Christy's Fireside Chat

I realize a fireside chat seems silly on the wane of a ferociously hot Sunday, but the light in the sky has changed. There's a different charge in the air, and it ushers in fall. The changing of the season. And the ramp up to a nasty election cycle. I have a few thoughts, and I really hope more of you agree than don't. I suspect I'm right, so let's imagine we've just lit the first fire of the season. Let's get cozy, relaxed and honest.

These people are crazy

My thought.  The scary presidential election is not about scary candidates. It's about scary voters. Here's why.

1. Many people are simply uneducated, and basically illiterate. No need to read when the mobile device will feed you a video instead.
2. Reality TV isn't real, but since apparently, no one knew that, the presidential election seems real.
3. Nobody is listening to smart Republicans, and the Democrats are simply trying to hold it together.
4. Your average Republican doesn't hate your average Democrat, and visa versa, so stop with the drive by paranoia.
5. Putin is not our friend.  ....ever. 

A "regular" guy shoots a terrorist

This weekend was crazy.  Three separate attacks in three different places. One off duty police officer kills a terrorist. Mark one up for the second amendment people. You won that one fair and square, and I'm glad you did. However, I really don't want a leader who goes all loudmouth and knee jerk. Trump is too stupid and egotistical to know he's being played.  I know people think Clinton will make hubris, but there's something that tells me that when she loses her shit, she'll castrate ISIS. Charlton Heston will rise from the dead to watch it happen.

Different is precariously close to being a bad thing. Different blended with uncertainty, fear and economic crisis = crazy asshole taking over your country. His name was Hitler. Find a few videos and "read" about him. Don't go there, America.

I heard a retired Air Force officer say Iraq was the wrong war. This isn't a casual maneuvering of people's lives. Our military shouldn't be pawns to old vendettas and misguided revenge plans. And for god's sake, I have yet to live through a presidential election where the winner didn't promise to take care of our soldiers, and not one of them on either side of the aisle has come through. 

Your money will be fine - It's the world you should be worried about

I really do believe this is the foreign policy election. Big business runs our domestic policy, so Trump isn't going to bring anything new to the table, and Clinton won't either. However, the world is so interconnected because of globalization, and we are really ripe for another tragic episode in world history.

The dinner table looks the same around the world - This is Budapest.

The Syrian refugees, the French victims of terrorism, the defiant Hungarians, the financially fragile Brits. Whether Americans want to admit it or not, those people really do matter to our well being. You don't want an American President who praises Putin. That is stupid. That is weak.

Different skin color and accents and languages don't make people bad. Power makes people turn bad. A Syrian refugee isn't the problem. A convoluted three-way circus of foreign policy in a violent country that harbors terrorists is the problem. Clinton won't fix it, but Trump doesn't understand it. Trust me. Putin can't wait to give the Donald a worldwide wedgie.

We learn history for a reason

Back to literacy. Review your history. Relearn it. If you don't read anymore, check out the Smithsonian channel.  It's the way the History channel used to be before it fell prey to reality TV. Watch the ancient battles between the Christians and Muslims. Watch the Vikings terrorize Europe. Watch kings cut a deal with the Pope. Pay attention to the 1930s in Germany. Watch the isolationist U.S. get blasted at Pearl Harbor by the Japanese. 

America won't be great by staying home and singing LaLaLa, and frankly nobody is going to pay $100 for a t-shirt because it was made in the USA. Don't like? You shop at Wal-Mart and Old Navy. You support Globalism. It's been on the rise since the early 20th Century. TPP is not a revolutionary concept.

Stop being so stupid. Stop posting stupid opinions on Facebook when you have no research or facts to back it. Stop being so stupid. If this country wants to be "great again," then everyone has to stop being so stupid. You still have time to make a truly informed decision on election day.