Waiting...

Over the years on this blog I've often enjoyed scribbling a few lines on US politics, but at present, on that front, I'm simply confused. To my eye and ear US political commentary has lately swerved unnervingly in several directions at once - or in quick succession. I don't know who I am, politically, any longer.

Arriving here in 2004, just before Bush's win of his second term, I rapidly realised I wasn't an American conservative, aka Republican. After watching how Democrats performed, I realised I wasn't a Democrat either. By 2008 when I became a US Citizen and was eligible to vote, I registered Independent, the only other option in Oklahoma.

I detected no valid left-side, equivalent to the UK's old Labour Party in politics here. Democrats were, at best, the equivalent of UK's old and ineffective Liberal party; I'd never have considered supporting them in my wildest nightmares. I did, however, vote for Obama in 2008, with high hopes that his soaring rhetoric would not crash and burn. It did. In 2012 I left the presidential choice box blank on the ballot paper.

That was then.

When Senator Bernie Sanders declared his candidacy in the 2016 presidential election, I knew, and clearly, who I was politically - at last! That happy condition was short-lived, due to the DNC's corrupt doings to ensure - so they thought - a Hillary Clinton win. I could not bring myself to vote for Hillary Clinton in November 2016, neither could I, in all conscience, vote for Donald Trump, so I voted for the only other option on the ballot - a Libertarian.

But that's all done now, the die was cast, we're stuck with the outcome: President Trump. Democrats/Liberals have split into at least two factions: those who retain Clinton-fever and still smart at her loss, blaming anything and anyone they can for it - even Russia! Another faction is a mix of former Sanders supporters, and other Democrats turned off by earlier Clintonite meddlings, even some who voted for Trump in desperation. The second faction tends to be the target of the first faction's ire. Most major newspapers (far as I can tell) and political websites on the liberal side support the first faction - strongly. A recent, and sickening, example appeared in the magazine Vanity Fair: Why the Alt-left is a Problem. I was happy to see that Yves Smith of naked capitalism.com had written an excellent rebuttal yesterday.

Of late, and apart from output at naked capitalism.com, I've often found palatable articles on what are considered to be more conservative-leaning websites and blogs. That is a tad worrying, and why I'm feeling confused. Once again I don't know, politically, who I am, where I fit - if anywhere.

I don't see President Trump as the monster many do, but he's certainly not of presidential calibre; the people he has picked for his team do not promote confidence. In time, I suspect he'll settle - or be settled through manipulation - into a template of near-classic Republican proportions, his frequent Tweets an added bonus.

At the weekend I read several other pieces decrying what their "liberal" authors termed the "alt-left". I'm not sure if I'm of the alt-left variety. I suspect not. I think I'm far left - waiting in far left field - out there where buses don't run. Mostly in solitude, gazing into the horizon, watching, waiting for something to change.

As John Mayer sang:

It's hard to beat the system
When we're standing at a distance
So we keep waiting
Waiting on the world to change...