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The Republicans love to say that there is a double standard of justice in this country. 

Poor, poor Donald J. Trump. Victimized by a partisan judicial system that has coordinated its timing of the various civil trials, and state and federal criminal trials involving Donald J. Trump to ensure that he would be mired in legal matters and unable to successfully campaign for reelection.

The fact is that this concept of a politically based double standard of justice never existed before Donald J. Trump.  There is no evidence that any other Republican has been victimized by the alleged partisan weaponization of the Justice Department.

This is because this concept of a double standard of justice is a singularity that applies only to Donald J. Trump. 

Therefore, whether or not there is a double standard of justice can only be debated with respect to Donald J. Trump, he and he alone. Without Donald J. Trump, there is no alleged double standard of justice.

So, did Donald J. Trump’s actions actually warrant the charges that have been brought against him? Let’s consider the cases one by one.

E. Jean Carroll vs. Donald J. Trump

If there is one case where Donald J. Trump deserves sympathy it would be this one. 

It seems clear that something happened between E. Jean Carroll and Donald J. Trump in a Bergdorf Goodman department store dressing room over 25 years ago. 

Photographs show that E. Jean Carroll and Donald J. Trump had some minimal social contact prior to the alleged dressing room encounter. This contact was probably more significant to her than to him.  Donald J. Trump stated that he had no recollection of meeting E. Jean Carroll at that earlier time, which is believable.

Back in the day, however, E. Jean Carroll was an attractive woman, and it is hard to believe that she would not have been Donald J. Trump’s type.  

Whether or not the alleged dressing room encounter was consensual or not is clearly one of those he said/she said situations. Donald J. Trump has a history of making comments and acting in a manner that was insulting and demeaning towards women, which made it easy for the jury to believe that he was a sexual predator, and that is probably why the jury chose to believe her instead of him. 

Given the quirkiness of E. Jean Carroll that has come to light since the verdict was handed down, it is fair to question whether her recollection of events that happened over 25 years ago is accurate.

According to published reports, E. Jean Carroll is a strange woman given to bizarre behavior and has expressed opinions about rape that are not commonly held by the public at large, i.e., that every sexual act between a man and a woman is rape.

In addition, her complaint that Donald J. Trump’s continued denial of guilt has somehow damaged her reputation is highly questionable, as relatively few people knew of her prior to her allegations, so what and how her reputation has been damaged is a fair question to ask. She initiated this entire case by publishing a book that accused Donald J. Trump of rape, and now she is set to receive the most incredible payday of her career.

It is easy for many to conclude that Donald J. Trump is a disgusting pig when it comes to women, given his history of comments and actions. But this does not justify an $88 ,000,000 award to a 78-year-old woman for something that may or may not have happened over 25 years ago. This is a woman who seems to have deep psychological issues with men and sex. 

Who knows what really happened in that dressing room? Neither Donald J. Trump’s wholesale denial or E. Jean Carroll’s claims of rape and sexual abuse ring true.

The financial award is grossly excessive and will more than likely be significantly reduced upon appeal, but this entire case was made possible by Donald J. Trump’s history of misogynistic treatment of women and the opportunistic actions of one of them. Politics does not seem to have had anything to do with it. 

Stormy Daniels/New York City vs. Donald J. Trump

This is another legal case against Donald J. Trump that stretches the limits of credulity and appears to be based upon tenuous legal theory rather than common sense. It is also a case that Donald J. Trump has brought upon himself by his decision to have a one-night stand in a Las Vegas hotel room with a porn star while his wife was recovering from giving birth to his fifth child.

This case required that misdemeanors be upgraded to felonies through legal sleight-of-hand in order to circumvent the applicable statute of limitations. This case was brought by a New York City district attorney for what appears to many to be motivated by personal political ambition and not any actual injury to the public.

Again, Donald J. Trump insists that nothing ever happened between him and Stormy Daniels despite evidence to the contrary, which exhibits an impressive level of denial and wishful thinking. There is no conceivable reason why Donald J. Trump would have paid Stormy Daniels $135,000 in hush money for nothing.

Even so, whether Donald J. Trump paid Stormy Daniels hush money in order to avoid his wife Melania’s wrath, or to avoid yet another public display of his immoral behavior that could have lost him the presidential election – these payments were not against the law. 

This case against Donald J. Trump seems to be an exercise in the abuse and manipulation of our judicial system by a local district attorney who should be censored for his behavior and voted out of office. Donald J. Trump should be sentenced to humiliation served.

 New York State vs. The Trump Organization

This case against the Trump Organization has nothing to do with Donald J. Trump the presidential candidate, but instead appears to have everything to do with a state attorney general out to make her reputation as the woman who brought down Trump.

Even now that the case has concluded and a huge financial penalty has been levied against the Trump Organization, it is still unclear who was victimized in this case. It is understood that the Trump Organization systematically overvalued properties to obtain larger loans, and systematically undervalued properties to pay lesser taxes.

It seems like this should be a crime of some sort, having two sets of property values, similar to having two sets of financial records. But this does not appear to be the basis of the civil penalty. Instead, there seems to have been some sort of convoluted evaluation of additional profit made possible because of the larger loans obtained due to the overvaluation of properties. 

The banks who made the loans were apparently paid in full, principal and interest. The Trump Organization was able to leverage the larger loans in some way so as to make itself more money. No victims here.

Were the victims the people of the State of New York who lost out on taxes that would have been much higher if the same property valuations had been used as the tax basis that were used to obtain the loans? Probably, but it is difficult to follow the reasoning used to compute the civil penalty, which on the face of it seems punitive and excessive.

The apparent fact that Donald J. Trump manipulated, i.e., cheated the system to his financial advantage should come to no surprise to anyone. This is, after all, the man whose companies declared bankruptcy five times, dumping substantial debt on those who had believed in Donald J. Trump’s smoke and mirrors. 

Fulton County, Georgia vs. Donald J. Trump

Finally, we arrive at a legal indictment that involves the actions of Donald J. Trump as President of the United States and not does not involve his personal immorality or his unethical business practices. 

It has been alleged that Donald J. Trump engaged in a conspiracy with a number of acolytes to interfere with the presidential election proceedings and to change the outcome of the presidential election in Georgia from Biden to Trump, thereby allowing Donald J. Trump to win the election and retain the presidency. 

