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The Best Two Presidential Candidates?

The founders were on to something when they left England. They left a situation where they knew it was wrong and couldn’t last. They left a monarchy. They had already seen what a pure democracy did. The mob rules. Two wolves and a sheep decide what’s for dinner. Every night. So pure democracy didn’t work. Monarchy didn’t work either. The rulers corrupted the church and caused an alliance between church and state so powerful that no one could stand against it. This is the reason they sought to keep it separate. To put a check on the government, the church, and ensure freedom to worship without such corruption looking over their heads. If you can’t tell me how to worship, then you can’t tell me to worship or not to worship.

This leaves them with brainstorming possible solutions. Fortunately, they eventually came to the correct solution. A republic: a representative democracy. Alexander Hamilton stated, “But a representative democracy, where the right of election is well secured and regulated & the exercise of the legislative, executive and judiciary authorities, is vested in select persons, chosen really and not nominally by the people, will in my opinion be most likely to be happy, regular and durable.”

Ronald Reagan said it best…

However, this can only come about if it truly represents the people. And the way this was ensured was to document that those governing only do so by the sovereignty of the consent of the governed. Meaning, the people being governed are those who chose the government. Those who make rules, enforce rules, and execute rules, only do so with the consent of the governed. This is what it means to be in a representative democracy. When people far away from the meeting itself needed to be at the meetings, they would send a representative to speak on their behalf. Whose behalf? The governed, who gave consent.

This representation keeps both the government and the governed in check. The first check in the constitution was consent. This checked the government. The second check in the constitution was the sovereign being excluded from government. That’s a check on the governed- us. In this manner, neither can have too much power. See, Athens didn’t last nearly as long as Sparta for one main reason, Sparta had divisions of the government and Athens did not. In Athens, the government was the governed and it was all ran by the people entirely.  

Ok, enough with the history lesson. What does this have to do with the presidential candidates? Glad you asked. If you were to poll Americans, the overwhelming majority would say that Trump and Harris are NOT the best two options we have for president in this country. Most conservatives and liberals would rather someone less divisive. Someone that will unite the country. But that is definitely not what we have.

What we currently have in our country are two people running for president that the majority of the “governed” did not “consent” to. This is a massive problem. Politicians have routinely been accused of lying. Why? Because they say they are going to represent us in order to get our vote, then once elected, they do the opposite, which is always what they intended on doing anyway. It is rare to see a politician truly vote and lobby on behalf of the people that elected him or her. Recently, there was a group of politicians that got together to discuss the future of the area they served, and one stood up and said, “You expect us to listen to these people that don’t know as much as we do and just do what they want?” To which the speaker said, “Yes. That’s exactly what a representative democracy is.” This happened this year, 2024. Someone had to be reminded publicly that they represent people. They didn’t just get elected to do whatever they wanted. They got elected to represent us. That’s tragic.

If we don’t begin holding the “government” accountable to the “consent of the governed”, the government will only get bigger and bigger until it’s too big and we no longer have a republic, but rather an oligarchy or aristocracy. While an aristocracy is labeled as the better of the two because of a lack of corruption, neither are good, because they do not keep each other in check. As it stands, we have two candidates that were not chosen by the “governed”, but by financial elites that believe they know better than the entire country. The “governed” must get louder, or they will be silenced.

Stay Classy GP!

Grainger

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The Tea is Headed Back to the Harbor

With the recent seizure warrants for Republicans just after the Trump raid, one has to wonder what the end game is. At what point is the government too powerful? The true answer is that happened a long time ago. The original design of the presidency was to be a commander in chief, primarily in foreign affairs. He was to be VERY limited in power and at the service of the people through elected leaders. The elected leaders were to listen to the people and legislate accordingly. NONE of this has happened in quite some time.

I get searching one’s home if there’s reason to believe he has committed a federal offense. I have no problem with that. But there’s more than enough proof to have already searched Hillary Clinton’s home, Hunter Biden’s home, Anthony Fauci’s home, and why is no one asking for the Epstein black book that Maxwell has or knows the whereabouts? If they would have already raided their homes, this wouldn’t be a problem at all.

If someone believes for a minute that this attack on Republicans wouldn’t happen exactly the same way against Democrats, you haven’t been paying attention. Democrats and Republicans are in the same arena. The arena where the only thing they really care about is keeping office and lining their pockets. They prove this time and again. I’m not a cynic. Quite the opposite. But this is so clearly obvious, it’s impossible to ignore.

