Because I am a senior, I am at a disadvantage. I listened to speeches and statements by members of both political parties which contained ideas and the methods to implement them; I did not grow up in a nation run by ambitious men and women who lack any ability to lead our nation positively into the future.

I remember Dwight D. Eisenhower and his leadership. I respected his suggestion that wars are never won, and in the future they would be even more problematic. He was a prophet. Of course I remember JFK; he was assassinated while I was a senior in high school. His intellect was impressive, and never more so than in a small book which was published and titled “The Kennedy Wit.” When he was running for his first term, Ronald Reagan deftly laid out his plans for our nation and its people. George H.W. Bush was a wise man and had an air of patriotism which traveled across the airways. Bill Clinton was not only intelligent, but may be the most charismatic president in my lifetime. Under his leadership or nation’s budget was gifted with a surplus. When Barrack Obama decided to seek the presidency I was over-joyed. I was pleased that an intelligent man would replace our 43^rd president.

But Barrack Obama had problems none of the others had to face. He has fought the ‘party of no’ for seven years. How did this happen? When did our nation’s government become so ignorant and regressive?

It all began in 1988 with a man who hated his country and sought extreme means to change it to his liking. His daily broadcast was filled with lies and innuendos while he led the uninformed on a path of fear and hatred. He renewed extreme racism, bigotry, homophobia and misogyny. Rush Limbaugh called himself a conservative, when in reality he remains a ‘destructionist.’ Although he claims to support the Constitution, he only believes in the sections with which he agrees. His vision of America aligns with the fascists I read about in my history classes.

But he was only the beginning. By the 2000 election, FOX Noise had become a right wing propaganda machine. It began broadcasting in 1996 and pretended to be an information network, when in fact it was created to spread lies about Democrats and liberal voters. It had, and has, no journalists, it has celebrities who are paid to tell lies and bend the truth in favor of Republicans.

Between Limbaugh and FOX, our nation became divided long before George W. Bush would increase the chasm between the two parties and their supporters. Viewers glued to their radios and televisions lost their ability to think for themselves, and they were encouraged not to seek the truth. The ‘dumbing down of America’ had begun.

During the last years of the Bush Administration the Koch brothers decided to destroy the Republican Party. By 2010 under the name “Americans for Prosperity,” they paid for the election of members of their TEA Party. They were unqualified, but had pledged loyalty to the Koch brothers and their plans for Washington. They promised to never compromise with those on the left side of the aisle, and became obstructionists, eventually destroying our political system.

Subsequent elections were won with the use of emotional persuasion. Fear tactics with the use of lies and half-truths convinced some of the voting public that they represented all of our nation’s people, not just the wealthiest Americans, which, in fact, was the truth.

The American electorate continues to vote for parties instead of people. They fail to research the candidates and make intelligent choices. Because of this fact, the GOP has become a party of clowns and circus performers, led by a ring master who talks the loudest.

Now this ringmaster has been endorsed by the most illiterate and uninformed political figure in my lifetime, ‘Caribou Barbie.’ If this is not the ultimate proof that the American people have lost much of their intellectual ability, I don’t know what would be.

The very fact that Trump has more supporters than any other GOP candidate adds to the proof that our nation prefers stupidity over intelligence. These people prefer to be led; thinking requires far too much effort.

Op-Ed

By James Turnage

Photo Courtesy of DonkeyHotey

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