Inauguration

Trump’s speech writer isn’t bad. He’s done his homework on group psychology and knows his audience. I liked the mention of the graceful transition of power every 4 years. Of course this transition has special meaning because guess what, unlike every other power drunk politician, this one will be different. No more looking after their own with this guy.

People are so disillusioned with the political class, they’re willing to take a chance. It seems to me to be more political rhetoric. Lots of grandiose promises appealing to the ill conceived idea that someone acting as a figurehead in a powerful government which has long since dispersed control from the individual to the individualists can affect change. The notion seems absurd.

It is now apparent, self interest reigns. Thanks America, we learned that long ago. It was inculcated into us, through television programming, through your espousal of free market economics (I’m thinking Thomas Friedman - Lexus and the Olive Tree) and the idea of work hard and success is inevitable. Hmm, when did self interest fail to shine as an excellent example of citizen behaviour.

How exactly will Islamic terrorism be eradicated completely. My memory is vague as i stand here at the bar sipping my 11% Beer but wasn’t it George W Bush who initially responded to the 9/11 attacks? What makes comb over guy think that he has some fresh new powers to wield. Oh, that’s right. It’s his paper wealth and his complete lack of appreciation of economics fueling this view.

Yes, we all want good jobs, a decent education for our kids and fair recompense for our labour. This is not the American dream, or unique to the righteous. It’s a pretty universal ideal.

Best line of the speech, “When you open your heart to patriotism, there is no room for prejudice”. Is that straight out of Hitler’s playbook. Thanks Ivanka for the background on that.

I know this all sounds a bit sad. Actually I did appreciate the call to think big. As someone who lives in North America (admittedly on the other side of the border - somehow Canada saw fit to let me stay) we do have some issues with our point of focus. It is pretty hard to find a good cup of coffee, a job that pays 25% more than a migrant worker with no visa gets paid and the economics are geared in such a way that price pressures mean that all but the best local businesses struggle to justify their existence. But I get it, it’s time to reverse a few hundred years of political and economic chaos and make things work for the common man.

The bit about a nation only doing well as long as it is striving seems a bit overstated. I guess it depends on the definition of striving. If it’s working 10 hours a day at jobs we hate then I would’ve thought America would be doing pretty well. And so would Australia for that matter (admittedly Aus and Japan are the only two places I’ve had gainful employment).

Yes, I know I sound angry. I am angry, not enough to change my behaviour in any meaningful way or to think too much. Just angry enough to look for the next easy option like using the 5 minutes of news time I see daily affect my vote.

Protection will lead to great prosperity and strength. America will rebuild with American hands, American Labour. What I enjoy about this is the pans of the crowd (watching ABC or CNN coverage) and seeing the diaspora in the crowd. The Sikhs, the Asians, the Caucasians in brimmed hats. What exactly is an American these days? Will someone remind me please, because I’m hazy on the concept. Guess as long as we’re bleeding red, we’re all the same. Hold on, am I an American by that measure?