I'm Not Prone To Alarmism, But

Think about this for a minute.

"A psychopathic media magnate or politician can have a damaging impact on the minds and lives of hundreds of millions of people. They may in the long run be more dangerous & destructive to society than low-achieving violent psychopaths." ~ Gao and Raine

Quote from Will Blacks superb book Psychopathic Cultures and Toxic Empires. If you haven't read it, I can recommend it. It opened my eyes.   

So what happens when you mix the two? Like Trump & the odious exBreitbart CEO and now Trump chief advisor and bizarrely Security Council Member, Steve Bannon? I believe we have cause for concern. This is why.

Think about the practice of branding any major news site that publishes personal or performance valuations about a leader as fake. Even facts are branded fake if they are unflattering. Yes, fake news is out there. I don't deny that. A lot of fake news comes from independent sites, many only recently launched. Don’t kid yourself only the so called left do it. All groups do. But how dangerous and I dare say naive to label every column that is critical (or unkind) as fake? That’s idiocy. But, if you play the fake card often enough, it sticks. We witness that today. Even when the story is true, the cries of FAKE from the adoring throng resound.

In recent days fake news has been labelled alternative news. There is no such thing as alternative news. There is truth, untruth and opinions. I felt compelled to challenge someone last week over a claim of fake news. A research company looked into click words and hashtags posted on Twitter. The key tags and click words being bigot, racist, dishonesty etc.  What they found overwhelmingly was, that Donald Trump attracted more bigot, racist hashtag responses than anyone. Clinton scored the highest on dishonesty. This was published in the Australian. Out came the fake news chanters. Everyone conveniently ignored the Clinton dishonest tag. So I assume from that, it was only the Trump data that was fake, in the minds of some. No one mentioned Clinton. As I pointed out in my comments to the column, it’s research data. Given the chatter that Trump evokes it’s easy to conceive he rates highly on bigot and, racist tags. Because Trump supporters wouldn't accept the output that labelled their man a bigot and racist they tried to delegitimise the story as fake. It's ludicrous behaviour.

People on mass have now lost trust in the media. In certain circumstances there is some justification. What we are seeing from Trump and co is different.  They are running a deliberate strategy to totally undermine the press. Why do people do that? It's to make sure they are not closely scrutinised. When media trust is destroyed, readers don't believe anything. Truth will simply be labelled rubbish. Fake. There is enough evidence in our history to prove this works.

Along with the fake news strategy people are told there is only person to be trusted. The one those awful media people are trying to hold to account. We are constantly bombarded with messages telling us the media just lies, lies, lies. They are so mean. But, don’t worry we have a saviour. He’ll take care of us. It will be beautiful. He promises. He never lies.

Someone actually said to me yesterday. “Donald Trump is the most honest politician I know. He never lies.” The person who said it, I've always considered intelligent and discerning. When I presented him with a string of examples he rubbished the source as dishonest, fake. It was a facts site with links. So, I presented him with a similar set of examples where the same source highlighted Obamas lies. Of course that was ignored. This is how things work now.

It doesn’t end there. The calls to close down the free MSM press grow by the day. I see this on social media. The comments section of MSM is full of these demands.

A journalist from the BBC asked Trump an uncomfortable (for him) question during his press conference with British PM May last week. It was a relevant and important question. The question was respectfully asked. Trump squirmed. Dozens and dozens of people then hit a British News Service calling for the White House to ban the BBC. People demanded the reporter be fired. They demanded the BBC be closed. I find that seriously scary behaviour as I value freedom of speech and a free press. These are some of the values our forebears fought for. They fought for us to have that right. Some even sacrificed their lives in battle. It appears it was for nothing. As we are so willing to give it away. Please don't come back with the BS that's what Trump is fighting for. No he isn't. If he was, he wouldn't be trying to close down anyone who disagrees with him.

If you were reading the above, without being appraised of the circumstances it reads like the outline for a cheap political novel based in the third world. But sadly, it isn't. This is happening now. In the free world.

Even Hitler said. “If you tell a big enough lie and tell it frequently enough it will be believed.” He was right.

