The Latest Political Ad

[HEPZIBAH]

I am finding it very uncomfortable sitting on the fence at the moment. No one has yet pursuaded me which decision gives me the greener fields. I just hope I can come to the right decision at the time.

I may need treatment for the splinters in my bottom before long, so am hoping we can hold on to our NHS to help me. The NHS issue may keep cropping up as a red herring in the EU arguements but it is something we mustn't let be brushed under the carpet and forgotten about either.

[newcastle]

I am finding it very uncomfortable sitting on the fence at the moment. No one has yet pursuaded me which decision gives me the greener fields. I just hope I can come to the right decision at the time.

I may need treatment for the splinters in my bottom before long, so am hoping we can hold on to our NHS to help me. The NHS issue may keep cropping up as a red herring in the EU arguements but it is something we mustn't let be brushed under the carpet and forgotten about either.

[newcastle]

Quite a good article on the EU referendum by Simon Heffer of The Telegraph Newspaper
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06 ... ct-britai/

Is there an online version with musical accompaniment...."Land of Hope and Glory" ?

Just asking....

Seriously though......is the outcome going to be determined not by rational consideration of pro or anti facts (if there are any) but by purely emotive reactions to some of the bizarre antics of both sides?

As an ex-pat of 20 years, I'll be watching the aftermath....from a safe distance!

[LovelyLadyLux]

In the good old days before instant communication how did we decide on critical issues? I think I initially voted the way my parents voted (liberal) but I also knew they were different from my Grandparents (conservative). THEN I started to read on my own, consider and make decisions but I was never really political.

As I got older and as communication got faster it was harder to tell WHO was/is really right as it seems to me a Politician will say something but then have tiny tidbits taken from it and hashed to death by all the Talking Heads who will pick a point and argue it to death to a ridiculous extreme.

When we're now so globally interconnected with deals that are under the table and over the table and all around the town it is so difficult to tell how the outcome of anything will go because I have no doubt at all there are mega factors relating to core issues that only insiders know about.

Hard to say if a NON-Politician like Donald Trump would actually be good for the USA. Hard to say if Hillary + Bill back in the White House, who seem to attract scandal after scandal, would be good. To BREXIT or BREMAIN? That is the $64,000 question. Who really does have ALL the FACTS to make an informed decision.

What are you relying on when you make up your mind? Newspapers? Other Politicians? Past History? What you read on the Internet? etc etc etc AND how are you vetting your sources?

[newcastle]

Personally speaking , LLL, I find it all too much for my tiny mind and, as mentioned elsewhere, have taken the soft, nay cowardly, option of doing nowt.

I excuse myself (and it is a pathetic excuse) that , as I neither live, nor intend to live, in UK or Europe my views are irrelevant and shouldn't be foisted, via a vote, on those to whom it is relevant.

I will say that the whole affair, played out on TV, in the Press or on Social Media has done little to elevate my opinion of the voting public, or those elected to govern them.

[LovelyLadyLux]

@ Newcastle - to a certain extent me too. We are getting next to nil re: BREXIT or BREMAIN but we ARE getting a daily non-stop dose of both Donald Trump and Hillary.

[LovelyLadyLux]

This was a forward to me re: Trump. It is a different way of looking at the man and I have wondered, of late, if the definition of liberal and conservative need to be reviewed. I'm also highly suspicious of all the Politician who are OWNED by all the different Lobby groups that fund them. It does makes sense to me that if I've given you multi millions of dollars I DO expect you to cater to ME.

Maybe, just maybe it is time to re-look and re-define the Political parties of the past and come up with some new labels. Part of me strongly thinks that a good businessman would be a better leader of a country and a Politician who has never really balanced anything more significant than their own check book.


A different take on Donald Trump.

Trump Is Not A Liberal or Conservative, He’s a Pragmatist.

We recently enjoyed a belated holiday dinner with friends at the home of other friends. The dinner conversation was jocund, ranging from discussions about antique glass and china to theology and politics.

At one point reference was made to Donald Trump being a conservative, to which I responded that Trump is not a conservative.

I said that I neither view nor do I believe Trump views himself as a conservative. I stated it was my opinion that Trump is a pragmatist. He sees a problem and understands it must be fixed. He doesn't see the problem as liberal or conservative, he sees it only as a problem. That is a quality that should be admired and applauded, not condemned. But I get ahead of myself.

Viewing problems from a liberal perspective has resulted in the creation of more problems, more entitlement programs, more victims, more government, more political correctness, and more attacks on the working class in all economic strata.

Viewing things according to the so-called Republican conservative perspective has brought continued spending and globalism to the detriment of American interests and well being, denial of what the real problems are, weak, ineffective, milquetoast, leadership that amounts to Barney Fife Deputy Sheriff, appeasement oriented and afraid of its own shadow. In brief, it has brought liberal ideology with a pachyderm as a mascot juxtaposed to the ass of the Democrat Party.

