Make America Laugh Again: Florida

Showing posts with label Florida. Show all posts

Friday, November 11, 2016

Anti-Trump Protest in Jacksonville

Jacksonville had its first post-election anti-Trump rally on November 11, 2016, at Riverside Park. I went expecting to see the same kind of anger and anarchy that has been showing up in other cities. I’m happy to report that I didn’t see anything like that. The event started out with about ten people lighting candles and making signs with magic markers. Over the course of the next hour, the group grew to about fifty.

There was more sadness than anger. Some people are genuinely concerned about what happens next. That's understandable considering the President-elect's rhetoric and his past. The comments offered up were positive, focusing on the need for political change. There were no chants of “Not my President.” After about an hour, the group joined in singing several songs, ending with The Star Spangled Banner.

There seemed to be an acceptance that the results of the election weren’t what most of the people at the event would have liked. There was also determination about how to move forward. There was no burning of flags and no destruction of property. The event was an entirely proper expression of free speech. It would be nice if the demonstrators in other cities could follow the example of the participants in the Jacksonville event.

Grieving over a political loss

As a write-in candidate with no party affiliation, I was soundly defeated in my bid to represent Florida’s 4^th Congressional District. The winner, Republican John Rutherford, got over 168,000 votes. There were 477 write-in votes and there's no way to really know how many of those were for me. It’s fair to say that I was thrashed, throttled, and thrown under a bus.

Were my supporters upset? Deeply. Did they organize protests and then riots? No. After 24 hours, they all moved on with their lives. The courage of those volunteers is just unbelievable! They are an inspiration to me and I hope that others who are upset over the results of the election will look at them as role models. I know I do.

It was a Trump-ific and Trump-endous election!

Donald Trump likes the word terrific. Another good word is tremendous. And those two words can be combined: tremendously terrific and terrifically tremendous. Also, it’s probably time to add a few brand new words to the language: Trumpific and Trumpendous. It’s just a matter of time!

Abolish the Electoral College?

Getting rid of the Electoral College would require a Constitutional amendment, which isn't easy. According to the National Archives, “The Constitution provides that an amendment may be proposed either by the Congress with a two-thirds majority vote in both the House of Representatives and the Senate or by a constitutional convention called for by two-thirds of the State legislatures.”

If a movement to amend the Constitution could overcome that very high hurdle, the amendment would then have to be ratified/approved by three quarters of the states. Here’s the insurmountable problem. The less populous states will never agree to give up any of their clout in national elections so that the more populous states could have more clout. It will never happen.

The states can determine what happens to their Electoral votes. Most states simply award all of their votes to whichever candidate wins in their own state. Nebraska and Maine split their votes based on the results of the election in their own state.

Also, there's an effort to get states to award their votes to the winner of the popular vote nationally. If states with 270 Electoral votes or more agree to that, it would ensure that the winner of the popular vote would win the election.

Renunciation of Citizenship?

People are saying “Trump is not my President.” Actually, unless people renounce their citizenship, Trump will, in fact, be their President. Like it, or not. Fortunately, there is a guidebook on how to go about renouncing citizenship.

Saturday, October 29, 2016

Make America Laugh Again: Danny Murphy's closing comments at Congressional Candidates' Debate, FSCJ North Campus

Photo by A.G. Gancarski

The debate was held at the North Campus of Florida State College in Jacksonville on Wednesday, October 26, 2016. Participants in the debate were David Bruderly (Democrat), Gary Koniz (Independent), and yours truly (write-in candidate with no party affiliation). The front-runner, John Rutherford (Republican), sat out the event. The complete text of my closing comments is below the video.

Many Americans have lost their sense of humor, especially when it comes to politics. According to a poll by The American Psychological Association, 52 percent of Americans over 18 years old say that this election is a source of stress for them. We no longer laugh as we once did. It’s no wonder considering the current political climate. Candidates have been getting meaner and the jokes have been getting uglier. However, we can make America laugh again. Not with insults to belittle one another, but with kinder gentler jokes.

People say that laughter is the best medicine. So why isn’t comedy part of healthcare? Laughter is not only the best medicine. It’s also our least costly healthcare option. With my Haha Health Program, Comedy Practitioners will be able to prescribe jokes that heal instead of expensive drugs. Consumers are going to see tremendous savings!

I envision an America with a thousand points of laughter, all over this great land of ours. This laugh is your laugh, this laugh is my laugh. Life, liberty, and laughter - these are the values that will bring our country back together. Ask not what your country can do to make you laugh. Ask what you can do to make a fellow American laugh. Give me laughter, or give me death! Preferably laughter.

I’m Danny Murphy and I approve of these jokes.

#MakeAmericaLaughAgain

Sunday, August 14, 2016

We, The People, love it when political campaigns go negative.

Hoke and Spare Change

Although the vast majority of Americans say they don’t like negative political campaigns, many secretly love negative campaigns. How else would it be possible that the most negative candidates in the two major political parties have risen to the top and secured their nominations?

Since their coronations at the Republican and Democrat conventions, Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton have not disappointed. He says that she is crooked. She says that he’s unstable. He says she’s a liar about the emails. She says she short-circuited. He says things that sound ludicrous. She says he’s unstable. He says she’s crooked…

The only end in sight is November 9^th, the day after the election. (Of course, if something goes wrong in the ever unpredictable state of Florida, the outcome of the election may not be determined for weeks, as was the case in the historic election of 2000.)

We're not even into September and the schticks the candidates have been using already seem old and worn out. It's quite possible that viewers and voters may develop campaign fatigue. Instead of merely saying that they don’t like negative campaigns, they may actually grow tired of them. By the time we get to October, people may be so bored that they barely notice the October surprises when they are rolled out.

Republican Primary in Florida’s 4^th Congressional District

“As August begins, the most interesting narrative in the GOP primary race in Florida’s 4th Congressional District is the back-and-forth between John Rutherford and Hans Tanzler,” writes A.G. Gancarski for Florida Politics.

Rutherford says Tanzler is a political insider. (It seems like an odd accusation from someone who was Jacksonville’s elected Sheriff for twelve years.) Tanzler says Rutherford isn’t really a conservative. The rhetoric is pretty tame so far. Lake Ray, who is probably the only other candidate with a shot at winning the primary, has begun running non-attack ads.

According to Gancarski, “The other four candidates — Ed Malin, Deborah Pueschel, Bill McClure, and Steve Kaufman — lack the resources to go negative in a meaningful way on their opponents, and as a result they will be vying for the populist outsider track in this race.”

The 4^th District has been a Republican stronghold since Tillie Fowler was elected in 1992. Whoever wins the Republican primary at the end of the month will be in a very strong position to win the general election in November. With that in mind, things may heat up a bit in the next few weeks.

Wednesday, August 3, 2016

Sympathy for the Donald? Trump Rally in Jacksonville.

I went to the Trump Rally out of curiosity. It was interesting. Spoke briefly with David Bruderly, the Democrat candidate for the 4th Congressional District. Seemed like a decent guy. Also bumped into Republican frontrunner John Rutherford, as well as Lake Ray's campaign manager.

In regard to the event, there were several speakers in the leadup. Then there was a musical interlude which began with Sympathy for the Devil by the Rolling Stones. That seemed like an odd choice. After thirty minutes, Retired Lt. General Mike Flynn introduced Donald Trump.