I understand there is a ground swell demanding revolution. Thankfully there is also a groundswell saying, not like this. As I'm not a fool, I also accept something needs to change. But, there are some very sinister tactics at play. I just hope people wise up soon. Because what we end up with, might just result in us being much worse of.  I fear this will be the case. I am not prone to alarmism. But, I readily admit my alarm metre has hit the red zone.

As a conservative I will always stand up for truth, our rights and our freedom. Our right to question and critique those in power is a fundamental right. Steve Bannon, sits at the right-hand of the so called leader of the free world Bannon told the media to keep their mouth shut. Spoken like a true 'Alt-Right Psychopath'. He even labelled them the opposition party. The only countries I see trying to silence the press are Turkey, North Korea, Saudi Arabia, China and now the US. That bothers me. Regardless of who people support politically, it should bother everyone.

We should be reminded of the words of Theodore Roosevelt when he said.

“To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.”

To my mind, anyone advocating for change and who seeks to do so at the cost of our liberty and our freedom to question, to judge and to criticise them, is not seeking change for us. Instead they are seeking to relegate us to the level servitude.  

“Power is not a means; it is an end. One does not establish a dictatorship in order to safeguard a revolution; one makes the revolution in order to establish the dictatorship. The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now you begin to understand me.”  ~  George Orwell, 1984

We live in troubling times. For the first time in my life, I am very, very worried for our collective future. What true centralist conservative can stand by in silence and watch this happen. I for one can't.

The Importance of First Principles; Human Dignity & Free Will

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand you are dealt is determinism; the way you play it is free will." ~  Jawaharlal Nehru

Much has been said about Meryl Streep's Golden Globe address. There are people who agree with her. There are those who are opposed. Suffice to say many of the opposition comments are spiteful and cruel. 

Despite the fact she has been dismissed as a leftie by many, as a conservative, I thought her address was brilliant. Voicing that earlier today attracted the usual shaming attempts. They failed. 

The point she made about a powerful and privileged person belittling a disabled man is 100% correct. It has nothing to do with politics per se. It was a comment on the lack of leadership integrity. 

Her key message was. When you do that you give others permission to behave in the same fashion. I have blogged about that on a number of occasions with respect to the President-elect. His personal and graceless attacks on others are legendary. The fact that he fails to recognise the message it sends, I believe highlights a deep flaw in his make-up.

If we care about salvaging and protecting our freedom and our humanity, we need to go back to first principles. The most important of those principles are human dignity and free will. We need to revisit those things that make us who we are. Hopefully responsible, caring and free-willed people. 

A large part of free will is our right to form our opinions. And, to voice those opinions politely and constructively. To do so without being judged, belittled, slandered or ridiculed. But sadly, we are losing this battle and it's time to take it back. 

Some will say that is exactly what Donald Trump is doing. Voicing his opinions. Exercising his free will. The missing element is voicing his opinions responsibly and constructively. He fails to do that time and again. That is not the sign of a good leader. As a leadership coach I'd be fired on the spot if I encouraged my young charges to behave like that. 

You can voice opinions extremely effectively without getting personal or indeed lowering yourself petty sniping. The iron fist in a velvet glove will win more battles. 

I hope someone can find a way to help Trump modify his communication. Ditch the nasty stuff. We need him to be successful and to be a POSITIVE role-model for others to follow. 

Bill Shorten - Australia's Trump with a Twist

I am passionate about many things. Open and responsible free speech being one of them. Equally, I abhor violence. However, my demeanour is rapidly changing when it comes to Bill Shorten. To use a good old Aussieism, I’m rapidly reaching the point where I could gladly smash him with the proverbial shovel. 

I am sick and tired of Shorten’s insults. His hysterical outburst over what were reasonably considered and sensible points raised by Peter Dutton with regards to the impact of immigration failures (that being the mix coupled with inadequate vetting) in the past. This outburst is the final straw. His manipulation of the truth is astounding. 

Amanda Vanstone put it succinctly in the Australian today when she said, “Shorten’s the one fanning racists fires over immigration.” She said “ Mr Shorten’s remarks reduced an important debate to the “lowest common denominator.” Spot on.