Again, it is a local district attorney who is at the center of this case. She seems to be acting in a righteous and imperious manner, and has apparently gotten herself in over her head by trying to address this case as a grand criminal conspiracy. The fact that she had an affair with an independent attorney retained by Fulton County who was involved with this case has served to taint the legal validity of the indictment. 

However, the indictment of Donald J. Trump still stands. The efforts of Donald J. Trump’s legal team to paint Donald J. Trump’s actions as legitimate presidential actions taken to safeguard our democracy are unpersuasive, to be overly generous. In addition, their efforts to use the unbelievably stupid personal behavior of the district attorney as evidence that Donald J. Trump cannot receive a fair trial and as justification that all charges should be dismissed are without legal merit. 

It seems apparent that Donald J. Trump’s alleged actions have been nothing more than a blatant attempt to prevent the legitimate results of the election in Georgia from being ratified through veiled threats and other forms of intimidation. There is nothing presidential about Donald J. Trump’s abuse of power. Donald J. Trump’s actions are an insult to the office of the presidency. 

U.S. (Mara Lago Documents Case) vs. Donald J. Trump

This is the first of two cases where the alleged actions of Donald J. Trump are most egregious and disturbing.

The presence of boxes and boxes of presidential and non-presidential documents stored in multiple locations in Donald J. Trump’s residence in Mara Lago is irrefutable. The fact that many of these documents were marked as “Classified” or “Top Secret” because they contained information related to national security and strategic interests of the United States is irrefutable. 

The fact that Donald J. Trump and associates removed these documents from the White House instead of sending them to the National Archives is irrefutable. The fact that Donald J. Trump shared a “Top Secret” document with a friend/business associate on at least one occasion, apparently in an ego-driven manner, is irrefutable.

There is evidence to show that Donald J. Trump refused to return all of the presidential documents in his possession to the National Archives when legally requested to do so, ultimately resulting in an armed raid by the FBI of Donald J. Trump’s Mara Lago residence to obtain these documents. There is evidence to show that Donald J. Trump and associates made efforts to conceal these documents from the FBI during its search of his residence.

There is evidence to show that Donald J. Trump knowingly and purposefully violated Federal law in the removal and retention of these documents and made efforts to conceal these documents from discovery.

Donald J. Trump’s statement that he had the power and authority to declassify documents in his mind without the need of protocol or records thereof is in and of itself a ridiculous claim.  

Fortunately for Donald J. Trump, this legal case is being presided over by a Federal judge whom he appointed, who was advised by colleagues to recuse herself from the case due to concerns regarding her apparent conflict of interest and refused, who has limited experience on the bench, and finally, who by all appearances has made repeated efforts to delay this trial until after the Presidential election under the guise of having to consider a never-ending series of motions brought by Donald J. Trump’s legal counsel. 

Ultimately, this Federal judge decided to dismiss this case entirely on the basis that the Special Prosecutor was improperly and illegally appointed by the Justice Department. This belated and highly questionable dismissal of the case based upon a dubious legal technicality may very well be overruled by the U.S. Court of Appeals, and the case may yet go forward. 

In any event, a compelling argument can be made that this Federal judge has been acting as an agent of Donald J. Trump, grossly misusing her judicial authority to ensure that Donald J. Trump will never stand trial for his alleged crimes. 

If this Federal judge receives an official rebuke, censure, or removal from the bench due to her blatantly biased actions, she will simply become yet another victim of Donald J. Trump, another acolyte who sacrificed career and reputation to protect a false idol. 

U.S. (Election Interference) vs. Donald J. Trump

This final legal case is the most important case of all, as it involves the very basis of our democracy, which is the peaceful transition of power. 

This case highlights the way in which democracies around the world have devolved into quasi-totalitarian governments run by leaders who have chosen to abuse their elected positions for personal gain. It is proving to be very difficult for the people in these democracies to regain their right to self-determination. 

Their experience should be a cautionary tale for all Americans who have been complacent and complicit in Donald J. Trump’s efforts to retain power following the 2020 presidential election, but many Americans still refuse to acknowledge the threat that Donald J. Trump’s behavior represented at that time, a threat that may very well influence the upcoming 2024 presidential election. 

It is troubling how many people support Donald J. Trump’s accusations of voter corruption, election tampering, his veiled threats to elected officials, and his complicity in the January 6^th riot/insurrection that nearly resulted in the assignation of then Vice-President Pence, Speaker of the House Pelosi, and other elected leaders.

Following the 2020 presidential election, there was an extraordinary number of legal challenges to the results of the election. Even though none of these legal challenges, not a single one, were deemed to have legal merit, many Americans continue to believe that the election was somehow stolen from Donald J. Trump. 

Following the election, Donald J. Trump made repeated claims of election wrongdoing, primarily in the swing states that he needed to carry to win the election. He accused election officials, Democratic politicians as a whole, some Republican politicians, and many judges of bias and error and disloyalty. 

Political pressure was brought to bear on elected officials in Arizona and Georgia to somehow find additional votes and to prepare alternative slates of electors that would be favorable to Donald J. Trump.

Political pressure was brought to bear on Vice-President Pence to reject certified slates of electors during the election ratification proceeding, which would have been in blatant disregard of the limitations to his Constitutional authority. Vice-President Pence resisted this pressure in order to preserve the integrity of our democracy, to the detriment of his political future.

On the day of the ratification of the presidential election, Donald J. Trump coordinated a rally on the Ellipse, where he gave a speech attacking the election results. He called on his followers to march peacefully to the Capital and to protest the theft of the election. Once he saw that his followers had begun to march, Donald J. Trump returned to the White House where he watched the results of his speech unfold.

It is unlikely that Donald J. Trump expected that his followers would turn into a mob and engage in a riot and insurrection that resulted in the Capital building being breached and the election ratification proceeding disrupted for hours. However, first-hand accounts suggest that Donald J. Trump reacted favorably to the insurrection and resisted suggestions that he address this situation by calling for his followers to cease and desist.

The actions of Donald J. Trump are unprecedented in the history of the United States. Never before has there been such widespread rejection of the results of a free and fair election. Never before has there been such a violent mob that attempted to prevent the peaceful transfer of power. 

If Donald J. Trump did not intend to make one final attempt to prevent the peaceful transfer of power, why would he have chosen this date, this place, and this time to hold a rally where he would insist that the election had been stolen from him? 

There appears to be ample cause to warrant an indictment and hold a trial to examine the evidence that Donald J. Trump intended to interfere, in a multitude of ways, with the peaceful transfer of power.

