Before I get into the meat of this article, let me briefly explain our relationship with Russia. Russia and China are at the top of our government's enemy list. When a government is on a wartime budget, as the US is, it needs enemies, and these enemies must be painted as devils who are out to get us. As we try to disengage from the Mideast, the government and corporate interests must find a new bogeyman to frighten our citizens with; our frightened citizens always allow massive expenditures on the military and their weapons. Now, we in the US have been setting up Russia to replace Islam as our bogeyman. Fighting a cold war with Russia is easier than fighting numerous guerrilla wars that can last decades.
Putting aside the issue of whether the Russian government played a part in hacking both the private email account of Hillary Clinton's campaign chairman, John Podesta, and the emails of the Democratic National Committee (DNC); most countries, including the US, hack. The question we should ask is "Was the released information true?" No one has said that it was not true. It remains to ask if the WikiLeaks email release turned the tide of our election away from Clinton and toward Trump as the media claims. I don't think so.
Before the hacked emails were made public, we all knew that the DNC was trying to keep Bernie Sanders out of the public's eye by the way they scheduled the Clinton-Sanders debates: they scheduled them at times when most people would not be watching. That the media was complicit in the effort was shown by their often repeated message that it was mathematically impossible for Sanders to beat Clinton in the count of delegates. This was not true because they were counting the presumed votes of the super delegates before those delegates had even voted. This lie cost Sanders many votes, because a large number of voters did not vote for him because the media told them that he was a sure looser.
Clinton lost to Trump because she was the wrong candidate for the time. While Sanders and Trump were passionate about helping the vanishing middle-class and the low wage earner; Clinton carried on--making some small concessions to the Sanders supporters--with the tired old establishment line. With Clinton, it would have been more war and an increase of wealth for the one percenters. The Democrats brought about their own failure, and now they are desperately trying to blame it on the Russians.
Trump is most certainly different: a businessman not a politician, a wild card. In Trump, I see a work in progress. A large part of Trump's business is the sale of his name for buildings and hotels; they appear all over the world. Trump will not soil his name by making shady deals. I like Trump's attitude about Russia and China. Instead of saber rattling, he would like to make deals with them that benefit all parties. This could lead to greater stability in the world, and a reduced expenditure on weapons. Trump has also begun putting the brakes on industries planning to leave our country. In addition, he plans to come down on big-pharma, and rein in the high cost of defense contracts. I don't know what his plans are for replacing Obama Care and a dozen other programs, but I'm prepared to remain alert while hoping for the best.
I am really depressed by the media's frenzy to blame all that's wrong with our undemocratic elections on Putin and Russia. I don't think we have a true democracy in the US. The voting citizen is uninformed or misinformed and we have to rely whistle blowers for the truth. Our government imprisons these truth tellers when they can catch them. Gerrymandering, super delegates, voting machines that do not provide a paper record or ones where we cannot inspect the code, the Electoral College, and winner-take-all schemes rig our national elections in favor of the establishment.
Fellow citizens, Trump will soon be president, let's stop tearing him down before the fact. Let us be hopeful that a new way will be a better way. The time to get angry is when he missteps. If warranted, those are the times to oppose and expose him. Stay alert and aware, and be on guard against massive attacks from those who have gamed the system for far too long. On this last point, Trump himself is an expert at gaming the system, so he must be closely watched.
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