Open
Letter to Jeb Bush
I
hear you’re having a frustrating time of it. The nomination was
supposed to be yours for the asking, and it’s getting further away
all the time. I don’t know if what I’ve got to say is going to
make you feel any better, but maybe I can offer a little clarity.
The
bane of your existence seems – and I choose that word carefully – seems
to be Donald Trump. He’s “the outsider,” and Ben Carson and
Carly Fiorina are riding his coattails by being “outsiders” who
are potentially more palatable than Mr. Trump. Carson’s ahead of
you, and Fiorina’s breathing down your neck. In fact, the three of
them are getting as many voters right now as the whole rest of you
put together. But you know that.
I’m
sorry to have to tell you this, but it’s not Donald Trump’s
golden personality that is your problem. Your problem … well …
is you, sir. Not you, personally, but the whole lot of you. And not
so much you, as what and who you represent.
The
perception is that we can’t believe anything that you say. Big,
ongoing problems in this country have been getting nothing but lip
service from the Republicans for decades now. Yes, I know, you were
a big success back in Florida, brought the budget down, good
conservative, stared down the liberals, all that. Acknowledged.
But
believe it or not – and many in your party choose not to believe it
– we out here in fly-over country actually have brains, and pay
attention to what’s going on. For instance, we remember all the
way back to 2014, when the Republicans running for Congress promised
to use the “power of the purse” to shut down Obamacare and so
forth and so on. And … uh … they seem to have forgotten.
Now,
to be fair, I know why they didn’t do anything like that. Just so
we’re on the same page, I’ll spell it out; Any disagreement like
that comes down, in the end, to the budget. You give the President a
budget he doesn’t like, and he won’t sign it. Then, the
government shuts down until somebody gives in. And the Republicans
have learned three things about President Obama:
1
– He’s arrogant
2
– He’s stubborn
3
– He’s not running for reelection.
So,
he’d be perfectly happy to leave the government shut down until
January 21, 2017. Therefore, it would be stupid to stick a budget
under his nose that he won’t like, because he has nothing to lose.
The
trouble, then, is that the Republicans don’t bother to explain this
to us, the great unwashed mass. They act as if we can't figure that out. Ted Cruz and Rand Paul and some others scream
bloody murder, and the mainstream boys say nothing. It becomes a
passive-aggressive game, and anyone with two functioning brain cells
knows it.
What
nobody seems to realize is, the simple act of telling the truth and
moving on would defuse a lot of this. Look at what happened last
Saturday in the Democratic debate. First question to Sanders was
about whether or not he should apologize for Hillary’s donor lists
being hacked, and he said yes, and apologized.
The
look on Hillary’s face was priceless. You could see the wheels
turning. She never expected that. She assumed he’d do what she
would do, which was deflect and shuck and jive. It’s why Bernie
has so much traction. Right or wrong, he’s honest. Dumb, maybe,
but honest. (Isis was caused by global warming!) Like Jimmy Carter, but with a spine.
But
you, sir, are a mainstream Republican. And the average person in
this country doesn’t trust mainstream Republicans any more. You,
as a group, talk about the government being too big, but you never
seem to make it any smaller. You talk about too much waste in the
Federal budget, but it just grows. You talk about security, but the
borders still hemorrhage undocumented people.
You make big noise about not letting in Syrian refugees, but
Canada’s letting in 20,000 and the perception is that you’ll do
nothing to keep them from coming here.
We
know why, too. The people who gave you that big, fat war chest want
those undocumented workers for their own purposes. They pay some
temp agency minimum wage x how many people they can jam into a van,
and those people in the back of the van are lucky to see half of it.
And they can’t bitch or unionize, because they’re illegal.
We
KNOW this! It’s not a big, dark secret, and we’re not all
stupid. Lots of big businesses want an army of workers they can use
like toilet paper. They also want hell-hole countries for them to
come from, so that they’ll keep on coming. It’s the Royal Scam,
by Steely Dan. If we helped Mexico and Honduras and El Salvador
become more democratic and prosperous, who would make the Beanie
Babies and pick the fruit?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xBfdXmqJfb4
So,
why should we believe you? You stood there on Fox News the other
night outlining a reasonable plan for dealing with illegal
immigrants, and I just don’t believe you. I think it’s bullshit.
I think that, given eight years, you and your party would figure out
some reason why it just couldn’t get done. Then, you could blame
the next Democrat for not doing it. Why
do I think this? Because I've seen it already.
So,
no, sir, I won’t be voting for you in the NH primary. I’m not
sure who I am voting for yet, but it won’t be you, or Marco, or
George Pitaki, or Chris Christie, or Rand Paul, et cetera, because
you’re all liars. Okay, maybe not specifically liars, but your
positions and ideas are so “nuanced” that what you want us to
think you’re saying isn’t what you’re ACTUALLY saying at all.
