After the election, I posted the following on facebook: "This is not the America I swore to defend". Of course, when I entered the Marine Corps, I swore to defend the Constitution against all enemies, foreign and domestic, and the fact is that the result of this election - as distasteful as it was to me - was a Constitutional result. So my facebook post requires more explanation.

I had specific things in mind when I posted this. I did not swear to defend racism, misogyny, homophobia, religious intolerance. Those activities are excluded by the Constitution, and to the extent that truly racist, misogynous, homophobic, intolerant religious extremists voted for a candidate, I did not swear to support you. In fact, I will oppose you with every fiber of my being. But not everyone who voted based their vote on these beliefs, and I recognize that. I have to accept the outcome because that's what the Constitution requires.

The question I've posed for myself is "What now?" I've been searching for an answer, and one answer is to wait and see. The problem with that answer, for at least some of the difficulties we face, is that we really can't wait. I'm thinking specifically of climate change, but certainly inequality (in income, in race relations, in gender equality, etc.) can't wait either. I'm still searching for a good response. For now, I can simply affirm my opposition to inequality of all types.

An article in the NY Times today tells the story of an ex-Marine (truly, an EX-Marine) about the hazing he tried to endure in boot camp. This prompted me to recall my own experience in boot camp back in January, 1968, and I thought it might be worth public distribution.

I had, and still have, a lot of respect for our Drill Instructors (DI's), especially SSGT Gonzales. All of them were combat veterans and all of them knew what we were getting into and all of them wanted us to be as ready as we could be for what we were about to experience. One of the most powerful experiences I had in boot camp came when we were leaving for Infantry Training after our graduation from boot camp and SSGT Gonzalez had marched us to the buses taking us away. He stood there watching as the buses started to leave and said "You assholes take care of yourselves!" Doesn't sound like much from this distance, but I knew he meant it and he knew that none of us would ever be the same.

Did our DIs abuse us? Well, when you consider what they were trying to prepare us for, no. Did I get punched? Yes, but not in a way that made me bleed or otherwise truly hurt me. What hurt was knowing that I'd let my platoon down, and usually the platoon got punished for something I did wrong. That really makes you want to do things right because you don't want your friends to hate you and you know that if you do screw up in combat, the penalty for your friends is much more severe than a punch or extra push-ups.

That said, it does sound like some of the DIs went overboard on some recruits, and that kind of shit has to be stopped. Seems to me that what we went through was aimed at forming us into a unit rather than a bunch of individuals ditty-boping through the bush. That is critical in war; and the Marine Corps has an unblemished view of what happens to Marines in war. The view from the point of the spear is a lot different than the view from the ass-end.

I'm with her!
I hear so often that our elections boil down to the choice between "the lesser of two evils", and I have voted with that thought in mind. The only politician for whom I ever  actively campaigned was George McGovern in 1972. Since that time, I've either voted for "the lesser of two evils" or a third-party candidate.
When I voted for third party candidates, I did so because I wanted to vote "for" something rather than against the candidate I disliked the most. It seems to me that's the way we should vote, and I see folks I respect opting to do that this election. However, this election I'm actually voting FOR Hillary Clinton and not against the Donald (well, Ok - I am voting against the Donald as well).
I'm writing this blog for a number of reasons:

• Hillary Clinton is being painted as a liar - and yet according to fact checking organizations she was the most honest of all the candidates, including Bernie Sanders.
• Hillary Clinton is almost universally acknowledged by people who should know as "the best qualified candidate to EVER run for president".
• Hillary Clinton is a work horse, not a show horse. She's not fancy or an eloquent speaker, but when she goes after something, she does it with all of her heart.
• Republicans who worked with her in the Senate acknowledge her excellent work there, and her willingness to work WITH them.

The reasons for voting against Donald Trump are, to me, obvious, but I'll list a few of the most troubling characteristics of this empty suit.

• Of all the candidates, Donald Trump was the LEAST honest - by far.
• Donald Trump is universally acknowledged by people who should know as the LEAST qualified candidate to EVER run for president.
• Donald Trump doesn't work at anything except self-promotion. His ignorance of foreign affairs is astounding, and he seems unwilling to learn anything about the actual running of government.
• Donald Trump can't seem to work with anyone. It's all about "the Donald".
• He clearly couldn't pass a basic civics test. As Khizr Khan pointed out it's unlikely that Trump has ever read (and certainly not understood) the U.S. Constitution. That's the document he'll be sworn to uphold if (God forbid) he wins the election.
• Also as Mr. Khan pointed out, Trump doesn't understand the meaning of "sacrifice". As a combat veteran, I could excoriate this clown for his multiple deferments during the Viet Nam war, but I understand the resistance many people felt towards the war at that time. However, in Trump's case, his resistance seems to have arisen because being in the Army would have been an inconvenience, and his "resistance" was not based on principle. In fact, I wonder what principles this man actually holds.

What about the third party candidates? Well, the Green Party candidate is basically anti-science (see her statements on vaccination), and the Libertarian candidate (as a Libertarian should) opposes government intervention in a number of places where I think the government should be involved.
This election is shaping up as the most important of my life. My fondest wish is that Hillary Clinton will win all 50 states, and Donald Trump will crawl back into the sewers he came from, never to be heard from again.