Of course the comments to Ms Vanstone’s column attracted the usual bag of support. Plus as expected when presented with the truth a fair smattering of vitriolic attack. This one in particular stood out, because it's typical of what we see expressed by so many today.  It was penned by a woman named Jane. 

“Seriously [Sic] Amanda Vandastone, you ought to be ashamed.

Mr Dutton you are a disgrace. 

Thank you Mr Shorten for calling him out.

We must call out racism wherever it occurs. It is not acceptable in a decent and peaceful  multicultural society.

What is devastating is that he must have such powerful influence in the [Sic] Turnull government because he should have been sacked on the spot.

This is highly unusual and should be examined.”

Firstly, Dutton is a Government Minister. You would expect him to have a powerful influence. If he doesn’t, he shouldn’t be there. By the mere fact, we have been relatively unscathed when it comes to on-shore terrorist violence (despite the threats) he’s obviously doing a good job. So, I contest that Jane is showing her blatant ignorance with her ‘highly unusual and should be examined’ nonsense. 

Facts appears to have escaped Jane. We stopped being a decent & peaceful multicultural society when people were murdered on the streets. When dozens of young men, many born in Australia left the country to fight with terrorist organisations in the Middle East. In turn,  to have those same people appear in ISIS propaganda video’s threatening us and inciting supporters on home soil to commit terrorist acts against us. Our security and Federal Police operatives along with the help of many from the Muslim community have thwarted those acts, thank our lucky stars.  

We lost our peaceful multicultural society when we looked on in horror, at an Australian child holding up the severed head of a man caught and murder by those very terrorists, people on our shores openly support. 

We lost our peaceful multicultural society when dozens and dozens of  youths (both Sudanese and Islanders, many recently arrived on our shores) formed gangs who terrorise, rob and bash people on the streets of Melbourne. 

So, I suggested Jane that she might like to actually LISTEN to what Peter Dutton said in response to a question/s asked by Andrew Bolt. For the record, it was Bolt, who first raised Fraser's well acknowledged (even by Fraser) lapses in immigration rigour, as that applied to some migrants during his reign. Then, I suggested she might like to read through Hansard (Monday 21st) to understand what Peter Dutton actually said in response to Bill Shorten's pathetic attempt to lampoon him.

We have a problem with both violence and the threat of terrorism in this country. Sadly, the percentage of law breakers and terrorist sympathisers within some sections of our immigrant community is too high. Sticking our heads in the sand, suppressing discussion and verbally attacking and slurring the messenger will not fix it. The problem needs to be discussed openly, maturely and with a commitment to do just that, fix it. The only people who should be sacked are those attacking the very people who are trying to do something about the problem. Peter Dutton should not be sacked. Bill Shorten most certainly should be.

Bill Shorten and Labor’s strategy on attacking Peter Dutton is hard to fathom. Are they arguing against Mr Dutton acknowledging the Fraser Government made some mistakes? It’s a fact. They did. Fraser eventually listened and changed the strategy. But, alas in many in cases it was too late. The foundation for problems in the future was also set. 

Is Labor’s  argument that this historical fact must be buried and that we can’t talk about the impacts today of the bad decisions of  ‘yesteryear’? In the context of what Mr Dutton said in the Bolt interview about taking time now to thoroughly assess the 12,000 who are coming from Syria, to ensure we don’t repeat the mistakes of the past, I contest that references to past mistakes is relevant. Or are Shorten  and Labor's motives more sinister? 

Bill Shorten is turning into the lefts version of Donald Trump. During Trump’s campaign, he said some pretty terrible things about certain groups. He stirred up a lot of hostility.  By the very nature of many of his comments he gave rise and legitimacy to the rise of the Alt-right and neo-Nazis. When questioned this week about seeing Neo-Nazis raise their hands in a “Seig Heil” salute chanting “Heil Trump, Heil our people, Heil Victory” Trump’s comments were, “It’s not a group I want to energise. And if they are energised I want to look into it and find out why.” All he has to do is turn the mirror on himself. There is his answer. 