Again, the Federal judicial system has acted to subvert this legal proceeding. The Supreme Court rendered an opinion that the President has immunity for any and all acts that could conceivably be considered to be acts carried out in the normal course of presidential duties. Donald J. Trump argues that everything he did was done in the normal course of his presidential duties. This presumably includes attempting to subvert the Constitution and incite a riot.

In Conclusion

All of the legal cases that have been brought against Donald J. Trump have one thing in common. It has been his actions and his actions alone that have resulted in these legal cases. 

There has never been a public figure before Donald J. Trump that has allegedly behaved so badly in so many different ways. Whether it has been his self-serving arrogance, his personal immorality, his unethical business behavior, or his rejection of political norms and decorum, Donald J. Trump has created a world for himself where many people hate, fear, and despise him. He is a lightening rod for people who want to even the score or see justice done.

This attempt by Donald J. Trump to dismiss all of his legal cases as a witch hunt lead by the Democratic Party has been somewhat successful, but none of these cases would have been brought if Donald J. Trump had not made it a life-long practice to behave so badly, with such disregard for and such willingness to abuse so many other people.

So, to answer the original question, is there a double standard of justice in this country that has resulted in Donald J. Trump being treated unfairly?

No, if anything, there is a double standard of justice that has benefited Donald J. Trump. 

The unrelenting deluge of motions brought by Donald J. Trump’s legal team has prevented the most important legal cases from moving to trial before the election and has deprived the voting citizens from knowing if Donald J. Trump did anything wrong. The decisions by a Federal judge and the Supreme Court regarding these cases appear to have been intended to help Donald J. Trump by limiting the extent to which his actions can be used as evidence, or to avoid trial altogether. 

In time, this may very well be seen as an extraordinary abuse of judicial authority and a gross manipulation of the justice system, but for now, it all serves as one more example of the corrupt soul that is Donald J. Trump.

The Republican Party continues full-bore with their Donald Trump obsession, and this may prove to be its downfall. 

The Republicans are in the middle of their convention, and are in a feverish delirium because Donald Trump has, by the grace of God, survived an assassination attempt and has appeared before them on the convention floor, only days after, the anointed one, the man above all other men who will lead them to victory in November.

Unfortunately for the Republicans, their reality will set in once the convention is over.

Donald Trump has a slogan but no substance. Make America Great Again is a brilliant slogan, but what does it mean? Donald Trump has successfully branded the Republican Party as his own, but the Trump brand has been tarnished over the past years. That which was once thought to be gold has been revealed to only be a thin plating that has begun to peel away, revealing the base metal beneath.

They say that Donald Trump is a flawed man, but that he loves this country and that he will address all that is wrong with this country and make it right.

The problem is that calling Donald Trump a flawed man is a gross understatement of his true character. This man is immoral – he has cheated on all three of his wives. This man is unethical – he has declared bankruptcy five times, leaving others to pay off or write off his debts. This man has betrayed so many people with whom he has ever been associated, from construction subcontractors to cabinet officials to accountants to lawyers to investors to advisors. So many of his former associates have been disbarred or jailed. 

They say that Donald Trump loves this country. Then why did he choose JD Vance as his vice president? JD Vance may be a good man, but he has not proven himself to be in any way qualified to be President of the United States, let alone acting as leader of the Free World. JD Vance has been a U.S. senator for less than two years. He seems barely old enough to meet the age requirement to be President. 

JD Vance may have been a marine, but he was a combat correspondent, not a fighting man. JD Vance may have grown up poor and abused when he was younger, but then he was raised by his grandparents and by all accounts his life was much improved. Like many of our politicians, he obtained his law degree from Yale University. He became a venture capitalist, wrote a best-selling book about his early life, and then became a politician. JD Vance has never lived a blue-collar life.

JD Vance is not exactly privileged, like his good friend Don Jr. He may develop into more of a statesman and less of a politician if given the chance, but only time will tell. It is too soon for JD Vance to be elevated to the position that Donald Trump has raised him, and it represents a tangible danger to this country, even more so than does Kamala Harris, the Democratic Vice-President.

Of more concern is the extremely successful way that Donald Trump has been able to politicize the federal court system. This can be seen in the manner in which he has created a conservative majority in the Supreme Court that is determined to change the essence of this country away from that of being a unified nation that governs in the best interests of its citizens into a state-centric confederation that is vulnerable to corruption, facilitates corporate malfeasance, and eliminates controls over individuals, organizations, businesses that have existed for years to protect our land, our resources, and our people from abuse and injustice.

From allowing unlimited dark money to flow into our politics, to expanding the 2^nd Amendment far beyond its original intent, to giving state governments the right to control women’s reproductive choices, to restricting the ability of federal agencies to regulate interstate commerce and protect our environment, this Supreme Court has blatantly favored the interests of religious zealots, the very wealthy, and large corporations at the expense of the American people.

In addition, Federal judges appointed by Donald Trump have purposely made rulings that reflect a reactionary political agenda that, at least for a time, forces this agenda onto the American people throughout the entire country.

This politicization of the federal court system has blatantly benefited Donald Trump through the actions of a Federal judge in Florida who was appointed by him, who refused to recuse herself from his documents case despite this apparent conflict of interest, who has used procedural considerations as justification to delay his case indefinitely, and who has finally dismissed his case on a highly questionable technicality put forth and supported by at least one reactionary Supreme Court justice.

Of most concern, however, is the 900-page manifesto created by the Heritage Foundation and known as Project 2025, and to a lesser extent, the Agenda 47 of Donald Trump.

To be fair, I have only read Wikipedia summaries of both documents, not the entire documents themselves. However, what I have read so far is very disturbing.

Project 2025 is intended to restructure the federal government, primarily but not exclusively, the executive branch, in order to allow a newly elected President Trump free rein to do as he sees fit. Project 2025 provides a blueprint for Donald Trump to follow. The CEO of the Heritage Foundation has stated that this represents nothing less than a second American Revolution, which will be peaceful if Democrats do not stand in the way. 

Project 2025 is a blueprint to create a Christian fascist theocracy lead by Donald Trump and facilitated by conservative extremists. It is an organized wish list of all the extreme positions that have been discussed by reactionary Christian conservatives for decades. More tax breaks for the rich and for businesses, minimal regulation of business activity, empowerment of individual states to enact further restrictions of personal freedoms, weakening of the Federal government’s ability to protect our land and our citizens from exploitation and corruption, criminalization of protest and dissent, withdrawal from international alliances and the limitation or even abandonment of our treaty obligations – these are some of the objectives of Project 2025.

