'Merica

Welp, you know what they say: nothing divides people like politics, which of course runs a close second place to religion.

I'll weigh in briefly on what I see taking place here in America, take it, or leave it:

Okay, in one corner we have Donald Trump; in the other corner we have Hillary Clinton. From what I gather, most people at least agree that this race is a case of the lesser of two evils, or put another way... which dog has the least fleas.

For sake of discussion, I'm willing to concede that this is precisely the case. There is no doubt in my mind that there's shadiness on both sides. I would never deny that. Shadiness comes with the turf when it comes to politics.

Since I'm in the music business, I like to use the band manager analogy: If your manager isn't crafty enough and smart enough to rip you off, then you don't want them as a manager. This is the person, after all, who is going to bat for you. It's the person who, while they might be nickel and diming you here and there, they are the one dealing with other shady people in the business, people who would love nothing more than to rake a bunch of unsuspecting musicians over the coals. A fight fire with fire sort of thing. But I digress.

Shadiness in politics is a given. That being said, I would never, even on my stupidest day, equate the level of crazy going on here. Allow me to be blunt: if you put both candidates on equal ground when it comes to having a sound mind, or in this case, an unsound mind, then you leave me not much choice but to think you are one deluded individual, or at the very best, you compartmentalize. In other words, you use subjective validation and confirmation bias to assess the political situation we see going on today.

But before I get into that, here's a few utterances of what I mean by "crazy":

"Why can't we use nuclear weapons?"

Note, not "why can't we" as in what would prevent us from using them, but more like.. what's the problem with using them? What's the big deal, in other words.

Okay, whoever asks such a question, rhetorically, or not, SHOULD NOT BE IN CONTROL OF NUCLEAR WEAPONS.

Should someone call out a candidate for asking such a ballsy, ignorant question, especially in earshot of other world leaders, imagine that candidate responding......

"Then why are we making them? Why do we make them?"

To answer that question, we make them as last resort, for starters. What comes to mind would be in the case that some OTHER BAT-SHIT CRAZY world leader might start running around saying things like... "Why have them[nukes] if I can't use them?"

Seriously, folks. These things should raise an eyebrow. But mysteriously, for many people it's just normal banter from a candidate for the presidency. Call it into question, and some folks would prefer to focus on the "criminal" activity of *deleting emails.

(*as if no one has ever died on a Republican's watch)

But now imagine if the same above-described candidate was a male and that he went around saying things like, "Grab them by the pussy!", of the women that he encounters, stipulating that the target must be a "10", of course.

'Sort of lewd, don't cha think? 'Sort of disrespectful isn't it?  Note, I'm not going to sit here and act holier than thou and say that I've never used the slang word for a woman's nether parts. But then again, I'm not running for POTUS, am I? No. And on top of that, I'm a rock musician whose heyday was in the 80s. In other words, any "gabbing" that happened on the road was consensual. If I did any grabbing at all, it was more often than not because it was being thrown in my face. I'll stop here and save the juicy details for my autobiography. It makes Penthouse forum sound like a PTA meeting. Until then, I don't believe that I've ever once used the "P" word on this blog. And yet, one candidate has seemingly made using it en vogue. Hmmm.

Bottom line, the level of crazy is NOT equivalent. Not by a long shot. In fact, if you boil it all down, the names,  labels, mascots, and colors all disappear and you're left with the principles being espoused.

Whether Trump, or whether Clinton - again, the names don't really matter- you're either pro equality for women, or you're not. You either want women and their doctors in charge of women's health and reproductive decisions, or you want some grimy old men in charge of it. You either want a church/state separation, or you don't. You either want some sort of control when it comes to guns, or you don't.

 Boiled down, it's the principles that remain. Yes, the character of those espousing the principles matters, too. But I must reiterate: not all shady people are insane. E.g., Martha Stewart is surely a convicted criminal. She surely exhibited some shady behavior. But, oh, look, Charles Manson is a convicted criminal, too! Ordering that a pregnant women be carved up by a kitchen knife surely falls under "shady" behavior, doesn't it? 'Think so. Now, if one of them had to watch your kid for you while you were in the voting both, wouldn't the choice be a no-brainer? I rest my case.