I spent nearly fifty years in public affairs, and am a former adjunct professor at I-U’s School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

I’m now past my Biblical “sell-by” date, but I have never seen such a mean-spirited presidential election. Soon–but not soon enough–about half of us will claim “We won,” and about half will say, “Don’t blame me.” However, almost ALL of us live in a different America than either Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton. We can’t hop a private jet and leave our communities’ problems behind whenever we like. WE are what makes our country what it is, not the President. He or she will not stop crime in our neighborhoods or teach our children right from wrong. We can make this country whatever we want if we UNITE as a people with sound morals, values, and ethics. We are the ones that shape our communities, not whoever is President.

Picking a Commander-in-Chief is very important, but this election has been incredibly divisive. However, we can unite and hold doors for strangers, let people in front of us in traffic, be patient with others, and smile at strangers. We can refuse to let children live in a world where love is invisible and being rude and vulgar is acceptable. Showing each other more love and respect will swing the pendulum back from the hate in this campaign, no matter the result of this. If each of us does this, WE will be the winners of this election. I’m at least going to try.”

For Speak Your Mind, I’m John Clark.

Now, in 2014, President Barack Obama has been quietly nurturing the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), a free trade deal supported by corporate interests that Noam Chomsky states would “further erode the security of workers and the middle class, irrevocably harm the environment and undercut important financial, medical and food safety regulations.”

There is a growing problem of income inequality in the U.S., striking a blow to the functioning of a healthy democracy. With TPP, the richest 5 to 10 per cent of American households would get richer, while the bottom 90 per cent of Americans suffer a loss of income.

President Obama has tried to keep TPP secret.Thanks to WikiLeaks parts of the text were made public. A public outcry against TPP was expressed to Congress. Senator Harry Reid, Majority Leader, refused to fast-track TPP legislation, which has temporarily blocked approval from Congress.

FlushtheTPP.Org sums it up very well. “The TPP is about much more than trade. It is a global corporate coup.” We must stay vigilant.

References

“NAFTA, Twenty Years After: A Disaster” (Economic Policy Institute)

Effect of TPP on richest 5 to 10 percent and poorest 90 percent is by Ruth Conniff in The Progressive, March, 2014, page 6.

Chomsky is quoted in The Nation, March 10, 2014, page 11.