AND THE WINNER IS.....

     The eyes of the nation and even the world are turned to Georgia today where an otherwise minor election is taking on profound proportions. Will the Republican candidate win, or will the young Democratic candidate win, giving the Democrats not only another seat in the House, but also a major push and encouragement as we get nearer and nearer to the midterm elections of 2018.
     Yet the question arises about the whole ballyhoo. This has been a Republican seat since the time of Carter. The Democratic candidate is a kid, 30 years old, which might put people off, unnecessarily so. There are many factors, including weather, that come into play, but the bottom line is the importance and the attention paid to an elected positon and what that increased attention means for the 2018 elections. Win or lose, the Democrats must keep up this vigor, this drive if we are to push out the Republicans who have turned into the most electorate annoying and ignoring bunch ever.
     At present, these Republicans are trying to rush and push through a healthcare bill that will prove to be disastrous for millions upon millions of Americans. Details about it? Uh uh - it is secret. No one allowed in, kind of like the clubs kids make where only selected people are allowed in. Guess the GOP likes the dark inner child, the one that runs to the bully of the yard, the one who will help them oppress those they do not like nor care about. Hey, kinda familiar to anyone who lives in CV where contracts and negotiations are conducted in secret and people not given enough time to read them before voting on them. Yes, a video is aired, but we all know of the after meetings that go on, where the real business goes on and just in case, the attempts to change the voting system and rights here in the Village are constantly stymied. Kind of ironic that the man who pushes all the 'advances' of the Internet, has decided that E signatures are not okay for CV, never mind that people can buy houses using E signatures. Guess he needs to be picky to insure his continued dictatorship!! Stomach turning.
     We talk of winners, but the true losers are the American people who are losing the right to have people truly represent them as the right to openly discuss politics declines, and a new poll shows that 68% of Americans feel that political discourse is getting less and les civil. I know that amongst much of my circle of friends we will remind each other that there is no political talk should any of us forget. It is too divisive, but at some point there must be that talk. Polls now show that Trump has the lowest rating ever, with his approval rating at 35%. Sad - sad for us that we are stuck with this man and all he represents and all who follow him in the administration.
  Secret bill negotiations, secret trips non disclosed, secret meetings non disclosed, selective condemnation of terrorist deaths and should a victim or victims prove to be of a background other than white, Trump and his infernal twitter site are thunderously silent. Nothing about the van running into the crowd at a mosque. A week delay acknowledging the hate crime of two Indian born people. This is the President of the people of the country? No, most emphatically NO.
  The winner is not us for sure. Spicer is to be 'retired' into a less public position but he will still be there. Laura Ingraham mentioned as a possible substitute - oy! We find that the GOP has left nearly 20 million people with their rears hanging out in the air as their data was exposed. Too late, even as they say they will cut ties with the company involved. If the Dems had done this - we would never hear the end of it.
  If we are to be truly winners, we must press our representatives on the agenda before Congress, open or secret. We must make sure that healthcare for all is approved and kept intact. One can fix details but does not throw out that proverbial baby with the bath water. We can remember that today is World Refugee Day, remember what we, as a country, have done for refugees throughout our history and what we are doing and/or not doing these days.  We can emulate the French in their Parliamentary vote.We can all remember our origins.
 We can learn to be civil again, to be able to discuss, openly and freely, the politics of the day, discuss where we are headed as a country, discuss what we, as individuals, must do, how to be true Americans, loyal to our values and not to the values of a misguided, incompetent, mentally unbalanced man and those who follow him along the path to destruction of our republic.
 Yes, we can vehemently disagree, but we cannot encourage people to use violence. Yes, we can talk, but the talk must be fair, listened to, honored as the opinion of others. Yes, we are allowed to criticize the president and have been allowed to do so since we began as a country - in fact that is how we DID begin, by criticizing the head of government then - George III.
  Once we remember our history we will all be the winners. Once we remember that the Village does not have provision nor room for a dictator we will all be the winners. To be a winner is to take upon oneself a load of hard work, but the result is worth it. And the winner is all of us.