A Polarized, Traumatized America

"I will work every single day to make your dreams come true, to make you believe that America's future can be even better than our past."
"We are a forward-looking nation, aren't we? And I know that if we set our goals and we work to achieve them, we will. It has always been thus."
"This country has always delivered for the American people."
Democratic presidential candidate, Hillary Clinton

Hillary Clinton == Twitter

This declaration of faith in the candidacy of a hopeful for President of the  United States, sounds like a sugar-coated echo of the statements made by Hillary Clinton's Republican rival. He emoted very similarly, but crudely and clumsily with just his typical dose of venom thrown in for good measure. And to emphasize that he would be the trustworthy "voice" of the voters who would place their trust in his capabilities and intentions, he gave forth on the reasons why no one in their right mind should vote for his rival.

"No matter what your political leanings, I think we can all agree that never in the history of conventions, certainly, but I think even more broadly, have we moved forward together by pointing fingers and scapegoating and blaming people instead of rolling up our sleeves, getting a plan together, and then working to achieve it."
"I've never heard of an American leader, or at least someone who wants to be an American leader, claiming that he's all we need. That's not a democracy, my friends. As I recall, we had a revolution to make sure we didn't have someone who said, 'I can fix it alone'."
Hillary Clinton, first female candidate for the U.S. presidency

Again, sketch in the appalling undercurrent of nastiness to more fully attire the brutal Trump version of the above and there isn't really all that much that separates them. With Bernie Sanders and his faithful following hot in pursuit of the first female candidate, Hillary Clinton has seen the urgency of steering  herself a lot closer to the leftist ideology whose anti-establishment, pro-populist message has resonated with liberal Americans.

The irony, of course, is that both Trump and Sanders' underlying message is distrust of the establishment and concern for the common man. Both are nativists, critical of past American involvement in world affairs, optioning that America remain at home and be less concerned for the weal and well-being of the world to focus on domestic affairs. And just set aside free trade, please. It is only their ideological perspective that is at odds and, of course, their delivery, equally passionately delivered, with Sanders' more palatable.

As for Clinton's promise to bring Americans together, to work in Congress and the Senate with both parties, a similar promise and hope was pronounced by her predecessor, now campaign mentor, but though Barack Obama glowed with the promise of "Yes we can!", he found he could not, or would not, engage in a bipartisan administration. And there is no reason to believe, given the corrosive verbal assaults that have taken place this election year, that Hillary will deliver any better.

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But the alternative? How does the prospect of a Trump presidency auguring for a U.S.-Russian reset seem? It seems on the surface that there is an unspoken conspiracy of mutual need propelling an odd relationship between Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump, both men with hot love affairs focusing on themselves, each deeply admiring himself. Both given to outlandish public displays and overweening pride in self, preening and prancing and spouting the rubbish of doltish thugs. But Russian investment in Trump projects does trump other concerns.

And the question arises did the Democratic National Convention conspire against a Sanders selection? Was the Russian military tasked to cyber-infiltrate the DNC archives to extract embarrassing information that WikiLeaks could be relied upon to enthusiastically disseminate?
"We don't have information right now about that, but what we have is a kind of bromance going on between Vladimir Putin and Trump which is distinct from this leak", gushed Clinton adviser John Podesta.

The spectacle of a bumptious, divisive and worrying Republican Convention with the Trump clan parading their sumptuous disregard for sober and intelligent discourse in a crass display of marketing and the hypnotic effect on the masses of wealth and societal success and celebrity, appeared to be matched by a Democratic Convention of blame-and-shame and polarized opinion between the establishment and the Sandists.

Lots of celebrity star and political power to glitter the event; dysfunction aside, with ample testimonials to faith in the second Clinton to aspire to the throne.

It's becoming increasingly difficult to find within this ungodly mess a meaningful future for this crumbling power-nation.