President Biden has been controlled by the more extreme members of the Democratic Party who have pushed an agenda of diversity, equity, and inclusion, of reparations, of unregulated borders, of tolerance of anti-social behavior, and an absence of the common sense and moderation that are critical components of a sound democracy. President Biden denies that this is so, but the actions of his administration starting from the day he assumed office is proof of this extremist philosophy and does not reflect his earlier beliefs.

Given the extremist nature of Project 2025, the concern must be that Donald Trump will be controlled by the more extreme members of the Republican Party who are advocating for a revolutionary change to our country. Given his history, Donald Trump is susceptible to flattery and has never seemed too concerned about details or ramifications. He may find the idea of leading a second American revolution to be something that proves irresistible to his ego. Common sense and moderation are as much foreign concepts to Donald Trump as they are to Joe Biden.

JD Vance as vice-president, the politization of the Supreme Court, Project 2025 – these are frightening issues that independent voters would normally be concerned about.

However, unless the Democratic Party can provide independent voters with a common sense, moderate candidate who is lucid and not beholden to the party’s extremists, Donald Trump will most certainly become our next president. 

We can only hope that 2028 will bring back some sanity to our country.

The Democratic Party has not cared about the American people in a long time. Neither has the Republican Party, but right now the Democratic Party still has a chance to redeem itself before the November election. The Republican Party needs to get beyond their obsession with their very flawed, convicted felon of a party leader before its redemption is possible.

The Democratic Party has gone all in on this woke, DEI nonsense. The majority of the American people don’t believe in it as it currently exists. The majority of the American people are not impressed by the diversity in the Biden Administration’s cabinet and administration as a whole, because the people who hold these important positions appear to have been chosen because they represent diversity, equity, and inclusion instead of being chosen because they were the best and most qualified candidates. 

And this is the problem with the whole woke, DEI mindset. It values appearance over substance. The Democratic Party desperately needs some tough love to get past this way of thinking.

The Democratic Party is in danger of going down the rabbit hole, chasing after Joe Biden as he is being pulled along by his wife and convicted felon son. Joe Biden should be spending the rest of his life on Rehoboth Beach in Delaware playing with his grandchildren and travelling the world, not acting under the delusion that he is somehow going to be elected to a second term as President.

Originally, Joe Biden was going to be a transitional one-term president which made sense, but now we see that even this limited presidency may have been expecting too much of the man.

Kamala Harris was a woke, DEI choice as vice-president, and up to this point has proven herself unable to rise to the occasion and be worthy of becoming elected president on her own merits.

The American people don’t want either one of them. But they also don’t want Donald Trump, who is almost certainly going to be elected to a second term, essentially by default.

This is an opportunity for the Democratic Party to change course and return to what made them the party of the working-class people. No more Joe Biden, no more Kamala Harris, no more woke DEI nonsense, no more Hollywood. Back to the basics of tough love.

The Democrats need a strong presidential/vice-presidential ticket to succeed. The popular alternatives to Joe Biden just don’t cut it. They are too weak, too soft, too nice, too inexperienced, too slick. None of them appear to have a clear vision for this country, and none of them seem to be prepared to be a strong leader. 

That’s been the problem of the Democratic Party for a long time. Very few Democrats inspire confidence in the strength of their character. And now, more than ever, character matters.

My proposal for the new Democratic ticket includes two white men, both veterans, both married to women. Most importantly, they both have significant experience in Congress specializing in Foreign Relations and Defense. This is an expertise that is critical at this time of international uncertainty, an expertise that none of the popular woke DEI Democrats possess.

I give you Senator Jack Reed for President, and Representative Seth Moulton for Vice-President.

Who are these people, you might ask? No one has been talking about them. They are not part of the woke, DEI crowd. Of course, just by being white men married to women pretty much excludes them from being considered where DEI is concerned.

And that is the point. The Democratic Party needs to be represented by qualified, experienced people that understand reality and know how to work with other people that do not necessarily share backgrounds or political allegiances with them.

Senator Jack Reed is 74 years old, a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, a former Army officer, and has served in the House of Representatives and the Senate since 1991. He is currently Chairman of the Armed Services Committee.

Representative Seth Moulton is 45 years old, a graduate of Harvard University, a former Marine, and has served in the House of Representatives since 2015. He is currently Ranking Member of the Armed Services Committee, Subcommittee on Strategic Forces.

I understand that many people in the Democratic Party believe in the principles behind diversity, equity, and inclusion, and for the most part so do I. However, this is not the time to put the ideals of DEI ahead of the need to have the strongest possible ticket. 

The Democratic Party has a responsibility to the American people to put forth candidates for President and Vice-President that have widespread appeal and have a legitimate chance of being elected in November. The Biden – Harris ticket is a certain loser. Polling has been confirming this for over a year.

It is long past time for the Democratic Party to embrace the moderate voices in the party that represent the values and common sense of the American people instead of always taking extreme or contrary positions that have limited appeal. 

Americans seem to be a pretty tolerant and accepting people. I think that we understand the need for diversity, equity, and inclusion in our society, but we also believe that excellence in performance is of significantly more importance.

The Democratic Party needs to believe in tough love, the ability to make reasoned decisions based on facts and not emotions, while at the same time having empathy and acceptance for those who differ from us in ways that ultimately are not very important.

There are serious questions about Donald Trump’s mental and emotional stability, his stated intention to continue to dismantle the so-called administrative state, his stated interest in removing experienced civil service personnel unless they pledge fealty to him, his proven willingness to install federal judges based upon their ideology instead of their judicial abilities, his stated inclination to withdraw this country from NATO and our other alliances, and his delusional belief that his personal charisma can take the place of diplomacy and strategic planning. 

Donald Trump is an effective and persuasive communicator who is skilled at manipulating the truth. He is the unparalleled master of the artful lie. The Democratic Party cannot defeat him with candidates who are not tough-minded and grounded in facts and reality, but are themselves manipulators of the truth, because Donald Trump will make them look like fools.

That is why the Democratic Party needs to get beyond its woke, DEI ideology and nominate the toughest, most experienced, no-nonsense moderate candidates that they can if they are serious about retaining any political influence in the near future and protecting the American people from the excesses of the extreme right.

