Three things came to mind as we close in on the midterm election.  1.  What must be a Democratic election nightmare, an expose from somewhere showing the women coming forward to tell lurid stories about the young Bret Kavanaugh were a put up job. 2. Healthcare is in the forefront but with no plausible solution from either side. 3. Picking a side in a Moslem religious war wasn’t great idea.

1. Weeks have gone by and zero additional negative claims or info has surfaced about Justice Kavanaugh.  Stranger we know little more about his accusers.  The last two accuser’s stories were so weakly supported even by the accusers themselves they were never taken seriously by most people.  Christine Blesey Ford seems to be in witness protection somewhere.  Yet all three were actively involved in an attempt to bring down a sitting federal judge.  The story has to be big enough to gather interest in how all this came about.  Possibly the fact most of the press was on the wrong side with their constant use of “credible accusation” throughout this spectacle may mean they have no stomach for possible further investigation.  Still among for those on the other side, the prospect  of finding the full story would be just too tempting to not follow-up. This has to be causing night terrors among Democrats and maybe some in the #Me Too Movement.

2. We have always thought both parties never understood how income, savings and insurance actually interact to provide for our well-being.  That’s why we came up with “Dave’s Plan” to provide for among so many other things universal heath care.  Both parties are wrestling over “preexisting condition.”  They would force insurance companies to cover them.  As we have said this is akin to forcing insurance companies to insure sinking ships.  Whatever it is, this isn’t insurance.  Under “Dave’s Plan” all those presently unable to obtain reasonable insurance because a preexisting condition would be placed in subsidized state risk pools.  All others would be covered with personal market priced non-cancel able plans.  These people can never have a “preexisting condition.” They’re always covered. As the vast majority  who now have these  conditions are people 50 and over this means within two decades the terminology “preexisting conditions” would virtually cease to exist as they move on to medicare.  Take a look at our series on “Dave’s Plan” on this site and see if you don’t agree this is a far better solution in so many ways than either party have put forth.

3. Sunni or Shia?  Saudi Arabia or Iran?  We have always thought neither shared our values.  The Muslim religion overall  has never gone through a reformation reconciling it with the modern world.  The wars they’re presently waging might through exhaustion  result in reform but until that happens we have to realize neither can be  our true friends.  Saudi Arabia just isn’t the United Kingdom or Canada.  A medieval monarchy that has sponsored the most extreme form of the Moslem religion has spawned terror worldwide. Our leaders should’ve known a tyrannical Monarchy would do tyrannical things.  Autocracies eliminate  their internal opponents whether they be politicians or journalists. The Khashoggi mess should not have been any big surprise.   This is what tyrants do. That doesn’t mean we don’t have interests in the Middle East.  We most certainly do.  When it is in our interest to work with some nations we should but that doesn’t make them our bosom bodies . Our lack of top-level strategic thinking in this area continues to be shocking resulting in these bad outcomes.  All these elite experts from both sides continue to set us up for failure.  If there was any place on earth that needs a new approach it’s the Middle East. We proposed the right way to achieve our legitimate aims in the Middle East was to quietly align with the Kurds with a  base in their territory.  They at least have fought alongside us and in any case they need us and provide the key strategic position.  We laid all this out with our posts SSSHHH! A MIDDLE EAST POLICY ON THE QT  and again inSSSHHH! MORE MIDDLE EAST POLICY ON THE QT.  A de facto  alliance of Israel, the Kurds and the US would intimidate everyone in the area just by its existence. A much improved negotiating position. Khashoggi’s murder should make it clear we are on the wrong path.

Two weeks to go to an election and it just might be the country loses no matter which of our dysfunctional parties wins.