened to be in the front row when he drove by, sitting atop a convertible seat. Just for a moment, our eyes met. A shiver ran through my entire body. He was old and white haired. But with his brilliant blue eyes, robust coloring and warm smile, the man radiated charisma.

What is charisma? The dictionary describes it as a compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others.

A lot of presidents haven’t had it. Nixon, Carter, Johnson and Bush were good speakers, but they didn’t have that spark. John Kennedy had it. He was young, handsome, and inspiring when he said: “Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Ronald Reagan had it. When his enemies attacked him, he didn’t get mad. Just smiled and said, “there you go again.” I don’t remember him ever calling his opponents bad names. He was just the gipper. Smiling, confident, unflappable.

Barack Obama had it. All you had to do was read his book, “Dreams From My Father” to know he was sensitive, empathetic, inspiring, and yes, charismatic.

In 2008, they started holding workshops that could teach people how to be charismatic. But the truth is, charisma is hard to teach. I think it’s something a person is born with.

Fast forward to the present day. A lot of people compared Trump to Reagan. But Trump doesn’t have charisma. Trump is an entertainer. He’s funny and dynamic, but when he starts the name calling, it’s over. Charismatic people don’t run people down; they lift you up on eagle’s wings. Our current president Biden is affable and pleasant, but he doesn’t make your heart swell when he delivers a speech.

Our country is in desperate need of a presidential candidate who has charisma. There has to be someone out there who can charm and inspire us to loftier goals.

Whatever happened to charisma?