Some say we are headed towards another civil war, “but this time it will be class warfare.” It will be civil war, but it will be the people versus the government. The government has reached proportions of tyranny never before seen in our country’s history. Each presidency, there is an abuse of power. Every. Single. President has abused their power. None more than the current, or at least the puppeteers pulling the strings behind the scenes (I have a terrible memory, but if I shake your hand, I’m not going to forget I shook your hand 2 seconds later). They have all used executive power to basically write law. The most recent abuse of power is to continue the state of emergency so they can circumvent laws and rules.

I’m not that fearful though. For one, the military swear an oath to the Constitution, not the presidency. Also, this resembles the feeling people had when the British were all but forcing their brand of British East India Company tea on the colonies. So they dumped what would be $1M in today’s money worth of tea into the harbor. The people will have had enough at some point and throw something into the harbor. Tyranny never lasts in a republic. It’s definitely here, but it won’t last. Besides, I don’t follow a donkey or an elephant. I follow a Lamb.   

Stay Classy GP!

Grainger

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Enough is Enough is Enough

After looking at the events at the capitol, you have to ask why. Why are there people this upset? Why did they resort to a peaceful protest on the capitol? Yes, there were a small faction, less than 100, that went to violence. But most were there in disgust of how the election went down. There were obvious activities taking place that caused everyone to question the validity of the election.

For starters, never, in the history of our country has an election just “paused” and then resumed hours later like GA… only to yield thousands of votes that just “appeared” for only one candidate. That’s statistically impossible. This is obvious. Then there’s the truck driver in PA that was carrying blank ballots that were later “counted”.

There are more but let’s stick to the point. The point is that in our nation’s history, when a group of people felt oppressed, they spoke out. If they felt they weren’t heard, they speak louder. Then they turn to protests. Let’s not forget what happened in MN over the summer that sparked many violent acts and some peaceful protests along the way. I have a friend that supports BLM that said he went to Nashville for a peaceful protest and everyone he saw there left at the same time. Only later did the violence occur. Meaning, that an entire group wasn’t responsible for the nonsense of a small faction of that group. So, we can’t hold the entire #MAGA group responsible for what these few idiots did either. And certainly not Trump. He actually spoke against violence of any kind. And his speech never even got in the zip code of meeting the Brandenburg vs Ohio test.

It was once black people. It was once women. It was once LGBT. They spoke out against the oppression and didn’t feel as thought they were heard. So they protested. They stayed angry at the situation. In most cases, it stayed peaceful.

Four people die. Zero businesses destroyed. This is considered a riot

Now insert conservatives/republicans. They’ve been called every name in the book. Been made to feel inferior. Called racist with no evidence or base to the claim. Been told that being white is automatically a sin. Was told that being a male makes you toxic by nature. Written off as conspiracy theorists only to find total validity in such theories, such as Biden’s connection to China or the made-up allegations against Trump (ALL of which were proven false). As I’m writing this, I’m reminded of how many small, locally owned businesses were completely destroyed and it was consistently called “protests” by the media, but around 100 white punks (who deserve to be in prison) storm the capitol and it’s called “riots”. This is obvious. The media isn’t even trying to hide their disgust for all things conservative. Same goes for Hollywood and secondary education. Conservatives are the extreme minority that is tired of not being listened to and sick of being treated so poorly.

At some point, those people stand up and say, and I quote Joe Biden, “enough is enough is enough.” Yes, Mr. Biden, enough is enough. Enough kicking republican voter location workers out without explanation while the democrat workers stay and count alone. Enough mail-in voting that has proven to be an easy device for fraud (absentee is different, they’re requested first and validated by voter ID). Enough writing someone off solely based on their party affiliation.

Twenty-five people die. 1500 businesses destroyed. This is considered a peaceful protest

Have both sides done this? Of course they have. This is why blind tribalism is a total cancer that is eating our country. Democrats have objected to the last three GOP presidents. Democrats said to go ahead and appoint a SCOTUS before election in 2016 and don’t wait. Democrats supported the protests and refuse to condemn the violent looting and destroying of local businesses, citing that sometimes this is the only way to get the attention of the difference makers.

