Being a political reporter, as I have been for more than forty years, the question I would ask a candidate who is seeking to become the 45th President of the United States is, “How would you deal with President Putin and Russia?”
Like 2008’s presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, I also believe the biggest threat to our security comes from Putin. Our candidates need to do some research into world history:
- Donald Trump, the great deal-maker and wall builder, may have to face Reagan’s return and the demand, “Tear down that wall!”;
- Hillary Clinton, the Queen of Spades who digs herself out of any mess she manages to get into;
- Ben Carson, who went to the same school I went to, so I say nothing else about him here but that he is a Prospector;
- Jeb Bush, whose dreams of perpetuating a dynasty is being shattered by his ineptness to communicate and the bitter taste of the name Bush;
- Marco Rubio, a very articulate speaker, apparently has more problems balancing his personal finances than he may have tackling the 17 trillion debt our nation is facing, and
- Ted Cruz, like the Wisconsin Senator who served from 1947-1957, used emotionally charged words – “Bolshevik” and “Menshevik” – during a recent debate, demonstrating that he doesn’t know a byte about Soviet Russia.
However, the Cold War, the “Iron Curtain”, and the days of socialism and communism are over.
Or are they? With those two words (Bolshevik and Menshevik) during a recent debate, the junior Republican senator from Texas conjured up in my mind the horrific days and nights of the McCarthy Era, the Dies Era, and the ghosts of those who believed they had absolute power over the people of the United States. One only had to say “He (or she) is a communist” and that would end a bright career.
Dies and his Committee and Senator Joseph McCarthy remind us that the worst threat to our freedoms is to close our eyes to injustice. It can’t happen here? Friends, it did happen here…
Back to our candidates. Please note, I do not list the candidates according to their party affiliation. We are Americans and after the last ballot is cast in November of 2016, the President of the United States and the congressmen and women shall serve no party. They are bound by their allegiance the People of the United States.
An unsuccessful candidate for the Presidency, Governor of Illinois Adlai E. Stevenson, once wrote, “We have to serve the truth as candidates for public office and not mislead, misguide, misdirect the people merely to provoke emotional response and win votes that way.”
These are words that one who seeks our vote should remember.
Back to Putin…just give him enough rope… But also remind him that his tutor, Joseph Stalin, Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR, wrote and thanked President Franklin D. Roosevelt on November 4, 1941:
“Your decision, Mr. President, to grant the Soviet Union an interest-free loan to the value of $1,000,000,000 to meet deliveries of munitions and raw materials to the Soviet Union is accepted by the Soviet Government with heartfelt gratitude as vital aid to the Soviet Union in its tremendous and onerous struggle against our common enemy – bloody Hitlerism…”
Yours very sincerely,
J. Stalin”
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Note the word LOAN…Webster defines the word as “something to be used for a short time…to be given back with interest…” He never paid us back.
And I believe it would not be fair to the other candidates seeking the presidency if I did not, at least, mention their names. They are: Kentucky Senator Rand Paul; the Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders; Carly Fiorina; Ohio Governor John Kasick; New Jersey Governor Chris Christie; former Maryland Governor Martin O’Malley; South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham; Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal; and also unforgettable former Governor Arkansas Mike Huckabee; former Virginia Governor Jim Gilmore; former New York Governor George Pataki, and let us not forget former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum.
There are a few others who have filed that you may want to consider for the Oval Office. I (and probably you) know little if anything about: George Bailey (not the character in It’s a Wonderful Life); Esteban Oliverz; Jefferson Sherman; Dale Christenson; Chris Hill; Michael Petyo; Brian Russell; Valma Kittington; K. Ross Newland; James Mitchell, Jr.; Jack Feller (Is he related to Bobby?); Mark Everson; John Dummett; Kerry Bowers; Bartholomew Lower; Eric Cavanagh; Jim Hayden; Brooks Cullinson; Skip Andrews; Michael Bickelmeyer; Andy Martin; Howell Astor; Morrison Bonpass; Jeff Boss; Harry Brown; Andy Caffrey; Willie Carter; Lloyd Kelson; Doug Shriffer; Michael Steinberg; Robbie Wells; Willie Wilson, and Brad Winston.
If I missed any of the wannabe Presidents, I apologize.
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Tom Mooradian was one of 151 Americans who traveled to Soviet Armenia to repatriate during the 1940’s. Thought to be a spy by the KGB, Tom miraculously survived 13 years behind the Iron Curtain winning the hearts of the Soviets through his basketball prowess. Filled with political drama, romance, and intrigue, Tom’s autobiography, The Repatriate reads like a novel, and will have you guessing how Tom managed to return to America alive.
The Second Edition is now available on Kindle and in Paperback!