Standing Alone

Few things are as scary as standing alone.  Standing alone in one's beliefs in the face of violent and vocal onslaught can be unnerving, let alone downright frightening and personally dangerous.  Not to be confused with violent and vocal flash mobs, or adhering to accepted politically correct notions, standing alone takes a good measure of personal strength and intestinal fortitude.  It's hard.  And that's why we admire those who can - and do -  stand alone.

For a brief time, Bernie Sanders stood alone.  His brand of socialism gained traction among those farther left than the far-left mainstream democrat party.  Politically I'm as far from a socialist as one can get and find no common ground with him at all, but I admired his sand for espousing such Marxist ideas in a country founded on personal liberty and responsibility. It's possible he's the only person in America who didn't know the system was rigged against him, and emboldened by his supporters, let his true Marxist beliefs show.  But he caved.  In the end he caved into the pressures put on him, and - in spite of all the rhetoric and policy positions differences - threw his endorsement and support to She Who Will Not Be Named.  Admiration and respect evaporated because he caved, and at age 74, he really didn't have to.  He could have gone out standing up and standing alone.  But he didn't.

Donald J. Trump is another who stands alone.  And boy, does he ever.  Like Sanders, he doesn't get any respect or support from his political party either, and the folks who support him see that.  Yet he's out there every day, telling the truth about the globalists' "fix" that has become the federal government, about the war that's going on and we're AWOL, and how politicians are screwing things up so badly that we may never recover.  People, those citizens who have had no voice for years and years, respond to Trump's message positively and with passion.  The media today, more corrupt and biased than ever before and shameless that they don't even bother to hide it anymore, are led around by the nose by Trump's masterful media manipulations.  It's beautiful to watch.

Now, to a genteel and refined Southerner like me, that brash New Yawk shtick really grates.  That bombastic arrogant persona is poles apart from the understated and polite Southern way.  But wait.  After listening for decades to Republicans wax mealy-mouthed and limp-wristed with their presumed opposition to the Democrat's ever leftward march, it's refreshing at last to hear someone say exactly what they mean, and mean what they say.  It's about bloody time!  And like Trump, we Americans realize we've been complacent for decades, and now see we've been taken for a ride.  The country has literally been taken - from a representative democracy to a tyrannical totalitarian regime.  Trump, standing alone, has publicly and emphatically pointed that out.  And standing alone, he's put his ass on the line to turn it around.  Yet both parties, the media, and even foreign despots have all colluded in a campaign to make us mere rubes aware that Trump is just showman, a carnival barker who hasn't a clue as to governance.  Well, that's a good thing.  Mr. Smith Goes To Washington.  And we, all of us Americans, like what we hear.  And we're confident that Trump will pick the best talent to positions in the heads of government, and this country can once again find its founding principals. 

And in that effort, and to that end, we will all have to stand alone.