Tomorrow will be a historic day in the United States. I think there is a struggle taking place for the soul of America, and tomorrow's mid-term results will tell us how strongly Americans support Rump, the Orange Emperor.
I watched a very interesting 60 Minutes segment last night discussing the heated
senatorial race in Texas, a state traditionally considered to be a “red” or
Republican state. Republican incumbent Ted Cruz is facing stiff opposition from
his Democratic opponent, Beto O’Rourke, even though O’Rourke is running his
campaign on a shoestring budget. The idealistic O’Rourke is not accepting any of the big money PAC support that his bloated opponent relies upon. O'Rourke may lose; he’s fighting a very powerful incumbent, and it
seems he brought a knife to a gunfight. Still, wouldn’t it be great if he won? I’d
like to see Goliath take one right between the eyes. Some say this race is a
litmus test for the political climate in the rest of the country. In keeping
with his reality T.V. behavior, Rump the blowhard is scampering around the
country trying to shore up his base (always at the taxpayer’s expense). Spreading
his lies and ignorance, and sparing no indignity as he spews his irresponsible,
hate-filled venom, Rump is proudly riding atop his turd-filled tsunami of fear.
I don’t think there has ever been a more glaring example of political hypocrisy
than Donald Rump hugging Ted Cruz at a campaign rally in Texas. I threw up a little in
my mouth. Does anybody remember the horrible
things they said about each other in the presidential primaries?! If, as I hope
and pray, the Republicans lose the House (and I never thought I’d wish for
this), and the Democrats take a few key states like Florida, Georgia, and Texas,
then there may still be hope for the soul of America. Even if the Democrats win
big, the problem isn’t fixed, we just stopped the bleeding temporarily.
Last Friday night, I drove down to Huntsville to see
singer songwriter Jon Brooks perform at the Huntsville Legion, and in tow I had
fellow musicians Sean Cotton, Paul Noonan, and my bluegrass mentor Buck
Marshall. Sadly Shauna, who has been battling the flu, was unable to attend. I
feel terrible for her because she loves Jon's songs and had been looking forward to this concert for
months. On the drive in to town I learned that Sean Cotton was good friends Jon
Brooks and had been his musical accompanist in the past. After we arrived at
the concert, I was walking around, socializing with friends and fellow
attendees, then set up my cell phone to record the performances about to take
place. The next thing I knew, Sean had made arrangements to borrow Jack
Nickalls’ guitar (Jack and his friend Jack Gaughan played an excellent jazz set
as the opening act), and he agreed to accompany Jon during his set. When
they got up onstage and played, it was evident they had played together before. There was a palpable chemistry between these two old friends. Sean blended
in beautifully and added his unique guitar leads to many of the songs I’d heard
Jon perform so many times before. As I have said ad nauseam on my Lyrical Workers show, one should never
underestimate the ability of a good musician to improve an already well-written
song. The whole night was fantastic, and I was grateful to have shared it with a respectable,
like-minded audience.
I don’t know what will happen in tomorrow’s mid-terms;
I expect the worst and hope for the best. My wish is to stem the jingoistic,
hate-inspired, and myopic void in leadership which has characterized the past two
years. We are better than this man. There is a new benchmark for bad leaders, and
it’s time to send America’s Mussolini a message: You’re fired.
- Written by Jamie Oppenheimer c 2018 ALL
RIGHTS RESERVED
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