Sanders is letting his ego get in the way of his message. It's one thing to promote a socialist program but another to attack Clinton in the process. He can make his point without attacker her personally.

He says he's not starting a "movement" but that's exactly what he's been doing recently. He's got a right to go to the convention and try to get some of his progressive ideas on the Party platform - assuming there is enough support to do that. Unfortunately he's starting to sound like Trump- urging young people to vote against Hillary. In the process he's actually enhancing Trumps chances of winning. Sanders has become intoxicated by the sound of his own voice and if he doesn't stop attacking Hillary we'll pay a bitter price. After all it was Hillary who first tried to get Single Payer passed when her husband was in his first term. She was working to get Single Payer passed long before Sanders started to promote the concept.

Trump versus Bernie

I'm not sure how Trump can run on the Republican ticket when he's not a member of the Republican Party and I'm not sure how Sanders can run on the Democratic ticket since he's a registered  Independent . They're running very similar campaigns- both courting the disaffected and angry voters. Trump is running a classic "show business" campaign built on his back ground in professional wrestling based of hurling phony insults at "opponents" in order to get the crowd riled up. Sanders at 70 years old is appealing to young voters who want society to give them a free education financed by higher taxes on Wall Street Bankers. Neither candidate can find a nice thing to say about the people they are running against. Clinton has spent a life time defending her political actions and choices. She's smart. She's dedicated. She's worked in all levels of government but she's "tone deaf" when it comes to the voters. She's so steeped in the details of government that she loses touch with the concerns and needs of the average citizen. In a country of millions of people these are the best candidates that we've got to chose from? Nobody to blame but ourselves. How many of us would vote for a normal man or woman from our own ranks? 

                                                         Guns Guns Guns


These horrible shootings in America are becoming so common place that gun deaths in America are starting to match the violence in the Middle East. We don't need to worry about immigrants entering our Country with murder on their minds. We've already got enough of home grown local terrorists to worry about. Clearly the easy access to assault type weapons has to come to an end. Target shooting and hunting do not require assault type weapons. We require training and a license to drive a car so why would anyone object to requiring a license to own a gun? Even in the "Old West" movies the sheriff always made people take off their guns before they came into town. It's time for the politicians to have the guts to stand up to the NRA. The second amendment speaks to armed militias not personal assault type weapons for recreational use.

                                                   GLOBAL WARMING

Two degrees - that's all if will take to submerge most of Indonesia but the Republican Party is still in denial even though every other industrial nation on the planet, including China and Russia now accepts the fact that human activity is a contributing factor to global warming.

                                               TERRORISM

As horrible as the ISIS attacks in Paris were, the school shootings here in America are just as bad.- if  not worse. Those who want to ban all immigrants from Syria forget that every country, religion, and race has it's share of disaffected people driven by anger and bent on killing innocent civilians. Closing our borders to immigrants won't reduce or eliminate the number of insane zealots of any racial, national, or religious persuasion in our Country. We've already got plenty of home grown terrorists of our own. Don't forget that terrorism takes many forms, not all physical. In the run up to the next presidential election we're going to see every form of political terrorism imaginable as the candidates attack each other with deadly vengeance. Let's not fall into the same fear driven policy that occurred when we rounded up Japanese American citizens during world war two. It's hard for us to imagine what the daily lives of the citizens of Syria must be like. Say the wrong word, know the wrong person and your head is cut off. Bombs drop daily from the sky killing innocents and evil doers in the same blast. Fleeing Syria on over loaded rafts, or on foot across mountains and deserts- not knowing what the future holds for them, or what country will accept them. This is a large scale exodus of biblical proportions. These are deprivations that few of us will ever know- surely we can open our doors to those less fortunate than ourselves- even as our politician bicker like children. The attention that the religious based hatred and terrorism which is eruption like a plague in the Middle East is getting provides us with the opportunity to finally address the problem from a global perspective. This is a rare opportunity to address the problem as Global community of Nations bent on finally bringing an end to the argument about whose God is superior. Enough is enough!