Immigration isn't a Republican problem – it isn't a liberal problem – it is a problem that threatens the very fabric and infrastructure of America. It demands a pragmatic approach not an approach that is intended to appease one group or another.

The impending collapse of the economy isn't a liberal or conservative problem, it is an American problem. That said, until it is viewed as a problem that demands a common sense approach to resolution, it will never be fixed because the Democrats and Republicans know only one way to fix things and the longevity of their impracticality has proven to have no lasting effect.

A successful businessmen like Donald Trump find ways to make things work, they do not promise to accommodate.

Trump uniquely understands that China’s manipulation of currency is not a Republican problem or a Democrat problem. It is a problem that threatens our financial stability and he understands the proper balance needed to fix it. Here again successful businessmen like Trump who have weathered the changing tides of economic reality understand what is necessary to make business work and they, unlike both sides of the political aisle, know that if something doesn't work, you don't continue trying to make it work hoping that at some point it will.

As a pragmatist Donald Trump hasn't made wild pie-in-the-sky promises of a cell phone in every pocket, free college tuition, and a $15 hour minimum wage for working the drive-through a Carl’s Hamburgers.

I argue that America needs pragmatists because pragmatists see a problem and find ways to fix them. They do not see a problem and compound it by creating more problems.

You may not like Donald Trump, but I suspect that the reason people do not like him is because: (1) he is antithetical to the “good old boy” method of brokering backroom deals that fatten the coffers of politicians; (2) they are unaccustomed to hearing a candidate speak who is unencumbered by the financial shackles of those who own them vis-a`-vis donations; (3) he is someone who is free of idiomatic political ideology; and (4) he is someone who understands that it takes more than hollow promises and political correctness to make America great again.

Listening to Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders talk about fixing America is like listening to two lunatics trying to “out crazy” one another. Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Marco Rubio are owned lock, stock, and barrel by the bankers, corporations, and big dollar donors funding their campaigns. Bush can deny it but common sense tells anyone willing to face facts is that people don't give tens of millions without expecting something in return.

We have had Democrats and Republican ideologues and what has it brought us? Are we better off today or worse off? Has it happened overnight or has it been a steady decline brought on by both parties?

I submit that a pragmatist might be just what America needs right now.

People are quick to confuse and despise confidence as arrogance, but that is common among those who have never accomplished anything in their lives (or politicians who never really solve a problem, because its better to still have an "issue(s) to be solved" so re-elect me to solve it, which never happens) and those who have always played it safe (again, all politicians) not willing to risk failure, to try and achieve success.

Donald Trump has his total financial empire at risk in running for president, that says it all. Success for the US!

[carrie]

In my opinion Trump is a misogynist, racist, bully don't know if that makes him a liberal, conservative or pragmatist. Can't wait for him to get over here and face the British press they tend not to be so deferential as the Americans.

[newcastle]

"You may not like Donald Trump, but I suspect that the reason people do not like him is because: (1) he is antithetical to the “good old boy” method of brokering backroom deals that fatten the coffers of politicians; (2) they are unaccustomed to hearing a candidate speak who is unencumbered by the financial shackles of those who own them vis-a`-vis donations; (3) he is someone who is free of idiomatic political ideology; and (4) he is someone who understands that it takes more than hollow promises and political correctness to make America great again."

You forgot to add (5) he is a foul-mouthed, misogynistic, racist, islamophobic, bigoted bully with no comprehension of how to conduct himself on the international stage.

Perhaps these attributes don't concern Americans?

[LuxorFan]

A pragmatist?
Get real. He's an incoherent babbler. Have you ever listened to one of his speeches from beginning to end? Gibberish.

[newcastle]

A pragmatist?
Get real. He's an incoherent babbler. Have you ever listened to one of his speeches from beginning to end? Gibberish.

If he was pragmatic he'd keep his mouth in check to improve his chances of fooling the electorate into thinking he was a sane member of the human race.

[LovelyLadyLux]

Re: Trump - his OWN mouth will be is OWN undoing. Unfortunately his mouth runneth over. On the other side of the aisle - Clinton + mega scandals isn't exactly confidence inspiring either. My bottom line is that if I had to vote I'd be having a real hard time deciding which was the less of all evils between the two.

I do think though (taking Trump out of the article) there is some merit in looking at how Politicians actually 'fit' into the political party they belong to. I'm not sure the old traditional parties don't both need a revamp.

I'm inclined to want a Leader to be somebody who has actually achieved something in their own life vs some of them who are simply walking talk machines yet unable to actually produce results.

[newcastle]

Having gone bankrupt (on more than one occasion I believe) Trump definitely has some useful experience under his belt.....in the event of another recession in USA

The USA has my sympathy....having to choose between Trump & Clinton.

But then so does UK. In due course their choice will be between Corbyn and........Boris??

[Horus]

Not much of a choice either way

[LovelyLadyLux]

The only choice is NO CHOICE in many countries (my own included). Am thinking re:US politics that it will either be record breaking numbers coming out to vote or nobody.