Monday, November 7, 2016

Why Donald Trump Won't Win



Actually, America WAS built on fear.

Success and failure both leave clues, and so does history. History has shown this, for those who are intelligent enough to study it, it can reveal what the future will look like. 

As I write this on the eve of the American election, I am hopeful that history has taught us the tragedies and repercussions of electing a poor leader. And by no means am I saying that Hillary Clinton is the answer. But in the decades of service in politics, Clinton is well-versed in being a politician. One could argue that she is a flawed politician, and that may have significant merit. However, Clinton is a politician, who has earned her way in the political ring by putting in her time and sacrifices.

However, Donald Trump has done none of these things, and has spent no time in uniform, or politics. Yet, Trump expects to walk through the process that almost every American President has in order to become President. In fact, the arrogance it takes to actually move through the past 2 years of campaigning for President knowing this, is stunning. But Donald Trump won't win. Why, you ask?



Because a demagogue never wins.

Germany had Hitler. Toronto, Canada had it's mayor, Rob Ford. The United States had Senator, Joe McCarthy, and now, Donald Trump. But although these demagogue leaders won elections, they eventually lost. The reason being, is the path of the demagogue is one that is filled with resistance, stress, and negative energy. This eventually takes a massive toll on the individual, and can end up causing serious health issues and even death. It simply takes too much energy to expand and maintain their hate and fear driven platforms. 

So tomorrow, on November the 8th, 2016, my prediction is Hillary Clinton will win the election, and Donald Trump will be the loser. Trump won't win the election, and he and his brand will lose viability in business moving forward. In fact, one of the only things Donald Trump will teach us is to reveal exactly how divided the United States really is, and always has been. Trump just spent 2 years opening up many layers of the onion. Social media exploited it in an attempt to raise the awareness that racism, sexism, bigotry, nationalist pride and ignorance is still running rampant in 2016 in the United States of America. My prediction is, this will be the end of the Republican party as we knew it. Moving forward, the GOP will need to be a much more progressive, united party or they will pass into the history books. 

But do I think that Hillary Clinton will fix these issues? No. But I believe, that the ignorance and divides with Trump at the helm will only make the world a worse place to live. And at the end of the day, the world has had many corrupted politicians and survived. But a demagogue like Trump ruins countries forever. 

Just ask anyone who has grown up in Germany in the last 70 years...


Thursday, November 3, 2016

The Chicago Cubs, Steve Bartman and Scapegoats






Finally, the curse of the goat has been lifted! The Chicago Cubs are World Series champions for the first since since horse and cart were the mode of transportation back in 1908. That's an awfully long time in between championships, so much so that the lowly Toronto Maple Leafs don't even rank on the top 10 list of teams with lengthy championship droughts. Wow!

But just like the curse of the Bambino was lifted by the Boston Red Sox, the Chicago Cubs have endured the curse of the goat. During the Red Sox World Series in 1986, they had a scapegoat in first baseman, Bill Buckner, whose game 6 error enabled the New York Mets to win the game, before going on to win the next game and win the World Series. You can watch the game 6 clip here:



Even though the Red Sox blew the game 6 lead on a wild pitch to set up Buckner's error, or the fact that the Red Sox blew a 3 run lead in game 7 to lose the World Series, it was Buckner's error in game 6 that most bitter Red Sox fans lay blame to. From 1986 to the day the Red Sox won the World Series in 2004, Bill Buckner was a hated man in Boston. After the Red Sox won the World Series to clear the curse of the Bambino, Red Sox fans came out with mantras of forgiving Bill Buckner. Yet, it should be Bill Buckner forgiving Red Sox fans, not vice versa.



Similarly in Chicago, a fan by the name of Steve Bartman became the scapegoat for the Chicago Cubs in 2003. I imagine Bartman cried harder than he had ever cried in his life when The Cubs won the World Series last night, out of pure relief. The peace of mind that Steve Bartman must have now is the stuff that magic is made of.



Imagine not even being a player, and having the entire city of Chicago hate you for what happened for being a fan foul territory going after a ball. Rather than explain it here, you can feel free to watch the clip if you don't know the story.


Bill Buckner did not cause The Red Sox to lose the World Series in 1986, yet he was blamed for it. Steve Bartman did not cause The Cubs to lose the game or NLCS against Florida, yet he was blamed for it.

And that's where I see the similarity in the shifting of energy. The projection of fear mongering and blame creates the scapegoat. Whether that's used like an unabashed demagogue like Donald Trump, or in the stories I've shared here, people seem to want someone to blame for their lot in life. It's easy to target a Buckner, or a Bartman and not look at any of the events before or after them to realize it wasn't the fatal moment people have made it out to be. In both cases, there were player errors, and game 7's that were squandered.

But if you live amongst bitter people who are looking to blame others in an attempt to not look deeper at the real cause or accountability, it looks like more of the same. When I see someone like Donald Trump running a campaign in a similar fashion by telling people who's to blame for their lot in life, rather than addressing the root cause issues, it's an easy pattern to spot.

The people who want a scapegoat do so because it's the easiest way to avoid accountability. Perhaps if we cease laying blame on unnecessary sources, we can be focused on what to do moving forward, instead of wasting energy on faulting others for the world not being the way we want it to be.

In the meantime, it's people like Bill Buckner and Steve Bartman who should be the ones to forgive others for how they've shamefully been treated. Now that both the Sox and the Cubs have won World Series, and lifted their respective curses, maybe the healing can begin.