I Me Mine, by Martha Thomases – Brilliant Disguise | @MDWorld

July 30, 2016 Victor El-Khouri 1 Comment

When I was a teenager, our country was divided between (among other things) people who supported the war in Viet Nam and people who opposed it.  I opposed it.  My family opposed it.

Those who supported the war described themselves as the “real patriots.”  They flew flags.  Sometimes, people who opposed the war played along with this and burned flags.

My mother flew the flag outside our house.  When I asked why, she said, “It’s my flag, too.  They can’t take it away from me.”

I really liked this approach.  I refuse to let people who disagree with me define me.  For example, many people on the right like to talk about “family values,” by which they mean they are against LGBTQ equality and reproductive rights.  My family values not only embrace those things, but also include free speech, respectful curiosity about people from different traditions, and a deep-seated belief that there is no situation that can’t be improved with a little smoked fish.

These thoughts went through my head while watching the Democratic National Convention this week.  I’m not alone in noticing how completely opposite it was to last week’s RNC.  The Dems had lots of military speakers, people who spoke glowingly about Hillary Clinton, especially compared to Donald Trump.  In the process, they redefined patriotism so that it not only fit more comfortably with Ms. Clinton’s philosophy (we are stronger together), but also with my mother’s.

Speaker after speaker talked about the personal interest Hillary Clinton had taken in each person’s life.  They talked about how she went out of her way to find out what caused a problem and how to fix it.  I don’t know if this changed anyone’s mind, because far too many of us don’t absorb new information.  We have one set of standards for men, and another set of standards for women.

One of the criticisms of Hillary is that she changes her positions to take advantage of public opinion.  After all, in the 1990s, she supported both the Defense of Marriage Act and laws that ultimately resulted in an enormous increase in the number of people in prison.  Since then, she has changed her mind.  But, here’s the thing.  Although I disagreed with her at the time, both of those things were thought to be a step towards improving the rights of LGBTQ people and at-risk populations.  They proved not to work, and, faced with that evidence, Hillary changed her mind.

I like people who can look at evidence and change their minds.  That’s what we’re supposed to do.  And if they aren’t really persuaded but just do the right thing because they want my vote, I’m okay with that, as long as they actually do it.

Meanwhile, Trump, the GOP candidate actually called for the Russians to hack into Clinton’s e-mail servers.  After a day of being denounced by loads of people, including a bunch in his own party, he was being sarcastic.  He’s also said that Putin is a stronger and better leader than Obama, and has said similarly admiring things about Sadam Hussein and Kim Jung Il.

Can you imagine what would happen if a Democrat said such a thing?  I mean, Clinton took money for making speeches at Goldman Sachs (which I don’t like), and she’s being raked over the coals for that entirely legal transaction.  If she advocated for a foreign government to get involved in our elections, there would be Benghazi-like inquiries. But the GOP does it and nobody protests.

At least not effectively.

Trump got a free ride (more or less) from the press during the primaries.  He said outrageous things, but since there were so many candidates, he escaped real scrutiny.  Now that both candidates are officially nominees, I hope he gets at least some of the scrutiny Hillary has received over the last three decades.

If I had the resources, I would start with his tax returns.

I’m sure we can find some home-grown American hackers to do the job.

Martha Thomases, Media Goddess, hasn’t been sleeping well because watching speeches before bedtime gets her all riled up.