Terrorism comes in many forms and flavors- all of them cruel. From cowardly school yard and social media bullying to the use of bombs and guns to kill and maim innocent men, women,and children- no matter what its form- people and groups who commits acts of hatred and intolerance violate every value that we hold dear as a species. We call ourselves "humans" and we define compassionate behavior by members of our species and being "humane". Terrorists actions are not "humane" and the people who commit acts of terrorism, in any form, forfeit their right to live among us. Military action,
retribution, and confinement, while necessary and justifiable, are only temporary fixes and will never put an end to terrorism because they don't address the root causes of the problem. Clearly we need a planet wide public conversation about the types of environments - be they poverty, religious oppression, political oppression, intolerance, lack of opportunity, or prejudice, which provide an atmosphere that promotes and encourages people to hate and mistreat one another. We humans pride ourselves on being above all other animals in terms of intelligence, social empathy, and conscience -yet we continue to commit acts as brutal as any other species on the planet. If our incredible intelligence and creativity only lead to more deadly brutality, violence, and intolerance how can we claim to be superior to species with lesser intelligence?

It's hard to know which is more toxic these days -  Religion or Politics. Every single day people all around the planet are killing and beheading each other in the name of their Gods and if that's not bad enough -religion has crept into politics making politics even more toxic that it already was. When are we going to stop judging one another and trying to impose our views on each other? What ever happened to "live and let live'? Where is the compassion and respect? Where is the "do unto others.....?"  We don't need to search scripture to know how to act. We don't need pass laws to know how to be honest and act properly. We teach our children to be nice to each other and to be polite and then we do just the opposite What kind of examples are setting for our children if we attack and insult one another? Religion and Politics are not contact sports. If you want to argue join a debate team. If you can't get along then move along. If you want to believe in a God - do so- but don't insist that everyone else believe in your God and don't pre-judge people who don't believe any God. Judge people by their actions not their beliefs.  Every living human soul who has resided on this continent was a migrant or descendent of a migrant from another continent. You and I don't have any more right to live on this continent than anyone else does. We're merely the most recent in a long line of previous members of our species who have occupied this drifting ice and water covered continent for the past 10,000 years or more. We're all short term tenants without ownership and the terms of our lease require that when our lease expires we leave the land in better condition than we found it. This amazing lush bountiful continent is home to thousands of species with whom we share its natural resources. Waste not want not. The choice is ours. We can leave this garden of Eden better than we found it or we can leave it worse than we found it. The choice is ours and it is ours alone. No other species has that privilege or responsibility.

Debates

The presidential debates on both sides of the aisle seem more like High School personality contests rather than policy discussions. Other than random broad statements from a few of the candidates, we've heard hardly any details about economic issues, health care, jobs, foreign policy, trade, defense, etc. When we do hear  details it's primarily in the area of social issues. It's fascinating to see how much the candidates are starting to rely on "social media" to connect with potential voters instead of expensive traditional Television advertising.  Whether that's good or bad is hard to know. At least we know what lies they are spreading when they advertise on TV. When they spread lies on the social media it's harder for the public and the press to hold them accountable.

The emphasis on "family values" and the frantic courting of "evangelicals" while mentioning the Constitution in the same breath is somewhat disturbing  - given the fact that the Constitution expressly provides for freedom "of "religion and thus implies freedom "from" religion as well.

Candidates on both sides of the aisle are still using the tried and true method of appealing to our worst fears and anger as they try to get our votes. We're not hearing the voices of "healers" - even from the evangelicals who seem to have forgotten the words of their original spiritual "healer". 

The recent Fox debate exposed the flaws with our two party system and our approach to problem solving. Candidates from both parties, urged on by the Press in an attempt to improve ratings, spend the majority of their time either attacking the other party or attacking each other. These kind of debates only serve to paralyze and harden opinions. Opinions, once formed, are very difficult to change.

We've allowed politics to become a sporting contest, pitting two sides against each other with the goal of "winning" instead of the goal being to actually solve the problems. Some problems are real and others are  merely philosophical. When we try to solve a real problem with a philosophical solution it never ends well. The debate about Global warming is an excellent example of philosophy trying to solve a scientific problem. Deficits and income inequality are examples of philosophical attempts to solve the practicality of poverty while preserving a free enterprise economy. The clash between those who object to abortions and object to birth control at the same time is an example of common sense conflicting with philosophy and religion. Clearly one of the best ways to avoid abortions is to provide ways for women to avoid becoming pregnant. Arguing for abstinence is idealistic from a religious standpoint but unrealistic from a practical standpoint. Its a waste of breath. The high level of dissatisfaction with the performance of Congress, and the resulting low approval ratings, largely result from the fact that many of our problems and challenges can not be solved with these types of debates and arguments. We can take steps to change the approach we require our leaders to use when solving our  practical problems  if we stop requiring them to solve the problems within the narrow parameters of any particular religion or belief system. Religion, philosophy, money, laws and social contracts are extremely useful human inventions- as long as they don't stifle our incredible ability to find creative solutions to all of our challenges.