Bill Shorten similarly, fuels the racist debate with his selective subtraction of pieces of conversations to score political points. Then, Shorten throws racist slurs based on those subtractions. Shorten tries to suppress the truth and close down open and mature debate. He fuels the fires of our Alt-Right but from a different perspective. It's not about personal adoration for Shorten, as it is for Trump. 

I believe Bill Shorten deliberately seeks to motivate and stir up racial divide. He knows others will go out and issue threats against his own supporters; against the people of the left. More alarmingly, we also end up with threats being made against our broader immigrant community.  Isn’t that exactly what Union bosses do? The load ‘the guns’ and others go out there and ‘fire the bullets’. 

Mr Dutton singled out the many thousands of wonderful law abiding immigrants we have in this country. As Mr Dutton stressed many of them are from the Lebanese community. Of course, that is one piece that has been selectively culled by Mr Shorten in his assault. Shorten also stirs up members of our immigrant community who may not be fully aware of what has been said or the context in which it was said,  Thus, by his actions, Shorten is driving even greater social divide. In other words, he is doing what he said he would do. Lead like a unionist. 

So putting on my cynical hat. Trump and Shorten are either so stupid they are oblivious to the impact they have on the behaviour of others. For the record, I don’t think either of them are stupid. Or, they are wilfully manipulating the populous for political gain; divide and conquer, stuff the consequences. Either way it's extremely dangerous. Both should be resoundingly condemned. 

We Set The Benchmarks By The Standards We Accept

So the election is over and the unthinkable has happened. Donald Trump is now President-elect; the leader of the free world.

I don’t like Trump. I’ve made no secret about how I feel. But he has played a blinder in tapping into people's fears; their despair, their need to lash out at governments who they feel hasn’t listened to them. I do understand how people feel. I have felt the same. But what worries and disturbs me the most is three things. One, people have turned to a morally corrupt man like Trump because there were no alternatives. Two, and the most disturbing for me is the signal sent to the world that racism, sexism, lying and sexual assault is OK. I'll forgive you because you listen to me and my concerns. That it's acceptable to attack and assault those who don’t agree with you. That it's OK to demean prisoners of war and people with physical disabilities.

The willingness to sacrifice principles and overlook reprehensible behaviour because a person claims they will fix my problems astounds me. In my experience those who lack principles rarely achieve anything for others, other than more chaos and disappointment. You can’t address a lack of principles if you have none yourself.

Hillary Clinton carries a lot of baggage. She was a very poor alternate choice. She is far from blameless but she has also carried the burden of the man she married. She is not the only woman to ever stick by a cheating husband and she won't be the last. I suspect a reasonable percentage of those condemning her for it are possibly not blameless themselves. But I wonder if she were a man would she have been treated so harshly. After all millions were prepared to overlook Trump’s treatment of women. Then we have his failed businesses and the resulting disastrous impact that has had on so many people. His skiting about ripping off taxpayers, the very people who he claims he will now champion. But, let's face it, he’s made his money. He can afford to be sanctimonious. If he really was your champion, he’d give the money back on principle. Then, we have his past association with Jeffrey Epstein. A convicted pedophile known for having underage sex slaves and who Trump called ‘a great guy’. Does that sound like a person with good judgement?

The list of Trump’s questionable practices is very long indeed. In addition, he is still to front court over the operation of Trump University, facing claims that dozens of people who were ripped off. How ironic that we have referred two of our Aussie Senators to the high court to test their worthiness to hold representative office over business and criminal dealings. In both of these cases they are far less than anything Trump has done.

Within 12 hours after securing the position of President-elect Donald Trump’s statement on banning Muslims from US has disappeared from his website. In commenting on this one person wrote in response to a column, “Surely, this is a goo (sic) thing! Told ya he's not a bigot. Those were just buzzwords to get redneck votes.”

I thought these were brilliant replies.

“So when those rednecks you refer to realise his words were just buzzwords and they turn on him, I wonder how he will react. Will he boot them out? Attack them as he has so many others who disagreed with him? More importantly how they will react.”