In fact, if you get the nomination that you seem to think is your
birthright, I might just – for the first time in my life – not
vote at all.
Unless
…
This
is why I’m taking the time to write to you. You CAN earn my vote.
For the most part, I agree with you on many important issues. There
are a few simple things that you could say and do to set yourself
apart from the pack. One would be to explain that budget thing,
about Obama not caring if the government gets shut down. Yeah, I
know, you’re not in Congress, but you could still explain it. And
don’t use it as a club, just explain it.
In fact, just about anywhere
that you could break things down into plain old truth would make you
a lot of friends. You need to address things like whether or not you
have backers that benefit from illegal immigration. Take a risk.
Tell the world, live on television, that as President you’ll help
make their countries the kind of places they won’t have to leave.
You’ll pressure their dictators to reform, instead of just selling them more
planes. Remember, billionaires only get one vote each.
That
is how you could separate yourself from the pack. You're at a
crossroads, Mr. Bush. You've gotten as far as you have with help
from billionaires, businessmen, and deep-inside Republican movers and
shakers. You're standing in the place where John McCain and Mitt
Romney have stood before you.
Except
that the train is leaving the station, and you're not on it. The
people, the individual voters, are driving the train this year, and
they see who's backing you, and whose phone calls you're taking and
who you're leaving on hold, and they don't like you. WE don't like
you.
Think
back to the first debate. To that moment when Rand Paul made some
sharp remark about Trump, and The Donald shot back about Paul saying
something on the floor of the Senate and then immediately posting it
on line. Trump exposed the game! And thousands, if not millions, of
us felt a thrill go through us. He pulled back the curtain and
exposed the little man pushing the buttons.
Ted
Cruz does it, too. He rants and raves, knowing that if Mitch
McConnell did as he asked and dug in his heels, that they'd lock down
the government for the next year and a half. It's easy to bitch that
the machine you're riding in won't make the hill when you're not
driving.
So,
Mr. Bush, expose the game. Call them out. And call yourself out,
too. It's time to choose. Are you going to be President for your
rich, powerful friends? Or are you going to be President to make the
country, and the world, a better place? Because that's what we want,
and we hate the thought of holding our nose and settling for less,
yet again.
Mr.
Bush, it's time to turn to your rich, powerful friends and say thanks
for your help, but I'm going to give the people what they want. And
in the end, you'll thank me. You'll have to work a little harder,
but you're used to that and you're starting from a position of
advantage. The rising tide that the people want will raise you as
well. The auto industry hated the idea of opening our doors to Japan
and Europe, and building cars that were safer and cleaner, but the
smart ones buckled down and did the job, and we're all happier for
it.
Assure
them that the things you're going to do will help them, even if it
pinches a little at the beginning. Then, turn your back on them and
embrace the people you want to vote for you. Tell them the truth.
Admit that you were trying to walk the line. Bet the farm. Risk it
all. Be the first American politician, maybe ever, that told the
real, whole truth. Expose the games.
Explain
how basic conservative values, like smaller government and strong
foreign policy, benefit everybody, and not just white men. Explain
how it will help blacks, and women, and hispanics. Explain how the
Democrats, who claim to be compassionate by not doing anything about
illegal immigration, are actually ripping off those very same people.
Explain
how liberals are actually keeping the downtrodden down by making them
dependent on big government. And then explain, in terms we can
understand, how you're going to make government smaller. Not just
grow more slowly, but actually become smaller.
We,
the people, believe these things. We get it. We understand that
these are things that are real. And we want somebody who wants to
take us in that direction. We want to follow a leader who will
actually improve things.
Those
of us who are old enough to remember 1980 watch you and Trump cross
swords, and hear you saying a lot of the things that people said
about Reagan. Trump isn't the man behind the curtain, covering up
what he really is with a lot of smoke and fire and lights. You are.
So
pull back the curtain yourself. Expose the game. And step out into
the light, and be that guy. The guy that actually did something to
help the Tin Man, and the Scarecrow, and the Cowardly Lion. The
translucent face in the smoke and fire couldn't do anything for them,
but the exposed huckster changed their lives by telling them the
truth and altering their perspective. He even got Dorothy home!
Remember,
if you will, the tale of when the Disciples were in the boat on the
sea of Galilee in the storm. They looked out and saw Jesus walking
on the water. Peter got out of the boat and walked to Jesus, and
then saw the storm and almost sank. But Jesus took his hand, and
calmed the storm.
Mr.
Bush, you are in a boat in a storm with a group of other disciples. The one who will stand on the
sea with Jesus is the one bold and brave enough to get out of the
boat.
