No matter who wins . . . you lose
By Ron Marr
web posted May 2, 2016
I've endeavored to write as little as possible about the 2016 elections. This avoidance is based primarily on my belief that our system is so corrupt, so broken, and so phony that it's beyond fixing. Hell, even the idea that it can be "fixed" is a sign of magical thinking.
It's a little like functioning under the delusion that, if we spoke nicely and gave them transgender bathrooms, ISIS would suddenly embrace tolerance and religious diversity and quit lopping off the heads of the infidels. It's a little like thinking that, if only the right person was in charge, the drug cartels would alter their business model and refuse to sell anything but FDA approved herbal supplements.
Sorry. It ain't gonna' happen. The current crop of presidential wannabes is reminiscent of the last five clowns to exit that itty-bitty car. Forget for a moment any attempt to decide which one is the most corrupt, the rudest, the most pandering, the most deranged, or the most dictatorial. All of them seek one thing and one thing only; they want to be president. They want power. They want to stroke their own egos. They want the near-absolute ability to micro-manage the lives of the residents of what was "supposed" to be a country that treasured individual liberty.
Of course, we haven't been that country for a long, long time. We abandoned the Constitution, for all practical purposes, about a century ago. Our Congress is bought and paid for by corporations and their lobbyists. Our Supreme Court is a joke, little more than an extension of the Executive Branch. It is a wholly partisan group that renders judgments based on political affiliation (right or left) and personal beliefs rather than the rule of law. Worse, those black-robed individuals operate for life terms with zero oversight and zero recourse against their increasingly bizarre mandates.
There is only one philosophy, politically, that makes any sense. I stole this simple ideology many years back from a friend or mine. Simply put, it is this: "the best type of government is the type that leaves me the hell alone."
The reality is that all three branches of our government are more John Gotti than John Adams. I don't want any politician – be they a bitch or a son of a bitch – bellowing about how they're going to "fight" for me. Neither myself, nor any of you who read this (and I'm speaking both collectively and individually) enter into the thought process of Hillary, Donald, Ted, Bernie, or John. They simply want to be top dog, and will do or say anything to get there.
America passed the point of critical mass long ago. We might still be more "free" than other places, but defining freedom via levels of surveillance and authoritarian domination is antithetical. We are regulated and legislated more and more every day, the government inserting itself into the most intimate and minute parts of our lives, telling us what to believe and punishing us (financially or judicially) when we fail to fall in line.
That isn't freedom, not by any definition. It is, at best, "freedom by comparison." Sorry folks, but the lofty ideals of the founding fathers are a distant memory, and they're not coming back.
That makes some people happy, some people sad, and some people angry. A lot of people dislike the Constitution, and see it as a nuisance. More people don't even know what it is (and probably can't spell it, either).
Me, I think that paying attention to any of the present political malarkey is both a joke and a waste of time. If you think things are going to change for the better, no matter who wins this most stupid of elections, please contact me quickly.
I've many bridges to sell and much swampland to peddle.
And I'll make you a hell of a deal on the Statue of Liberty. 
Ron Marr is a columnist for Missouri Life magazine and the Kansas City Star. He can be reached at www.ronmarr.com or via his Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/ronmarrblog/)