The Democratic Party has to retire Joe Biden before Donald Trump fires him.

Consider the state of the world today. 

A prosperous and productive world order is being threatened by dictators, fanatics, and regimes. Our planet is experiencing plastic pollution, unpredictable climate change, and an unstable magnetic field. Untold species of plants and animals are dying off due to human activity. Billions of people are suffering from hunger, lack of potable water, extreme temperatures, and catastrophic natural occurrences.

Where cooperation among peoples is required more than ever before, we find ourselves overwhelmed by competition and conquest, brazen and unprovoked acts of violence and intimidation, and so far, an inability to stop our descent into chaos, madness, and self-destruction.

What the world needs now is a new age of enlightenment. 

No one speaks about how much better things could be if we began to work together to address the very real threats to our world that will sooner or later have a very negative effect on us all. 

What do we have instead? 

Politicians who act like celebrities, and celebrities who pretend to be politicians. 

Billionaires who opine on issues they know nothing about as if wealth and ego are substitutes for expertise. 

Internet influencers who make self-absorption into a profitable yet toxic art form. 

Commentators and video personalities who offer instantaneous and inane analysis on issues of the day without benefit of thoughtfulness or perspective. 

Educators who embrace and promote ideologically based social and political theories that are purposefully disruptive and intellectually hollow. 

International corporations that exploit the poor and the desperate to obtain cheap labor and natural resources in ways that increase human suffering and ecological destruction. 

Collectively, so much of what we see, what we hear, and what we do is without conscience, without concern for ramifications, without any lasting substance or meaning. 

This is not to say that every moment of every day must be spent in some sort of mindfulness-filled existence. But it is to say that we need to be much more aware of the greater and long-lasting potential that cooperation offers all of us instead of the limited and transitory results that confrontation brings to a few.

Right now, we are living at a time when a dark power exists in three countries in the world. We all know what countries these are – Russia, China, and Iran. North Korea exists in its own self-imposed world of delusion and paranoia, impenetrable even by the dark power. 

No one can argue that the actions these countries have been taking over the past decade have altruistic motivations intended to improve the human condition. Rather, their actions are motivated by the oldest and most basic of human impulses – greed, jealousy, the desire for power, the insatiable need to dominate others, a preference to destroy instead of to create. 

Whatever you choose to call it – evil, Satan, chaos – it is a seductive and alluring power full of both promises and intimidation that many are afraid to acknowledge, let alone confront. And yet, our collective history shows time and time again that this dark power cannot be appeased. 

It can only be confronted and driven back into the dark corners of our collective soul, where it will seethe with dark thoughts and bide its time until we forget that it even existed, and then it will rise again. Such is human nature.

It is frightening to face such evil, and it is unclear how to stop it. It is easier to allow ourselves to be distracted by political differences, personal ambitions, and material comforts. It is easier to rationalize inaction because to take action would be too hard and require that we make sacrifices and take risks. It is easier to deny that threats exist to the extent that they do so that we can continue on with our lives as they are.

But there will come a day of reckoning when something happens that will bring this evil, Satanic, chaotic dark power before us in a way that cannot be ignored or denied or explained away. The longer we avoid this confrontation the worse the outcome will be for all of us.

This is why we must speak loudly and often about the collective problems that we face worldwide. This is why we must speak about how our collective ingenuity has allowed us to solve problems in the past and to make things better. 

We have experienced great advances in technology and medicine and agriculture that have improved the lives of billions of people. We have seen how the flow of capital investment into poor countries has improved their standard of living. We have all benefited from worldwide commerce and free trade among nations. 

To the extent that cooperation continues, we can all look forward to a better existence. 

Unfortunately, conflict and the threat of conflict limits our ability to cooperate. So much wealth worldwide is being spent to support aggression or to defend against it. If this wealth were available to address the collective problems of the world, much more progress would then be possible. 

This is the point that must be stated repeatedly by the world’s leaders – we must cooperate together regardless of whatever differences – real and perceived – that we have. We must speak loudly and often of what is possible, of what is being done, and then of what has been achieved. We must make sure that all can see and experience the benefits that come from having a more cooperative world.

This enlightened understanding of what it means to be a civilized people must begin with the world’s leaders. 

In the meantime, the world’s leaders must not ignore their collective responsibility to condemn the evil that is being done by those who would dominate through fear and intimidation in the name of religion or to regain the glory of empires past. 

For those countries not immediately involved, there will always be the temptation to play both sides of this conflict and practice opportunistic neutrality. There will always be those countries who choose to wait until the end to declare their allegiance to the victors. 

Such is the corruptive effect that the presence of evil has on the world. It clouds the minds of the weak and fearful, telling them that their inaction and indecision is reflective of their wisdom, that evil is a profitable and virtuous choice, that it is better to accept the dark forces than to resist them.

There is an insanity in those leaders who would contemplate, let alone cause, the indiscriminate destruction of a country and the resulting deaths of tens of thousands of innocent men, women and children. There is an insanity in those countries who would condone such destruction and death, and then willingly justify such horror as retribution for past injustices or as a necessary measure to redress lost empires. 

These countries and their leaders must be confronted, their intentions exposed, and their success in achieving their objectives denied, lest they continue spreading their darkness by subrogating more and more of the world’s people. 

Enlightenment requires that we see the world as it is, and deal with it as we must.   

Whatever happened to the expectation that those we entrust to lead us should be representative of the best of us?

We speak of the Founding Fathers of our democracy with great respect, acknowledging their intention to create a government and country of strength, equality, and resilience, risking their wealth and their lives to do so.

Now our leaders speak of petty things and spend their time doing petty acts of political expediency.

It is long past time for us to expect a higher level of discourse and conduct from those who we have elected to lead.

And if there is one public office that should demand the highest levels of moral, ethical, and law-abiding conduct, it is the office of the President of the United States.

That is why our former president’s claim of total immunity is so wrong.

The very fact that our former president has even brought this claim to the Supreme Court should be profoundly disturbing to everyone. 

Yet it seems that the focus is on whether or not the former president will win his argument or at the very least delay his legal accountability for allegedly using the power of his office to attempt to negate the will of the people.

The former president has shown himself to have an exceptional talent for twisting facts and weaving elaborate tales whereby he is both victim and hero, martyr and savior. Like all great con men, there is always a kernel of truth in what he says.

