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Wednesday, October 12, 2016

Butch Cassidy, Donald Trump and other Lost Causes

Cinema is full of stories where the heroes are up against overwhelming odds and some says, "let's do it." Earlier on in the movie Butch and Sundance are standing on the precipice above the rocky rapids below. They are about to be captured or killed by the posse. "We gotta jump." "I can't swim." With a laugh, "Go on, the fall will probably kill us anyway." They jump.

The iconic Alamo battle with the war cry, "Remember the Alamo!" precedes death to the last man of the American side at the hands of the Mexican Army. In Beau Geste the Foreign Legion all die at the hand of Arabs in the Arabian deserts. All these men sacrificed their all for the Lost Cause. Even Thelma and Louise preferred to drive off into the void than be caught.

There is something of the bulldog in the human psyche that won't allow a person let go when the chosen path proves to be really dumb. The behavior is similar to the habitual gambler who knows he must pay the rent and pay off his debts but instead must place the one last bet with the small winning he just got. Statistically and inevitably he loses that bet and must face the consequences.

Supporters of Donald Trump exhibit that same foolish tenacity to stand their ground in the face of all the nonsense Mr. Trump espouses. At least in the case of Hillary Clinton there are no new "scandals" or massive bad rhetoric which a supporter should consider as a negative attribute. She has been fully vetted over the past 25 years. Nothing has been indictable in all that time.

On the other hand, Donald Trump continues to incite and inflame the electorate with increasingly bizarre statements and behavior.  His stage presence has devolved into one of lurking behind opponents, name calling and character assassination. He seems to think he lives in an alternate reality where videotape has not been invented. He claims to have not said something are instantly debunked by the video of him saying it.

His entire campaign is only made possible by the fact that there are Americans who are like Butch Cassidy and Sundance Kid and will stand by their man even if it kills them. They have made their decision and nothing will dissuade them from their course.

Hillary maintains a positive course toward trying to improve this nation while Donald is perfectly willing to dissect it and trample each piece to feed his own personal feelings and behavior. His position on everything is regressive. There is nothing in his platform which will move us well into the future. Coal is so 19th Century. Building walls is so Communistic and Authoritarian. Cutting taxes on corporations is Fascist. Denying people food, shelter and medical care is as unconstitutional as denying Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. Creating religious tests for the making of laws, admission to the country and for citizenship is expressly against the Constitution.


There is not one progressive plank in his platform for a Trump Administration. While his position is so utterly negative, there are people who cannot let it go. They still cling to the notion they have a cause to defend even though it is a lost one. 

**cue Butch and Sundance rushing out into the hail of Federale bullets.**

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