Beacon of Speech barely exists. We'll spare you the nuts and bolts explanation, but suffice to say, every article could be our last.
With that being said, our "staff" couldn't come up with a consensus for the 2020 Election:
Fred personally gives his lukewarm endorsement to Jo Jorgensen.
Ted enthusiastically endorses Donald Trump.
I haven't spoken to Joe since Covid hit.
Why endorse Jorgensen when she is anti-vax and anti-mask when I am pro-vax and pro-mask?
Let me break down how I feel about the 4 major candidates. If I had to assign grades, Jorgensen would get a D+ as a candidate. Joe Biden and Howie Hawkins would both get F's. And Donald Trump would get an F-. I'm not using hyperbole, if Kanye was on the ballot in my state, I'd probably vote for him. I may not agree with the first three candidates, but at least they pretend to have philosophies. Trump is terrible and doesn't stand for anything but Trump. Period.
What I'm here to tell you is that there is no hope. If Biden wins, the country will lurch to the left, which is bad. Listen, reforming the police is fine, I encourage that and have some ideas myself. Defunding the police is as far to the left as being a Nazi is on the right.
You.
Cannot.
Defund.
The.
Police.
Why would you vote for anyone espousing Nazi ideas on the Right or BLM ideas on the Left? If Trump wins, this country is going to continue to be a flaming dumpster fire, which is bad. We are screwed for the next 4 years either way. The losing team's side will not accept defeat. I think that Biden could, possibly, accept defeat, but I don't think partisans like CNN or outspoken members of Academia would accept defeat. If Biden loses, look for riots. I know on the other side of the coin, Donald Trump, The Blaze, or Militias won't accept defeat, look for riots from a different set of less sympathetic citizens, optically, if Trump loses. Jorgensen and Hawkins ain't winnin'.
You notice the common denominator? Burning Wreckage.
Trump says if he loses, he'll run again at 78. So even if we get rid of him, I'm sure he'll still Tweet about Biden every single day and Fox News will cover it. Can you imagine if the economy tanks even worse? Biden v Trump II in 2024? Four more years of migraine headaches while the Democrats and Republicans angle for the rematch.
Speaking of the Democrats, local outlet cleveland.com endorses Joe Biden?
Yeah, no shit. They have, like, a 10 member editorial board and I guarantee you that every single one of them are voting for Biden. There were no deliberations. As a matter of fact, if you took a survey of every employee that provides content for cleveland.com, from Editor Chris Quinn down to Entertainment Reporter Troy Smith, I bet every single one is voting for Biden.
Local newspapers used to at least PRETEND like they had a cross section of voices.
I'm going to switch gears for a moment and tell you a personal story, but I will circle around back to the election to make my point.
Last weekend I went to Lakeview Cemetery in Cleveland. At one time, Lakeview Cemetery was in the good part of Cleveland. When was that you ask? In the late 1800's. Now it's a tourist site for hipsters and history buffs.
The picture above is a file photo of the James A. Garfield Memorial. It is the highlight of the cemetery tour. Today it is closed. Supposedly due to Covid, but there was fence in front of the steps and the stained glass windows were boarded up. It didn't appear to be a temporary closure.
Went to the Rockefeller Monument. Right next to Obelisk, there was a nice overlook to the ravine. Fences blocked its access.
Wade Chapel? Closed.
In the middle of the Cemetery, there is a Dam, yes a Dam, that was built in the late 1970's. It is minimally used and fenced off to visitors.
Boards covered many mausoleums where windows had been broken out.....
Where am I going with this? James A. Garfield died in 1881 by an assassin's bullet. He was a Republican who had defeated the Democrat, Winfield Scott Hancock, in the hotly contested 1880 election. One of the platforms that got Garfield elected was that he favored the gold standard and decried attempts to increase the money supply through the issuance of paper money not backed by gold.
How funny is that in today's context? Both Political Parties have survived for over a hundred years, but not their ideals. Basically, since the Civil War, it has been about the survival of the Two-Party system. Parties should have grown and died with their philosophies. How does post-Civil War reconstruction fit into today's platform? So through over a hundred years, ideals have been tweaked to fit the party, instead of the party adjusting to ideals.
What does Donald Trump stand for? What benefits Trump.
What does Joe Biden stand for? What do the polls say?
Don't get me wrong, unlike Bush v Gore, there is a very clear choice here. Biden has proved for 50 years that he is the Swamp, I believe that Hunter Biden has done things in China and the Ukraine that should have disqualified his Dad from the Presidency. I also believe that Donald Trump has drained some of the Swamp and replaced it... hmmm....what's a good name to use?Trump has replaced a swamp with a Mire. I also believe that Eric and Young Trump Jr. have done things in the Ukraine that should have disqualified their Dad from being re-elected.
I will say it again. Hunter Biden is a bad, bad boy. Those (adult) Trump boys are spoiled rich kids with no boundaries. Hunter Biden and Donald Trump Jr. are equally flawed, just in different ways.
If you have a certain set of convictions, maybe you should see what party most resembles what YOU believe in. Maybe if you're for the Green New Deal you should vote Green. Maybe if you don't like wearing that mask for a philosophical reason relating to the Constitution, you should vote for Jorgensen instead of Trump.
Let me sum it up in a better way. In the late 1800's, John D. Rockefeller made his name in oil and at the turn of the twentieth century he was the richest man in the world, becoming America's first billionaire in 1916. Rockefeller died in 1937 and was buried at Lake View Cemetery not far from the Garfield Memorial, maybe 100 yards away. The Rockefeller Family STILL has over a billion dollars in a Trust Fund. In 2015, the family dumped it's fossil fuel stock and condemned global warming. Did they give away their "ill-gotten" fortune? Nope. They simply denounced oil and kept their money.
And?
And a hundred years ago (1920), Cleveland was one of the five largest cities in this nation and today it is the 53rd largest in the United States. Using the Lakeview Cemetery as a time capsule, how many things have changed, and how many things have remained the same, going into easily the most contentious election in modern times?
In Summary
Fred Says: Vote for Jorgensen, Biden, or Hawkins. DO NOT VOTE FOR TRUMP
Ted Says: Vote for Trump. DO NOT VOTE FOR BIDEN or THOSE OTHER PEOPLE (whose names he doesn't know.)
As a website that needed to reach a consensus, but didn't, I don't know what to tell ya....
Editor's Note
I was exasperated and was getting ready to hit the Publish Button just to move on. I decided to sleep on whether I was really done here or not.
I woke up and went to CNN at 7:15 AM. Here were the Headlines:
News of the Day? Covid and Politics.
I then went to the Daily Mail (UK) one minute later at 7:16 AM. This was the Headline:
Why isn't CNN telling you about the riots? Because they are simply an arm of the Democrat Party. You are screaming that FoxNews is simply an arm of the Republican Party?
Now you get it.