“The most positive thing his supporters have been able to say about him is "Don't worry, he doesn't believe a word he says, he's just a lying political scumbag". I hope that's true.”

“I'm not sure it's any improvement at all.  If he was just a bigot, we could possibly call him misguided.  In this case, he's a liar and a hate-monger that intentionally stirred up hate and anger aimed at a minority religious group for his own benefit.  That seems a whole lot worse to me, so unless I start hearing an apology from Trump and assurances that he isn't going to single out Muslims or tolerate any discrimination against them, I'm not giving him a pass.”

An American friend sent me this recently. Sorry I didn’t share it before the election. It's strong but it made me think.  

http://www.gq.com/story/donald-trump-voters-read-this

The world desperately needs people of principle and of good character to lead us out of the predicament we find ourselves in. We need leaders who can engage us in the discussions without using the language of violence, fear and divide. We need leaders who can address concerns quickly without creating world war 3. Trump sadly (for me) isn’t that person. He lacks principle and there are far too many question-marks over his character. If I cannot respect the person, how could I support them speaking for me?

But where are the principled and honourable champions of the downtrodden, the unrepresented, the disenfranchised, those who feel they have no voice? That for me is a most vexing question. I simply don’t see them coming forward. So people turn to the Trump’s and the Farage’s of the world. That scares the hell out of me. Our relatives have been down these paths before. We need to listen to them.

We set the benchmark by the standards we accept. If we are willing to trade-off those standards in accepting leaders who have none, we shouldn’t be surprised when nothing changes for the better. In fact, there is a very real possibility it could probably end up a lot worse.

Unlike Brexit the impact has been largely on the United Kingdom and EU and to a lesser degree the rest of the world. The US decision however, has wider reaching impacts because so much is tied to the US dollar and US trade. Many of the things that Trump has said if enacted will have dire consequences. Whilst I suspect millions would like to live on their own little islands independent of the world around us that is not reality. Certainly not for small countries like Australia we simply don’t have the population or the resources to survive on our own.

As for Donald Trump, he hasn’t changed overnight. I suspect he can’t, but I pray I’m wrong.

Women Have A Responsibilty To Call-Out Reprehensible Behaviour

I was told to calm-down over Donald Trumps comments about women. Well, I won’t. 

In response to my last blog on Trump one man suggested I should consider the behaviour of the women Trump was talking about who encourage men to behave as Trump does. When I enquired if he also considered women in short skirts were asking to be raped, he told me I had a problem. I needed help, and I was a hypocrite (I’m still trying to figure out the hypocrite bit). I’m not the one with the problem but any man who blames the victim sure as hell has one. I’m also betting he’s not all that well informed on Trump’s background. 

I feel very strongly about the objectification of women. No female should be subjected to such oafish, demeaning comments as those spoken by Trump. No, father should ever agree it's OK for a shock jock to say on radio his daughter is "a piece of ass". Fathers are supposed to protect their daughters, not support and condone their objectification. 

My condemnation of Trump has nothing per se to do with the US election. To me, both candidates are equally bad. Albeit for different reasons. I don’t live in the US, so I don’t get to vote, anyway. My condemnation (and concern) is based on broader issues. That of the vilification of women. Plus, the hypocrisy and inconsistency with which various behaviours are treated.  

Thousands of women are abused, demeaned and treated as second-class citizens. When the possible leader of the free world behaves the same way, the signal it sends out is, (as far as I am concerned) it's OK. It’s OK to demean women. It's OK to talk about groping them because they are attractive. It's OK to call women fat pigs, dogs, bimbos and slobs because to you they are unattractive or they've had the temerity called you out. Well, it's not OK in my book.

People say what Trump has said is all this in the past. Sorry, it isn’t. Even if it was, it shouldn’t matter. It wasn’t 10 years ago when he said to a female contestant on The Apprentice it would be nice to see her on her knees. What he is suggesting? A woman’s place in the boardroom is on her knees? Seriously, what Neanderthal thinking that is!! 