His argument that the President must have total immunity for all actions taken in the performance of his official duties is certainly correct.

What is not correct, however, is his attempt to define the range of official duties to include essentially anything that the President deems to be such.

Apparently, this would include, among virtually unlimited possibilities:

The assassination or imprisonment of anyone that the President believes poses a threat to the country;

The creation by Executive Order of a mandatory Presidential loyalty pledge that would be required of all employees of the executive branch of the Federal government;

The establishment of a Presidential private fund to receive bribes, kick-backs, and other financial benefits related to any contracts entered into by the Federal government;

The ability to declare a National Emergency to suspend the legal transfer of power following an election;

Finally, the use of threats and coercion to change the outcome of an election.

These are all actions representative of dictatorial rule, as can be seen in many other countries throughout history. The concept of total immunity for a President does not represent the preservation of democracy, it represents the end of democracy.

The President must be expected to abide by the Constitution and by the laws of the country that define the legal and illegal actions of its citizens. No one, especially the President, should be above the law.

The Supreme Court must acknowledge the grave threat to this country that the concept of Presidential Total Immunity represents and reject it in the strongest possible terms. 

The Supreme Court must not attempt to find some gray area of limited immunity by which Donald Trump can be absolved of his past and possibly future actions that would be considered criminal if performed by anyone else.

This country is strong enough and resilient enough to survive another four years of a Donald Trump presidency, even if the Supreme Court creates a definition of limited immunity that would in and of itself be of questionable constitutionality.

It could be argued that this country will never again see a presidential candidate so immoral, so unethical, and so blatantly self-serving as Donald Trump, and therefore the significance of his demand for Presidential Total Immunity is not so important when seen in the context of history.

It could be argued that Donald Trump is not really inclined to abuse Presidential Total Immunity and may not even believe that it is necessary, and that this has all been just a very clever legal maneuver to allow him to avoid prosecution for his highly questionable and allegedly illegal actions.

What cannot be argued is that there is anything good or honorable about how Donald Trump has manipulated our democracy and convinced so many of our people that he is a great man and a great leader.

His actions do not support his words, his results do not support his claims, and the adoration he receives from so many here is not shared beyond our country’s borders.

Donald Trump may never be held accountable to the American people, but he will be held accountable by God and by history.

We are living in a very unsettling time in which bad things seem to be happening everywhere all at once. Where we were once complacent and happy to overconsume, now we are worried and uncertain about the future. We watch as the people chosen to lead our businesses and our government keep making wrong decisions that lead to disastrous results that end up having a negative effect on all of us. 

We need leaders who have the courage and the intellect to make the right decisions. This is a difficult combination to find, particularly when there are so many forces working to discourage our leaders from making the right decisions. 

These days, achieving a position of leadership has little to do with being able to make the right decisions. It has more to do with defeating rivals by any means necessary, making alliances with influential people who always want favors, and exhibiting blind allegiance to those you answer to.

Our reliance on this type of leader has done much damage already, and it continues to weaken our country and our society by encouraging the wrong decisions to be made. 

I offer two cases in point.

Having worked most of my career for large corporations, I have seen firsthand how the focus on profitability can lead to disastrous outcomes. 

It comes as no surprise to me that Boeing began to make defective airplanes once it stopped following the recommendations of its engineers and technical personnel and made profitability its overriding concern. Regardless of the statements that Boeing management makes about improving its quality programs and procedures to ensure that doors don’t blow off, tires don’t fall off, and computer software can’t cause planes to fall from the sky – there will continue to be an overriding focus on bottom-line profit due to its corporate culture.

It remains to be seen if Boeing is willing to take the necessary steps required to return to its origins as an innovative and technically sound company. 

It comes as no surprise to me either that various organizations are vulnerable to cyberattacks, ransomware attacks, disruptions of service, and the installation of dormant malware allowing remote access into databases and system controls. The type of specialized protective security measures required may be beyond the appreciation, technical capability, and financial resources of many organizations to implement. This does not change the fact that protection from electronic security breaches and intellectual theft has to be an overriding focus of all organizations if our society is to be protected from those who actively wish us harm.

It remains to be seen if organization leaders are prepared to be proactive and do what needs to be done in the face of reduced profits and organizational disruption.

My fear is that there is no incentive for organizations to act prudently when profit is ultimately the only valued measure of performance. It is likely that nothing substantive will be done to avoid disaster, and then when it happens fingers will be pointed and scapegoats will be found, but the damage will have been done.

In much the same way, government policies that focus on ideology and political expediency instead of intelligent evaluation will lead to disastrous outcomes more often than not. Every administration has its examples of ideological and politically expedient policies gone wrong. 

For me, the most glaring example from the previous Trump administration was the reduction in taxes given to the wealthiest individuals and large corporations. Neither group was in desperate financial straits, neither group used their tax savings to improve their American business portfolios, and trillions of dollars were needlessly added to this country’s national debt.

Even worse, the current Biden administration seems to be based entirely on ideological and politically expedient policies, taking this style of governance to an unprecedented extreme. 

From the unnecessary abandonment of a strategic military base in Afghanistan, to the refusal to first acknowledge and then address this country’s southern border migrant crisis, to the mad rush to eliminate fossil fuel energy sources in favor of an all-electric society when the electric energy grid does not have the capacity to support such a change – there appears to be little that this administration does that is based upon thoughtful evaluation and common sense.

We like to think that we live in a sophisticated and advanced society. But what is happening now is nothing more than a retelling of a story that has existed long before Shakespeare and the Greeks, a story told across cultures as varied as those of the Egyptian pharaohs and the Chinese dynasties. The story of the eternal quest for money and power, achieved through the sacrifices of the people.

Tragically, in this world of egotistical, selfish, and short-sighted leaders, the prudent and the intelligent need not apply.

Against the wishes of the American people, the die has been cast – Trump vs. Biden, the Great Bloviator vs. the Master of Delusion.

Neither the Democratic nor Republican parties have the confidence of the American people. Neither party’s leaders exhibit the type of thoughtfulness and statesmanship that this country needs right now. We have reached the nadir of our political leadership and are faced with four more years of an administration that no one really wants, regardless of the way the election goes.

A third-party candidacy is an option mentioned by many who wish that there was another choice other than Trump or Biden, but who could possibly run and have a chance to be elected? It seems to be a daunting, insurmountable task.