Now all of the sudden the GOP does these exact same things and it’s all of the sudden atrocious. Well the “deplorables” have had enough. They have watched as the so-called leaders of our country trample on the 1st, 5th and 14th amendments and absolutely spit on the separation of powers while basically saying, “What are you going to do about it?”

Did Trump cause this? Partially, yes. Obama? partially yes. These two presidents had an opportunity to unify the country and only did more to divide it. Part of their job is the set the tone for the nation. Trump never accepted that role. He just made brilliant business moves and got the country back on a very good fiscal track while tweeting the dumbest and most antagonizing things ever. No tone set. Obama set the tone that cops are racist and white people should pay. As a result, we see what we see. If you truly believe that one of these presidents did NOT divide our country, you, my friend, are guilty of Tribalism at the worst degree. Anyone paying attention would agree that BOTH of these presidents divided our country, unless you’re blinded by tribalism.

What is the solution? END TRIBALISM. Also, A third and fourth party being treated as equals. It can never happen as long as super-pacs are allowed. But its’ vital. We have to have leaders that speak up against the nonsense of their own parties, to call out the hypocrisy within the party. We have to have leaders that seek to truly bring unity. To support both the LEO’s and black citizens. Not vilify either.

When the sudden exodus to Parler came, you have to ask yourself why a large group of people would do that. Why would they leave the most popular format on the planet for something else? Are THAT many people just “stupid”? Of course not. Then why? Because they are being mistreated. Again, does this go both ways? Of course. Liberals are often mistreated by conservatives as well. Usually for no reason. Making comments like “dumb libtards don’t know their ass from a hole in the ground” by the right or “hope Parler lets you find FreeDumb!” by the left does nothing but further divide. It gets us nowhere.

If you want to be part of the solution, shake off your blind tribalistic allegiance to party and only support other Americans. We all want to get to the same destination. We just have different ideas of how to get there. If conservatives aren’t treated better, if the constitution isn’t treated better, if the 1st, 2nd, 5th, and 14th amendments continue to be under attack, and separation of powers is routinely ignored, a live-action reenactment of the Boston Tea Party will take place. This can be avoided, but unity and understanding must take place. And that can only happen if you seek to understand a person with an opinion other than your own. This goes for Conservatives AND Liberals!

Stay Classy GP!

Grainger

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The 4 L’s

In December of 2015, the New York Times released an article after following a group of 85-year-old people for a year. What they concluded was that it was certain what mattered to them was laughter. They spent “no wasted time on anger and worry.” They were quoted as saying “with old age, I listen a little more.”

What did matter to them was The 4 L’s: Life, Laughter, Listening, and Love. Notice what did not matter to them; none mentioned a thing about current events, politics, donkeys or elephants. Only life, laughter, listening, and love. 

I’ve learned that I have no control over what someone does in the White House. I have no control over what they do in the Tennessee capital. I have no control over what happens in the Sumner County sessions. The closest thing I have to control is a vote. And I use that to the best of my ability. After that, it’s out of my control. 

Think back before covid. Who did you go to concerts with? Who did you have dinner with? Who did you hang out with, double dates, play dates with kids? Remember when it didn’t matter how they voted? 

What’s changed? Boredom and Social media. And a lack of pursuit of the things that matter. We’ve turned our focus away from the friends that make us laugh at dinner and decided they’re no longer dinner-worthy because they dislike Trump. Or they’re no longer someone you want to go to a concert with anymore simply because they don’t like Biden. Think about it, do these politicians know who you are? Do they care? Debatable.

Boredom. Covid put us in a place where we were in search of something to do. People were playing the stock market that had never done so before. There were no sports. This was the closest thing to it. 

One thing that is stoking opinionated fires needlessly that not many are mentioning is social media. Social media has unintentionally, yet successfully driven a wedge in our relationships while trying to bring them closer together. How could that be? 

Originally, it was meant to bring people together. Family that didn’t live close by could keep in touch. People would be positively reaffirmed with “likes”. But it was free. They had to make money. So the social media platforms sold data on what people were clicking on and watching- the algorithm. In order for them to make money, you had to stay on your phone. In order for that to happen, they put things in front of you they knew you’d like and agree with. Algorithms again. 

You kept feeding their data machine and they kept sending you things you liked and agreed with. The more you watched, the more money they made. Little did they, or you, know that the things they were putting in your face were creating total political polarization. 

