Now that the election is basically decided, I want to talk
about my personal experience and view on Presidents. I’m only going back to
1988 when I became of legal voting age. I don’t know enough about the Presidents
before that but can tell you that just about every POTUS has done something I
didn’t like.
Ronald Reagan was in office before I started voting. All I ever
heard about was Reaganomics and how he had the beginnings of Alzheimer’s.
People made fun of him, but I never really understood it. A little secret for
you, I wasn’t an active voter at first. 1988 was an election year and it was George
Bush Sr vs Michael Dukakis. I definitely remember the “dookie” jokes. But I
didn’t understand it, and no one ever explained it to me. I had to learn about
them on my own. I do remember the unbridled hatred against gay people of any
kind. I remember gay hate crimes in the news. There were definitely bad things
that were applied to politics just like today. Oh, but what did Reagan do that
I didn’t like? Well, he closed mental hospitals across the country but didn’t
make up anywhere for the patients to go. No programs for them of any kind other
than go to jail.
Republicans ran EVERYTHING back then and there were only 9
blue states at the time based on the votes for George. The one thing I remember
about him is the words “Read my lips, no new taxes”. Words he later ate with an
abundance of salt. Words that echoed when he ran against Bill Clinton. George
Sr was a strong President abroad in working with other countries and ending
some conflicts before they began. But Americans paid for every bit of it and
then some. I remember jobs being hard to find and colleges being predatory.
Some still are. Bigotry against about every kind of person other than white and
straight and without mental illness were everywhere.
Bill Clinton has a documented record of fulfilling the most
campaign promises for a President of the age than any other. Economic reports
showed job growth across the board and taxes eased up on the poor a bit. Then
came the whole Monica Lewinsky ordeal. I remember everyone acting like this is
the first time there has ever been a sex scandal in the White House. Not true
of course with accounts against Jefferson, Cleveland, Nixon, Reagan, both
Georges and Trump (Trump being the only one with multiple allegations). I did
vote for Bill and I was quite disappointed when he did that. Still, I have come
to learn that the honor of the White House was tainted long ago. That doesn’t
mean I excuse it or even accept it. I hated that he did that and still do. But overall,
on the rest, he was a very successful President. And he still left the office after
two terms with the highest in office approval rating of any President in history.
Try to figure that out.
George Jr really left me torn. He did some good things early
on with No Child Left Behind (scrapped by Trump) and Medicare part D made to support
AIDS treatments (I have heard mixed reviews on that though). He responded to
911 with flair and sought justice, but ultimately that was where things spun
the wrong way. He is criticized for going after WMDs that were never found, while
usurping Saddam had to be done, it was the wrong way to do it. He got in bed
with the oil companies, had a hand in the housing collapse and a major
recession worse the one at the end of his father’s term. And at the end of it
all, before he left the house, he laughed and admitted his lies with a follow
up of “so what?”. His administration was also responsible for the “forced” back
to work programs (like the one I had to go to) that were found unconstitutional
and drug tests for food stamps found equally so. The poor were hurt bad and the
middle class all but disappeared.
Barrack Obama was something of a showboat in allowing his
name to be used in movies and such. His downfalls were early on with bailouts
to corporations that used the money to go on lavish vacations and fining people
for not affording health insurance. I remember the health insurance website
that was riddled with issues when it first hit the internet, and no one could
use it but faced penalties anyway. There were people who saw their health care
costs skyrocket while others were fully covered. And it made little sense. It
has need renovation for some time. Not total annihilation but reform and adjustments.
Still, Obama had a lot of work to do and he was trying to mend a shattered economy
after the recession and housing collapse. It was a mess that would take longer
than he had to be President to fix. And as he left the office, much of his
programs were coming to fruition... until Trump dismantled them all just for
having his name on it. While I didn’t agree with those early problems, things
were coming around from what I saw towards the end. And the Obama blaming would
be a chief weapon for the next four years after him.
Now we come to Trump. This is where I end this segment.
Because my point is that no matter who the President is, if I don’t like
something they do, I will say so and I have that right just like you do. What I
have to say about the further actions of Trump good or evil are too much for
here. I will say this, something all the other President’s do that Trump does
not… they all hang out together; engage in humanitarian projects together, and
still advise each other. Trump would not hear from any of them.
Maybe I’ll write what I really think about Trump, maybe I
won’t. Because while freedom of speech might protect me from him… it won’t
protect me from “you”.