In commenting in recent times on sexual assaults in the military Trump slighted both men and women with this comment,  “What did these geniuses expect when they put men & women together?” So rather than condemn the crimes he suggests men and women are incapable living together? To be honest, that's as bad as Muslim men suggesting women have to cover themselves because they can’t trust themselves. 

Only last year he took a crack at Arianna Huffington (not for the first time) tweeting, “How much money is the extremely unattractive (both inside and out) Arianna Huffington paying her poor ex-hubby for the use of his name?” He poked fun at her over her divorce. Is that the behaviour of someone who respects women? Not in my book. He attacked her because she stood up to him. 

Of Carly Fiorina he said "Can you imagine that, the face of our next next president? I mean, she's a woman, and I'm not supposed to say bad things, but really, folks, come on. Are we serious?" No, he isn’t supposed to say things like that, but he does. When he does, and it's condoned then others follow the lead. 

In making those comments (some in the last 12-months) Trump has all but affirmed that he does not respect women or regard them as equals. 

I know what it's like to fight to be treated as an equal. I’ve been put down by men who think and act like Trump. I know many others who have as well. Why? Because there is a certain class of man who has a problem with strong women. Those men will resort to trying to belittle woman. I can look after myself and I don’t cave into bullies like that. But not everyone can fight their corner. 

What really saddens me is this. We now have a man in Trump. who has the desire to be the leader of the free world who thinks so little of women. His voice will reach much further than the bullies I’ve encountered. But in essence he’s no better than them.  

It is blatantly obvious Trump has a long history of pigeon-holing of women as either just a piece of ass or ugly losers. When you analyse it, you start to realise women with a voice, women with power, threaten Trump’s world view. The “bimbos” he simply disregards with condescending, disrespectful rhetoric. When it comes to the power group, Trump extends to those ladies, no less than some straight-up brutal attempts at assassinating their character. He doesn’t attack their credentials because he can’t. He resorts to personal assaults. As they say, it's a weak man who has to try and demean a woman to feel powerful. 

In the course of an exchange yesterday, it was stated all men speak and act like Trump toward women. In my experience they don’t. But for those who do, then with respect it might be time for a bit of reflection and soul searching chaps. It is 2016. Remember those women you are demeaning are someone’s daughter, sister, wife, perhaps even mother. How would you feel if someone spoke about your daughter, or your wife in a smutty, tasteless, manner? So. I will continue to speak out and condemn it, in the hope society will strive to be better. 

We have no right to criticise the repression of women by any other culture if we willingly support sexism, denigration and bullying of women in ours. Whilst many demand women be treated as equals by other cultures. We are simply hypocrites if we don’t demand the same from ours. We should certainly demand the same from those who seek to lead. Making smutty comments is bad enough. But, to suggest that a woman will allow you to do anything to her if you are powerful enough is simply appalling. Particularly if you have desires to be the most powerful man in the world. 

When Bill Shorten verbally assaulted a woman in a pie shop, conservative supporters in Australia went into meltdown. Rightly so. Many of those same supporters are cheering Trump.  A misogynist is a misogynist, regardless of circumstances. We can’t condemn one and cheer the on the other because we sit in different political camps. 

In preparing a leadership paper recently, I came across a list of how to recognise an  “Asshole at work”. How to spot the red flags: 

• Personal insults
• Invading one’s “personal territory”
• Uninvited physical contact
• Threats and intimidation, both verbal and nonverbal
• “Sarcastic jokes” and “teasing” used as insult delivery systems
• Withering e-mail flames (I’d add in Trumps case tweets) 
• Status slaps intended to humiliate their victims
• Public shaming or “status degradation” rituals
• Rude interruptions
• Two-faced attacks
• Dirty looks
• Treating people as if they are invisible

Hard to argue with any of that and it reminds me very much of Trump. 

Trump in issuing his apology last week said. "I was younger, less mature, and acted foolishly I played along. I'm very sorry.” The chump was 60 for heavens sake. Trump is now 70 years old. He is still attacking women so what's his excuse now? 

