We can’t vote for either one:

[bemildred]

Patrick L. Smith lets fly on the US election and foreign affairs.

On world stage, Clinton and Trump present different, but serious, dangers

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We do not know much, in short. I confess to liking Trump’s capacity to connect with undercurrents in American society and culture that the elites of both parties have ignored with impunity for decades now. Deprivation and abuse among muddled-thinking people—political, social, economic—is no different from deprivation and abuse among the clear-minded. But this is not the same as elevating ignorance, xenophobia and “America First” nationalism to a position requiring respect.

All this puts him well beyond the pale. No vote for Trump, then.

Feeling like political orphans, are we? It takes getting used to, but bundle up and you find it is not all that cold out here. It is our fate as of this election, in any case. It is important to understand this, and then grasp the responsibilities arising from it, which are far more complex than those associated with voting. Remaining silent in November is the doorway to activity, not passivity.

What about Téa Leone for president, on the other hand? Reagan cut the trail for entertainment stars and they named airports and parks after him when he was done. Téa has a lot of experience, given her show consults with State regularly. (Oh, yes. The long arm of official propaganda has many fingers.) And Téa, Madame Secretary, has far better hair than The Great Communicator’s. It deserves a casting credit all its own, in my view.

Patrick Smith is Salon’s foreign affairs columnist. A longtime correspondent abroad, chiefly for the International Herald Tribune and The New Yorker, he is also an essayist, critic and editor. His most recent books are “Time No Longer: Americans After the American Century” (Yale, 2013) and Somebody Else’s Century: East and West in a Post-Western World (Pantheon, 2010). Follow him @thefloutist. His web site is patricklawrence.us.

http://www.salon.com/2016/05/08/we_cant_vote_for_either_one_on_world_stage_clinton_and_trump_present_different_but_serious_dangers/

[cantbeserious]

1. Bernie Is The Only Antidote For The Corrupt Nation Once Known As America

eom

[GoneFishin]

2. "Feeling like political orphans, are we?" Yes indeed. But better that than lemmings.