So now we’re willing to lose friends, people we’ve been doing life with, over things we can’t control. That’s how ridiculous this has gotten. It’s gotten so out of control that an idea about something you have no control over, an opinion, is driving wedges in families, friends, communities. 

There has to be a point when we realize it’s just not worth it. That whether I back the blue or believe Black Lives Matter, or manage to believe both has no effect on the years of closeness I’ve had with someone prior to this social media experiment. 

I seriously doubt we’ll be 85 saying “I’m so happy I ended that 20-year friendship over my opinion on a police department in Wisconsin.” That just won’t happen. We’ll wake up with so much regret we won’t be able to function. We must get to a place where we focus on what matters: Life, Laughing, Listening, and Love.

Stay Classy GP!

Grainger

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Lenses

What kind of lens are you looking at the world through? Chances are you’re looking through the lens of your experience. Through the lens of your personal preferences. Maybe even through the lens someone told you to look through. But what if we looked through an objective lens… rather than a subjective lens… what would happen?

Each day, I’m a bit more troubled by the level of blind passion that we treat our fellow brothers and sisters with. “I’m on a team- my team is right, even when it’s wrong. If you’re not on my team, I hate you.” I’ll never forget walking into a Burger King in central Kentucky. It’s a Sunday night. There are only 4 people there, well into their 50’s, maybe 60’s. They are all talking, almost over each other in the excitement of their conversation. They’re all smiling. Until they see me. I happened to be wearing an LSU sweatshirt that night. The conversation came to an abrupt halt and they all just stared at me like I’d just ran over their dog. I remember thinking, this must be what black people felt like in the 60’s. I remember being appalled that they would show such disdain for a fellow human just because of a sweatshirt with a college from a different state.

They were looking at life through a blue lens (Kentucky blue). All they saw was that I wasn’t wearing their color blue. Never mind that I could wear red, white, and blue and all of the sudden we’d all be on the same team.

The 2020 Super Bowl produced its same level of predictable controversy. Someone is going to get upset at something and blow it way out of proportion. The exact same women that were grabbing napkins off of the snack table to wipe their mouths at Adam Levine shirtless just one year before, were now, all of the sudden, offended. They’re looking at the world through a few types of lenses. The lens of jealousy may be one. They know they don’t measure up so they attack. Another lens may be the good ole double standard. “It’s ok for me to drool over Adam Levine but my husband better not even glance at J-Lo!”

Then there were the men that pretended to be offended by it so they didn’t have to sleep on the couch that night. For those that say, “it was not a family friendly event”, I can’t disagree. But if that’s going to be the stance, then we need to redefine the dress code of every water park and every concert. Because I’ve seen more at those events than I did on the super bowl. I’m not defending pole dancing. I’m just saying that we are looking through clouded lenses.

The State of The Union speech. Here we have the most powerful man in the world speaking on behalf of the most powerful country in the world. This is one place we should be unified. But no. The minute it was over, the country suited up and took their sides, ready to battle for their team. The first team struck…

“What a classless witch Pelosi is for ripping the speech up!” This team decided that for this one moment, Pelosi has to be civil. The rumor is that President Trump handed her a speech with the pages in the wrong order. I’m not sure if that’s true, but if it is… that’s Hilarious! But the same people that are tearing into Pelosi are the same people that were completely silent when Trump mocked a dead congressman, US Rep Dingell. The same people that are silent when Trump tweets the dumbest things on earth. When he brags senselessly and sounds like a ruthless, coarse, businessman… these people are silent. But let’s go crazy on some papers that get ripped. I personally found it funny.

Another lens is “Never Trump!” If Trump announced he found the cure to cancer, they’d scream “How dare you take away the jobs of the Sarah Cannon Cancer center!” The man simply can do no right. These same people were silent as Maxine Waters called for violence against Trump’s cabinet members. Deafening silent when the House clearly made sure there was no chance of a fair hearing. Created walls to block the chance of hearing the whole truth, nothing but the truth, so help them God. Then they wondered why the other side didn’t play fair in the Senate trial. Where were the people that despised Trump for an alleged interference in Ukraine… when all this unfairness was taking place? Looking through a lens that is fogged with blind allegiance.

Here’s what I’m getting to: If we can SOMEHOW get to a place where we are looking at life, the world, our country and our fellow Americans through an OBJECTIVE lens, we may just see that there is more to agree on than fight about.