And yet, there is someone with the name recognition, the breadth of experience, the inflated ego, and the energy needed to run on the No Labels ticket and beat both Trump and Biden.

Hillary Clinton.

Everyone knows who she is. Her experience as First Lady, Secretary of State, and U.S. Senator is undeniable. Anyone who has seen her recent interviews has to acknowledge that she continues to have a very high opinion of herself. After sitting on the political sidelines for seven years, she appears to be fully rested and just as opinionated as ever. 

Compared to either Trump or Biden, Hillary Clinton has the following advantages:

• She is the youngest candidate.

• She is not facing any impeachment inquiry or active indictment.

• She does not exhibit any cognitive decline.

• She is a moderate pragmatist.

• She is tough and can stand up to dictators.

• She appreciates the need for both secure borders and international alliances.

• She cannot be intimidated.

• She knows how to solve problems.

• She is able to speak intelligently and in depth on the issues of the day.

• She does not pose a threat to our democracy.

• She knows her way around Washington, D.C. and the world beyond our borders.

A Hillary Clinton presidential run is just what this country needs. Her candidacy would be welcomed by the media for both intellectual and entertainment reasons, and would give hope to the millions of Americans who have given up hope and resigned themselves to having to choose between the worst candidates possible.

Hillary Clinton would certainly be a better president than either Trump or Biden. She would be our Iron Lady in a time in our history when a steel backbone and an iron will are absolute necessities. 

A series of debates between Trump, Biden, and Clinton would demand the best from all three candidates. It is in this format that Hillary Clinton would be able to show her superior command of the issues, as well as showing that she has the gravitas necessary to be a successful president. 

It is to this country’s advantage to have an alternative to Donald Trump’s portrayal of himself as both self-proclaimed victim and unquestionable savior, and to Joe Biden’s angry rantings against the previous administration’s failures that in his opinion are directly responsible for his inept decision-making.

Fate works in mysterious ways. There is a reason why Hillary Clinton has never really gone away. Older, wiser, and hopefully somewhat humbled, this is now her time should she choose to seize it.

Unfortunately, I am in the middle of a health emergency. My wife has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma, a blood disorder of the plasma cells that has affected her kidneys. It has been a brutal and frightening experience for my wife, an emotionally draining experience for me. 

The prognosis is cautiously optimistic. If all goes well, my wife and I and our Siamese cat Mimosa will all grow old together. 

This experience has exposed me to the advancements of modern medicine and has shown me the best that our health system has to offer. It also makes me question a number of things about our health system that take away from the good work that so many people do, and end up making our health system too expensive for too many.

My wife and I are in our sixties and on Medicare. Like many, we enrolled in a private Medicare Advantage plan that so far is working out for us. It is not clear to me how a private insurance company can offer more benefits at the same price as government Medicare, but so far, we have not experienced any issues. 

My wife’s journey began with her primary care physician reviewing the results of her standard bloodwork and finding something alarming relating to her kidneys. We were referred to a nephrologist who monitored her condition, advising on diet and exercise and weight. He worked out of Holy Name Hospital which was less than ten minutes away from our house.

Unfortunately, and inexplicably, my wife’s kidney function continued to worsen over the next few years. The nephrologist added tests to my wife’s blood work, and he found something alarming. He referred us to an oncologist who reviewed my wife’s condition, conducted a bone marrow biopsy, and proscribed a whole-body CAT scan. She is the one who diagnosed the multiple myeloma, which is a form of blood cancer.

The oncologist referred my wife to a hematologist, who reviewed my wife’s condition and chose a cancer-fighting chemotherapy drug regimen for her. In addition, he proscribed an echocardiogram to see if her heart has been affected by the multiple myeloma, and a belly fat biopsy that was performed by a specialized surgeon to determine if my wife had a secondary related condition that needed to be addressed.

In addition, prior to beginning her chemotherapy, my wife needed to obtain clearance from her dentist that she was orally infection-free. She was not, so she needed to have an infected tooth extracted.

My wife has now received her first chemotherapy treatment at the infusion center at Holy Name Hospital. The hope is that after eight weeks of treatment, the multiple myeloma will be controlled, and sufficient kidney function preserved so that she will avoid the need for dialysis or transplant.

As my wife’s hematologist has said, people my wife’s age most often end up dying of old age and not multiple myeloma, and we hope that this will be the case for her. 

The fact that a cancerous condition such as multiple myeloma can now be turned into a treatable chronic condition like diabetes is a testament to the advanced clinical research that is being done in the U.S. and other developed nations worldwide. The value of this work cannot be overstated.

The progression from primary care physician through the work of four specialists to arrive at a hopefully life-saving chemotherapy has to be seen as an incredible benefit of our medical system. We have some of the best hospitals and doctors here in New Jersey, and to be honest, this quality of treatment may not be available everywhere in the U.S., but it shows just what can be accomplished.

Without exception, the medical personnel we have dealt with were highly professional, caring, patient, compassionate, and reassuring. They made this frightening experience altogether bearable, and never once did we feel alone.

So now my wife and I are trying to resume our normal life together, which includes watching the news and entertainment.

We all know that we pay 2-3 times more for our prescription medicines in this country compared to the price paid in other countries. The latest justification from the pharmaceutical companies is that because Americans have access to new medicines sooner than people in other countries, we should pay for this early access privilege. This self-serving explanation does not justify a continuation of higher costs once new medicines are widely available. 

The pharmaceutical companies also blame the pharmaceutical benefit managers for raising the prices of drugs. Three pharmaceutical benefit managers – OptumRx, CVS Caremark, and Express Scripts – control over 80% of the prescription drug traffic in the U.S. These three companies essentially control the entire prescription drug market, and they make more money when drug prices are higher.

These three companies negotiate drug prices with pharmaceutical companies to create a profit margin for themselves. They may restrict patient access to prescribed drugs that are less profitable for themselves. They dictate pricing for the cost of drugs that pharmacies pay in order to fill prescriptions.  There are no regulatory controls on their activities, and they act as financial parasites within our medical system.

My wife and I are fortunate to be obtaining our care from Holy Name Medical Center, which is the last independent nonprofit hospital in New Jersey. The consolidation of hospitals into large corporations and the emergence of for-profit hospitals is quite concerning. One can expect that the cost of medical treatment will ultimately increase as profit, i.e., return on investment, becomes a primary concern. One can only hope that patient care will not suffer from cost-cutting and profit-driven business considerations.

