Politics in the Current Year

1. Everybody lies. Sometimes it's okay, like a gay man lying to his homophobic parents. Sometimes it's unethical but still routine, like politicians who make campaign promises that they know they can't keep. Politicians who don't lie, don't get elected. A typical successful Republican will promise one group of voters that he'll cut taxes, a second group that he'll boost military spending, and a third group that he'll fight for a balanced budget. A typical successful Democrat will promise to cut CO2 emissions and save the auto industry. Throw some promises to protect Social Security into the mix, and it's impossible to keep all of these promises. As it stands now, voters will not support an honest man. This country needs to learn how to accept hard truths before any of that can happen.

A shrewd politician tells the truth on a regular basis to make his lies more credible. The Obama Administration was good at this. The Trump Administration is bad at this. Sean Spicer has claimed that record crowds have attended the 2017 inarguration, and Kellyanne Conway has defended his statement as "alternative facts". It is easier for me to believe that William Shatner knows how to run a starship when I watch Star Trek reruns than it is for me to believe that Donald Trump can run a country when I watch the news. Trump could learn some lessons from Hollywood writers in keeping the narrative consistent and maintaining continuity.

2. Neo-Nazis have been around since the real Nazis surrendered in 1945. They aren't organized enough to replicate the horrors of the past. Some of them commit acts of violence and belong in jail. Most of them are just trying to make their parents upset and aren't really serious about this. If they are sincere about their beliefs but haven't hurt anyone yet, they need mental health care more than they need jail time. Letting them express their delusional beliefs is our country's way of letting people identify themselves as crazy to everyone else.

But then we have the Antifa movement. The Antifa are a bunch of pinkos who are mad that they lost the Cold War, so they want to go back and refight World War 2 all over again. So Antifa have been attacking Neo-Nazis in the streets.

I would like to remind these two groups of poseurs that the Eastern Front was the grimest, harshest theater of the Second World War. It's something to learn from, not to be nostalgic for. Stop fighting in the streets and go read a history book. Or play old school Call of Duty. Go do something remotely educational, or at least less dangerous than what you're doing.