I was pleased to see that at least one of the political leaders of this country has the cuts to call Trump out. Derryn Hinch in responding to Pauline Hanson defence of Trump said,  a "normal man" would not do what Trump claims to do to women. 

"The man is a sexual predator and is a disgrace," Hinch said. Hear, hear.

On the other hand we have the oafish Nigel Farge insisting Trumps comments amount to 'alpha male boasting'. Well that's OK then. It just boys being boys.

One comment on the Presidential election. To think this has been relegated to the level of who can be the most obscene is a very sad indictment of society today. The world deserves better. John Oliver said,

"Do me a favour - look up into the sky right now...
Higher..no higher still..
Do you see that?
Way up there, way up, above the clouds..
That's ROCK BOTTOM.
And we are currently down here."

Oliver is 100% correct.

So back to my starting point. I will not ‘calm-down’. Whilst I am free to voice my opinion I will. Just because ‘all’ men behave badly as suggested, it doesn’t make it right. Just meekly accepting the status quo is not in my DNA. To the idiot who obviously believes ‘women are asking for it’ in other words, blame the victim, grow up. 

It's A Question Of My Self-Respect

I have voted conservative for most of my life. There was a period in my earlier voting life where I did ire and vote Labor. But hey, most of us went through a ‘young and naïve’ idealistic phase. 

I support the conservative side for several reasons. Foremost I support self-sufficiency. We give people a hand-up when they need it. But, handouts should never be a way of life and that includes pensions. Far too many people view the pension as their saving plan. Sorry. Going of topic.

Conservatives have traditionally been driven by a set of values where we strive not be a burden on society. We uphold family values and our Christian ethic has been strong. We show respect for the opinions of others and we value free speech. My challenge is, I’m not convinced a lot of conservatives live by those values and principles anymore and hence I am in a quandary. 

What’s sheeted this home are comments from conservatives about Donald Trump and his grossly deeming comments about women. I should add Trump’s deeming attitude also includes his lack of respect for his own daughter. Seriously, what father allows a shock jock to make unsavoury comments about his daughter and he says it’s OK!!! 

Many people state they are supporting Trump because Bill Clinton did worse things and Hilary supported him. They claim what Trump said is just words. Well that's OK then (not). I wonder how Nancy O’Dell and her family feel about those ‘just words’? I suspect they are angry. I haven’t heard any conservatives standing up for her. Whilst Trump apologised I didn’t hear a direct apology to Nancy O’Dell. She is the first person he should have said sorry to. 

Trump was eloquent in his TelePrompTer apology. He obviously had a gun to his head. His expression and tone was that of a man who didn’t believe what he said. He is a man who boasts when you are a star you can do anything. That includes groping women. He is a man who boasted that even if he shot someone people would still vote for him. In his mind  regardless of how appallingly he behaves people will still support him. So why would he be sorry? 

If Trump has any decency he would withdraw from the Presidential race. He won’t because his ego is so big it wouldn’t let him. He thinks he can do what he likes, say what he likes and like a bunch of lemmings people will follow him. There is no way I could ever support anyone who belittles women as he does. I have too much respect for myself to do that. As for the claim his Nancy O’Dell comments were a private conversation 10 years ago. Big deal. His comments on radio to Howard Stern (over many years) were not private comments. Trump has form. 

This man isn’t applying for a Pub Managers job. He wants to be President of the United States. The most powerful job in the world!!! The would be leader who thinks so little of women doesn't deserve the job, He claims, he made comments a long time ago. It was 10-years. He was 60 years old not 18. Now, he claims he will be a better man. At 70? If he wasn’t a better man at 60 I frankly don't believe he will be a better man at 70. Leopard theory at play here. 

So, back to my quandary. As a conservative I’ve always felt comfortable with the values of conservatives. But, as so many appear to have deserted those values in supporting Trump. I’m not sure where I fit anymore. 

I suspect I’m not the only one who feels like they are in no man's land. But one thing I am clear about is this. I have too much respect for myself and other women to ever condone what Trump said regardless of the Clinton’s behaviour. No man ever became great demeaning women and making them look small. No woman worth their salt would ever standby and say nothing when he did.