One piece of evidence that the United States has been bought out is the breathless arrival of that Knight in Shining Armor, Donald Trump, to save America.
Had Mr. Trump only been a thrice-married bankrupt who seems to have had a problem with what to put on his head, I'm pretty sure nobody except Fox devotees would have paid much attention, but this is America and Mr. Trump has the secret ingredient that not only causes fairly normal people to pay attention to him, but actually puts him among the top candidates for the Kiss of Recognition in the Fox debates.
Trump is rich. As he constantly reminds us, he is a billionaire. "You're fired" is his signature quote. He is the male equivalent of Leona Helmsley, only he is alive. The late Ms H. was famous for declaring that only "little people pay taxes." We don't know about Trump.
But there's no doubt that he's rich. Read on.
This brings us to the topic of the diary. We Americans seem to pay a lot more attention to rich morons than poor ones. Of course, few if any of our representatives fall into the latter category and "celebrities" acquire wisdom in direct reationship to the popularity of their last movie or TV show and are seldom seen in less than glamorous settings, so a great majority of the "experts" we rely on for political knowledge are of well above-average income.
America worships money. The "American Dream" is chock full, not of freedom, equality or brotherly love, but huge TV sets, expensive cars and big houses. If we have to choose between the contents of a person's character and the contents of his or her wallet, guess which wins? We are constantly exposed to the Ten Biggest Houses or the Ten Most Expensive Cars as if this was the final proof of success in America. Often, we are also exposed to the Ten Biggest Gasbags to lead our nation.
America used to be a country where only a few people didn't have enough. Now nobody does. The poor don't have enough to eat, the middle class don't have enough to pay off their credit cards and the rich can NEVER have enough. When they run out of toys to buy, they start bidding on our government.
I challenge those reading this column to tell me Donald Trump is the model they'd like for their children, money or no money. So who, then? Other candidates are likewise loaded, with one or two exceptions. Only recently have some people mentioned an alternative way of thinking, illustrated by some Scandinavian countries and a few churches. What we need is another measure. Try ideas.
Trump is a Proof of Purchase receipt for what's left of the greatest experiment in government ever attempted. Such a pity it got its ass kicked by greed. That and incompetence, bombast and sleaze.