America is in love with reality television. There are numerous shows; people trying to survive on remote islands, hillbillies making moonshine in the backwoods and more hillbillies tracking down Bigfoot; shooting guns at night in the forest. UFO hunters are
America is in love with reality television. There are numerous shows; people trying to survive on remote islands, hillbillies making moonshine in the backwoods and more hillbillies tracking down Bigfoot; shooting guns at night in the forest. UFO hunters are at it as well. For some odd reason aliens from other worlds also prefer the backwoods and landing in remote areas at night. The ghost hunters also work at night, but pretty much stick to old run down houses.
A few of the reality shows are easier to watch because they mostly happen in daylight. You can see clues that prove that aliens from other worlds visited Earth in the past and did some amazing work in stone. Always with precision not possible by mere humans. Maybe their interstellar spacecrafts were made of stone and that’s where we got the word rocket. You can also watch gruff guys cut trees and pull them up a hill constantly risking injury and death, while other loggers pull old trees out of rivers and risk drowning. For the emotional viewer there are dysfunctional families, marriages, and other oddities trying to pass for real life. On one reality show you could actually get fired. All this kind of stuff makes you miss a time 40 years ago when they tried to tell you professional wrestling was real. Just as back then, most people know these shows are scripted.
There is however one reality show that is real, funnier and more entertaining; election year. You can’t make this up: On the left you have good old Bernie, a 74-year-old self-described socialist. A lifelong activist, he has a visceral hatred of capitalism, the rich, corporations and Wall Street. He promises free everything for everyone and a 90 percent tax rate to pay for it all. A minimum wage of $30,000 a year for flipping burgers. What could be better? Young people are flocking to his campaign, but we all know the very young love fairy tales.
His competitor, Hillary, is fond of fairy tales herself, although of a different type. The vast majority of Americans see her as not being truthful. Her problem with emails will fade away like a snowball in Kona. No one is going to do any more than scold her. Hillary, a lifelong Democrat, is being bested by Bernie who has only been a registered Democrat for four months.
The real entertainment is on the other side. The top of a very full ticket is a self-aggrandizing billionaire who seems to be proving himself a narcissistic demagogue and a vulgar bully. At the very least, Trump is certainly no gentleman. Just as with professional wrestling of yore, for a while he had a tag-team going with Cruz. Maybe Cruz saw Trump as his only friend. Nonetheless, in this real reality show Trump seemed to forget that it’s the fans who get to vote. He lost Iowa to Cruz. He was shocked, like the professional wrestler who misses a cue and actually gets hurt. Immediately he accused Cruz, the only Canadian running for U.S. president, of stealing the election.
That line of thinking only obsessed Trump for a day or two. He was quickly back spitting out insults to competitors followed by promises of things he would do that would make America great again. Of course, if he could do all the things he says he will, it would bankrupt America quicker than Bernie’s utopia. Downline, some of our professional wrestlers couldn’t even get in the ring and called it quits: We said goodbye to Huckabee, Santorum, Jindal, Paul, Pataki, Graham, Walker and Perry. The remaining contenders are still yearning for a fight, hoping for a quick takedown.
You could almost call this the Granola Show, made up of fruits, nuts and flakes, but it is real and the fans can vote. We actually could wind up with Bernie or The Donald in the White House. That would certainly be entertaining, but I think the chances are about as good as those hillbillies finding Bigfoot or a flying saucer landing in D.C. Enough tongue in cheek, but like I said, you can’t make this stuff up.
America is already a great country. America is great, not because of our presidents or other politicians, but because of our people. We are made up of every race, creed, color and nationality on Earth. We operate in a free and open society where there really is liberty and justice for all. Certainly we’ve made mistakes along the way and still will from time to time, but we have been and will continue to be self-correcting. Our capitalistic system of free enterprise, while not perfect, rewards investment, hard work and inventiveness. Yes, it’s highly competitive, but only competition breeds excellence. The products and services wrought from this capitalistic system not only help make our lives better, but many new products and services save lives and cure or correct horrendous maladies.
While we Americans know how to create real wealth, we also strive to take care of the least among us as any decent society should do. This help is not centered only on government, we have philanthropists who pour hundreds of millions into various projects, religious groups of all faiths that do amazing work and a host of charities and nonprofits to aid the less fortunate. We are a kind and good people, irrespective of our political persuasions. In every hamlet, village, town and city across America there are millions and millions of volunteers who give their time and energy to make life better for others. We are a good and decent people and I know that in this election we will choose well.
I’m hoping this election proves an old saying true: Life is like pasteurized milk. No matter how hard you shake it, the cream always rises to the top.
Jim Rath is a resident of Kailua-Kona
My Turn opinions are those of the writer and not West Hawaii Today