I am a confirmed moderate. Two drinks maximum, 8 oz. steak, 8 hours of sleep, 74 mph in a 65 mph zone, Led Zeppelin and Queen. Nothing crazy, nothing extreme.

That is why, no matter how I try, it is just so damn hard to vote for Donald Trump.

Every time I am convinced that Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the rest of the Democrats are so pathetically incompetent and incapable of rational thought, Donald Trump and the Republicans do something so stupid that I find myself falling back into the rabbit hole of uncertainty.

• Threatening NATO members with a Russian invasion? 
• Rejecting a compromise immigration bill supported by the Border Patrol agents?
• Insulting a presidential candidate because her husband is on active military duty? 
• Supporting a presidential candidate who refuses to debate because he is so far ahead?
• Prioritizing investigations and impeachments of political enemies over the People’s business?
• Criminalizing abortion before a woman even knows she is pregnant?
• Exaggerating to the extreme our current President’s aging mind and body?
• Promoting lies about a two-tier justice system and the political weaponization of our Justice department?
• Blocking any and all efforts to address gun violence and our mental health crisis?
• Insisting on a no compromise, hyper partisan approach to governing?
• Considering an end to financial and military aid to Ukraine?
• Denigrating the legacy media as if it were a threat to our democracy?

Really, Republicans, where are all your big ideas to make America great again? All I see, all I hear, are small ideas coming from small minds.

Making America great again does not mean abandoning our role in international affairs. It does not mean blindly agreeing to the whims of a would-be dictatorial presidential candidate to save your own political careers. It does not mean demonizing half the country and the opposing political party.

If you take away all the clever insults, mischaracterizations, exaggerations, and lies that Republicans say about Democrats, there does not seem to be much substance to the Republican message. 

This is not to say that the Democrats are any better, but it is very disappointing that the Republican party – the party of Lincoln, the party that portrays itself as the true representative of the American people – has so little to say that is of substance.

This is why it is so hard for Independents such as myself to wholeheartedly, even halfheartedly, embrace the Republican message. 

Right now, the only two reasons that I would vote for Donald Trump is to end the national security disaster at our southern border, and to prevent Kamala Harris from ever becoming President. Both are solid reasons. I only wish there were more.

When asked who he would vote for, Biden and Trump, former Attorney General William Barr replied that “he would jump off that bridge when he came to it.”

Well, it looks like he needs to get ready to jump, because that bridge is right up ahead.

The good news is that regardless of how the 2024 election turns out, we will get a second term from either Biden or Trump, and then we will be done with both of them.

The more Biden and Trump talk, the more they seem the same. Just like Tweedledum and Tweedledee, they could be brothers. 

• They both accuse the other of being an existential threat to democracy.
• They both enjoy the mindless support of a major political party.
• They both show signs of cognitive decline, Biden through his confusion and Trump through his delusion.
• They both misappropriated important government documents after leaving public office.
• They both are alleged to have engaged in illegal activities over extended periods of time for the financial benefit of themselves and their families.
• They both exaggerate their accomplishments and embellish their personal stories.
• They both resent being questioned.
• They both spend most of their time attacking each other’s character instead of providing a clear vision of their plans if elected to a second term.

Given how inept the Biden administration has been, we forget how chaotic the previous Trump administration was. Ineptitude or chaos – not a very good choice, and we will be stuck with one or the other for four more years.

We need a thoughtful leader who acts deliberately and with moral clarity, a leader who understands the need for compromise and who accepts that successful change occurs by taking moderate actions over time.

Neither Biden nor Trump come anywhere close to being the leader that we need. While neither will destroy our democracy, neither will they strengthen it. Either way, once again, we will have to live through a proverbial dumpster fire of an administration. 

By the time that the 2024 presidential election is held on November 8^th, I expect that a plurality of American voters will be so sick and tired of both Presidents Biden and Trump that if None of the Above was also on the ballot then None of the Above would win the popular vote.

When the historians look back upon this time, it is very possible that they will consider this period to be the nadir of American politics. It is both frightening and depressing how thoroughly void of integrity and higher purpose both the Democratic and Republican political parties have become. 

This is a time when both major political parties are forcing candidates on the American people that no one wants. Both candidates are years beyond their prime. One candidate is angry and inarticulate, one candidate is bitter and incoherent. Both candidates live in worlds of their own delusion; they are certainly not living in the world that everyone else lives in. 

Biden and Trump are both in danger of dying in office during a second term. This makes the office of Vice-President of utmost importance.

Joe Biden chose Kamala Harris as his vice-president for politically expedient reasons, but she has failed at every opportunity to show her ability to be decisive, to instill confidence, to make decisions, to lead through words and deeds. Could she rise to the occasion and be anything but a disaster if fate made her the first woman president? Right now, most people would say no.

Donald Trump says that he will choose a vice-president who would be qualified to be president if called upon by fate to be so. Unfortunately, because this would mean that he would have to choose someone more qualified than himself, his ego will almost certainly prevent him from doing so. Still, it is difficult to imagine that his choice would prove to be worse than Joe Biden’s choice of Kamala Harris has shown itself to be.

So, this is where we are, this is the choice that we have – angry and delusional Joe Biden, or bitter and delusional Donald Trump. 

And we should be asking ourselves why this has happened.

The short answer is that we live in a society where conflict and bad behavior is seen as entertainment. We prefer to be entertained than to be made to think. We like the politicians who engage in excessive rhetoric much more than the statesman who are thoughtful but kind of boring. By and large, we have so few statesmen that we have forgotten what they look and sound like, and how important they are to the success of our democracy.

So, we are left with charlatans, snake oil salesmen, bullies, racketeers, puppets, glad handers, court jesters, and the like. 

Our politicians have realized that the secret to their reelection and acquisition of power and political influence is to behave badly, wrap themselves up in their political party’s banner, and pander to special interest groups.

The lack of money prevents challengers to our established politicians from mounting serious and meaningful campaigns.

Our media organizations are more focused on financial survival than on fact-based journalism, and literally cannot afford to engage in reporting in-depth on the issues of the day if there is no money to be made from it. Increasingly, there is no money to be made without controversy, manufactured conflict, and ideological pandering. 

As this election cycle plays out, one can only hope that this will be the year that the American electorate becomes exhausted by the cruel, insulting, and mindlessly superficial rhetoric that is characterizing the current presidential campaigns, and begins to demand something more substantive from both parties.