The Martin Luther King and Bobby Kennedy assassinations, inner city riots and Vietnam protests made 1968 the most turbulent year in modern American history. As an idealistic twenty year VISTA volunteer serving in the failing War on Poverty, I was also confronted by the reality of an equally unsuccessful War in Vietnam and the chaos of the 1968 presidential campaign. The resulting loss of faith in Washington and the two-party system and sinking feeling about the direction of the country became lifelong concerns.
In a 1,500 word essay reflecting this odyssey, I see impeachment making another election about nothing even more irrelevant. The country has three key problems and President Trump is not one of them. These problems are the abject failure of big government, systemic institutional corruption and the unsustainability of debt. Focusing on impeaching the President while ignoring these problems perpetuates negative national trends and national decline.
The alternative to the merry-go-round of endless distractions, false narratives and empty promises is a messaging campaign that targets the key systemic problems of corruption, bloat and debt and the need for a non-partisan voters’ agenda of bold and diverse ideas.
BIO BRIEF: Disabled vet and former VISTA, non-profit manager and community TV news producer. Currently project manager of the independent political blog SmartVoters.Org. EMAIL: SmartVoters.org@gmail.com.