If we decide that mocking a dead congressman AND ripping a speech up is classless, we may just get somewhere. If we decide that dancing in little clothing AND wearing bikinis to water parks are ok OR NEITHER is ok… then we get somewhere. I’m not saying one is more right than the other. I’m saying decide what is right and wrong for you and stick with that, regardless of who does or says it.

It’s when we keep seeing life through these clouded lenses that we don’t really see the world for what it is. We don’t see that the person that votes for the other team is actually a pretty good person. That the person that loved the halftime show may have just loved the art.  Personally, I didn’t care for the halftime show, but not because of what they were wearing. To me, it didn’t matter what they were wearing- it wasn’t going to make that music sound any better. I just didn’t care for the music. But that’s just my humble opinion.

Objective lenses help focus light to produce a real image. They don’t block the image, they show what the REAL image is. So let’s see if we can take the glasses off that have foggy lenses and put some on that have clear, objective lenses that allow us to see the beauty in the world. Give it a shot… I dare you!

Stay Classy GP!

Grainger

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The Pelosi Effect

I’m not a Trump apologist. There are many things to dislike about this man. The recent statements about Rep. Dingell were just plain gross, unnecessary, uncalled for, and in extremely poor taste. I would expct a statement like that to come from a drunk DJ. Not the POTUS! But no one questions his intellect. He’s very smart. Extremely intelligent. But recently the American people saw the beginnings of a plan and are about to see the rest of the plan. And this plan will make Trump look not nearly as smart as he once looked. Her name is Nancy. And she just said “checkmate!”  

We really aren’t giving this beautiful young woman enough credit for being the genius that she is. Think about it. She could start all of these impeachment hearings any time. But she waits until September 2019. Why? Well, she figured the vote would come right before the holiday break for the government. She was right. Then she figured once the vote took place in the House, obviously in favor of Democrats who hold the majority, that there’s no way to beat the republican senate majority. And she’s right again. So Ms. Genius knew she could just hold on to the articles of impeachment until after the election because 23 republican senator seats are up for election. Once they gain the majority of the senate, she comes forward with the articles to the democrat controlled senate for trial and subsequently removes the newly elected 2nd term president. It. Is. Genius! Brilliant! I’m personally in awe of her brains. Not kidding. Obviously, i’m merely guessing at all of this, but this makes the most sense.

Upside: Impeachment is a process, not a vote. In order for impeachment to be reached, there has to be a vote. Then they have to have managers deliver and declare the articles of impeachment before the senate. At that point, he is then “impeached” … or “accused”. The senate then holds a trial and eventually settles the debate on whether the accused is guilty of the charges against him. We’re a long way from all of this.  

Downside: with this plan, she has made it perfectly obvious that people don’t matter. American people don’t matter. Nothing matters more than winning in Politics. That’s it. Regardless of who it steps on in the process. The American people, the constitution, doesn’t matter. If you’re in her way, you will be eliminated. And everyone gets to see this unfold.

Another downside: the American people aren’t going to take this lying down. They’re going to resist. This will get ugly before it gets better.

Another downside: her colleagues aren’t nearly as smart as she is. They cheered when impeachment was announced. She didn’t. She pretended much better than they did. She waited until later to celebrate with her not-so-brilliant colleagues. Her colleagues also kept saying the reason they weren’t giving the republicans their fair say at the hearing was because speed was of utmost importance. Pelosi didn’t say that. Because she’s smart. She already knew her plan that was devised in 2016. They weren’t smart enough to figure all this out. So they kept saying “speed!” And “got to get this done quickly!” Then once they got the vote, the need for speed vanished. Amazing how that works. (Double standards usually preclude an unethical agenda/motive). Now she’s doing something that has never been done and certainly was never done during Clinton’s impeachment. Something that is grossly unconstitutional. She’s withholding the articles of impeachment. She knows that there’s really no designated time frame to release them. So she’ll say that she’s waiting until the republicans do exactly what she says. Which won’t happen.  And she knew that! The elephants are playing right into her pretty little brilliant hands.


One day there’s going to be a section of political science classes called “The Pelosi Effect” where students have to devise a fool proof plan to win at ALL COST! And if they consider the American people during this, at all, they fail!

For now, we’re left to admire the wit, brilliance, and utter intellectual superiority known as Nancy Pelosi. She may be the only person in the country to outsmart Trump at his own game. My hat’s off to you Madame Mumbler… I mean speaker.

Stay Classy GP!

Grainger