Confidence

Johnny Carson used to host a program called "Who Do You Trust?".

Walter Cronkite was often referred to as the most trusted man in America.

And we had John Wayne.


Look what we have today.


Let's face it folks, it has been a while since we have had anybody in government that we really admired, somebody that, even if we disagreed with them, we could still at least respect or trust to some measurable degree.


How far back do we have to go? Clinton? He wasn't too bad, but had the bad luck to be caught with his pants down, (literally), with regard to his personal life. His involvement with some less then upright financial dealings in real estate did not help matters, evn though they were nothing that a lot of rich folks did and also got away with, not really illegal but the appearance of a sweetheart deal really didn't go over with common folks.


Bush I? My impression of the guy was that he was a gentleman, and that he had some class about him. Look where it got him.


Ronald Reagan? He had some style, and was professionally likable, like Don Rickles in the White House. He was uppity in a down home way. The guy did some good things with his aw shucks style but to be truthful, he did more harm and was possibly the second most divisive president of the latter half of his century.


Jimmy Carter was the real deal, but he couldn't throw or catch real well. There is probably an object lesson there, but I don't want to get into that here.


Gerald Ford was also the genuine article. In my estimation, like him or his politics or not, he was the underrated man to occupy the oval office in its history. He was in a position of not being able to win, but worked at it anyway, and did a great deal of good during his tenure. He was able to bring the country together in a very rough time, and got no credit for it.


Nixon. No elaboration required.


Prior to that, we had LBJ, who maintained some decorum, but was a politician of the old school, a man who knew where the bodies were buried.


So, where am I going with this?

It seems to me that we have been consumed by the practice of politics, and have lost track of the purpose of the whole endeavor. In todays world, politics itself is a cancer, it serves itself only.

How do we deal with that? Who do you trust?

As I see things, one takes a candidate and works with him/her for as long as our interests coincide, then discard them. The process works both ways. A candidate takes a constituency for as long as it takes to become embedded, or to gain a certain advantage, then moves on, giving no more. This year, it appears that the candidate on the left will be elected, as his platform appears to coincide with the interests of most likely voters. That could change of course, but that is the way things look right now.

How will things look this time next year?

How will external influences shift, how much will the candidates interests and backers, (no, not the voters...) have strengthened, will the voters interests matter at that time?

What is our exit strategy from whatever path we choose this November?

Just something to keep in mind.

stay focused.