Wind of Change?

Sometimes, a step forward, a new start, a fresh breeze, can be deceptive.

As the Democratic National Convention draws to a close, having elected Hillary Clinton as its candidate, I cannot help but wonder just how Americans are going to reconcile the lesser of two obvious evils.
I would like nothing more than to feel overjoyed and happy that, at last, a woman has a decent chance of being elected as president of the United States. However, I feel like Americans have been cheated of the chance to wholeheartedly back a Democratic candidate. Hillary Clinton is, at best, a puppet of the rich and powerful. She represents the Establishment, as she herself has said and is obvious. The so-called Establishment has deeper roots than just a political network or institution. It is well known that bankers, lobbies and all sorts of influential people can -and often do- alter a government’s intentions on passing laws that can affect them. The latest example of this is the famous (or infamous) TTIP, which consists, basically , of the right of large corporations to sue the government if they pass a law that is unfavourable to them. This means that these corporations would effectively be legislating prices, undermining rival companies, deciding on labour laws or environmental issues. This would mean strife for the working class, as there would be no stopper on the designs of boardroom CEO’s. We would have capitalism at its most toxic and dehumanizing.
The fact that Hillary is a woman is not enough to compensate for her dubious record. A well known anecdote is that of a case when she defended a man who had raped a fourteen year old girl, knowing he was guilty and using in his defense the argument that the girl had been fantasizing about having sex with an older man, therefore the ‘rape’ having been consensual. Years later, she laughed on a television interview when she was asked about it. Another case is the whole Lewinsky et al issue. That she could accuse these women of anything when it was perfectly clear that it had been her husband who had initiated these ‘relationships’ and that they were unequal at best, as he was the governor or the president, which gave him more power over the women, is denigrating. You should stand by your husband if it’s what you feel is right, but don’t go victim blaming. It doesn’t speak well of your moral standards or your empathy.
Choosing Hillary Clinton over Donald Trump is a hard decision. It is like choosing if you’d like to be fried or baked. The fact that she’s a woman is not a guarantee or an incentive to vote for her. Or it shouldn’t be.
As for Trump, I can only say that the fact that he is the Republican candidate is a clear sign of the troubled times we live in. That such an ignorant, egotistic bigot can in any way represent the views of a large sector of population is incredible. That a large sector of population has supported him makes me fear for the world.
In the end, nonetheless, it makes little difference what the outcome of the election is. They are puppets in the hands of the puppet masters who rule the world.

Until people everywhere realize that they have the right and the duty to stand up for themselves against the mandates of the powerful, we will not see the world make any progress towards a better future.
Until the winds of change howl across plains and cities, through villages and across seas, we will continue to be hostages of the system.
Wind