This seems to be what most people are thinking this past couple of days. You can say that these are strange times in which we are living but in my opinion, there has never been anything but strange times! The whole world has been messed up for a very long time, certainly since humans have had the ability to record history, going back 5,000 years and who knows beyond that. It would be nice to think there was a time when the human race lived in complete utopia (and some believe there was) but to think that this was any time in living memory or in recorded history, is a total fallacy.
Trump was elected with the slogan "Let's Make America Great Again" but when exactly was America great? Certainly not for the first 100 years, as no nation that allows slavery can be considered "great". The African-American Civil Rights movement didn't bring equal rights to all citizens until the late 1960s. So when was America truly great? The 1970s, when they destroyed Vietnam? Perhaps the 1980s when de-industrialisation took hold that was to eventually become probably the deciding factor (with the white working class in key swing "rust-belt" states demanding change) in Trump's "shocking" victory? It certainly is too recent to be the 2000s, though further destruction of Middle Eastern nations beginning in this period would make that a moot point anyway. And with mass shootings and police brutality and murder highlighted every passing month, it sure as hell ain't great now. But Trump would agree on that.
The United States has never been truly great. Only in theory and ideals. Even its claim to be the leading example of a democracy can only really be laughed at when you consider that more people voted for Hillary Clinton (winning the "popular vote") than the racist, homophobic, misogynist - yet here we are, with a man who once bragged about grabbing women by the "pussy" and who thinks it's fine to ban an entire sub-section of society from entering a country, as leader of the "free" world.
This is courtesy of an archaic electoral college voting system that makes absolutely no sense in the modern day. Even the phrase "the popular vote" is farcical. What does it even mean? Surely the whole point of true democracy is that the most popular vote should be taken as the true representation of what the nation wants? As it was with Brexit. Yet isn't with the UK's own ridiculous election system!
Not that I don't get why people voted for Trump. Of course, Trump's rhetoric will have attracted all the racist, homophobic, xenophobic scum, of that there's no doubt. But they didn't swing this election. It was that white working-class from the rust-belt that were decisive in the key swing states turning red when they had been blue for decades. When you have been neglected for decades and feel as though you have nothing to lose by going for something radical, why wouldn't you go for something that promised to shake up the status quo?
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Clinton wouldn't have been my choice as leader, far from it. It's pretty obvious she's a very shady character and in my opinion, The Democrats lost this election as much as Trump won it. If I was an American citizen (and thank god I'm not after all this!) I would have wanted Bernie Sanders in the hot seat but that was never going to happen because of the (also undemocratic) delegate voting system within the Democrat nomination process. And Sanders would have appealed to those disenfranchised rust-belt voters far more than Clinton and possibly Trump too. I saw an interview with a young woman who was asked who she was going to vote for. Her response was "I don't like Trump's comments about women but I love guns, so................" that just about says it all about Clinton's popularity! She is part of the problem, not only in the USA but all over Europe and the world: a rich, political elite who couldn't care less about the ordinary folks.
So it may seem as though I've turned into a cynical dooms-merchant in my time away from blogging. No sir, far from it! Quite the opposite. What I've come to realise is that this whole planet needs to take a step back and a deep breathe. We need to come together rather than divide ourselves over what are mostly superficial constructs, such as race, religion, nationality and political affiliation. At the end of the day, the vast majority of us, if not all of us, want the same thing - to be happy. And at its core essence than requires one thing: to love and be loved. Those who realise this, know that the changes required for this to manifest cannot come from a political party, or the economy, or even from the mass protesting we are now seeing from disgruntled Democrat voters. It can only come from within.
Every individual needs to look inside and seriously dissect themselves to find out what the hell they are thinking and doing and why! Real global change will only happen when enough people start to wake up to this fact and wake up to the reality of the world. Me? I've already done that. I used to be one of those angry political types, obsessed with the latest news to the point where it became entertainment to row over the latest disaster. Politics tends to bring out the worst in people in my opinion and those who let it dictate their mood, actions and ability to empathise with anyone of a different viewpoint, are as bad as the most myopic, tribal football fan.
So I refuse to feel downhearted about Trump's presidency. He's in: deal with it. Brexit has been voted for: deal with it. How do I do that? I control the only thing I know that I can definitely control in my favour - my own reaction. My own thoughts. My own actions. So even though I don't particularly like what's happened politically this year, it doesn't bother or affect me because I choose not to let it. It's that simple! Getting angry and fearful or hateful isn't going to change anything and it certainly isn't going to do me any good personally. The only thing to fear, is fear itself. It's a powerful force and once it takes hold, well, you get pretty much all the problems we now face globally.
Ultimately, I have the power to create the life I want, regardless of who makes the political decisions. That's why I chose to work my socks off until I became successful at trading. I made the choice to never give up and to keep trying no matter what obstacles were thrown in my path. Because I had the power within me to make it happen. Just as everyone else who has a broadband connection can do. No excuses. And you can make that same choice when you are actually trading. It's your choice to get angry when the trade turns against you. It's your choice to react negatively when a player doesn't do what you want them to. It's your choice to give up and say it's rigged or impossible to win long term or blame others for your failure.There's only one surefire way to be successful in life as well as trading - to take responsibility for your thoughts and actions, search deep within and react positively. Works every time.
So I wish Trump good luck. I hope he does make America great. Not great again, just great. That means for everyone, not just those of a certain race or background. But it won't happen through pedaling more fear, scapegoating sections of society and stirring up hatred. He's already showing signs of being conciliatory. But it'll take a lot more than that to heal the wounds of division which he is in part responsible for.
Trump was elected with the slogan "Let's Make America Great Again" but when exactly was America great? Certainly not for the first 100 years, as no nation that allows slavery can be considered "great". The African-American Civil Rights movement didn't bring equal rights to all citizens until the late 1960s. So when was America truly great? The 1970s, when they destroyed Vietnam? Perhaps the 1980s when de-industrialisation took hold that was to eventually become probably the deciding factor (with the white working class in key swing "rust-belt" states demanding change) in Trump's "shocking" victory? It certainly is too recent to be the 2000s, though further destruction of Middle Eastern nations beginning in this period would make that a moot point anyway. And with mass shootings and police brutality and murder highlighted every passing month, it sure as hell ain't great now. But Trump would agree on that.
The United States has never been truly great. Only in theory and ideals. Even its claim to be the leading example of a democracy can only really be laughed at when you consider that more people voted for Hillary Clinton (winning the "popular vote") than the racist, homophobic, misogynist - yet here we are, with a man who once bragged about grabbing women by the "pussy" and who thinks it's fine to ban an entire sub-section of society from entering a country, as leader of the "free" world.
This is courtesy of an archaic electoral college voting system that makes absolutely no sense in the modern day. Even the phrase "the popular vote" is farcical. What does it even mean? Surely the whole point of true democracy is that the most popular vote should be taken as the true representation of what the nation wants? As it was with Brexit. Yet isn't with the UK's own ridiculous election system!
Not that I don't get why people voted for Trump. Of course, Trump's rhetoric will have attracted all the racist, homophobic, xenophobic scum, of that there's no doubt. But they didn't swing this election. It was that white working-class from the rust-belt that were decisive in the key swing states turning red when they had been blue for decades. When you have been neglected for decades and feel as though you have nothing to lose by going for something radical, why wouldn't you go for something that promised to shake up the status quo?
Clinton wouldn't have been my choice as leader, far from it. It's pretty obvious she's a very shady character and in my opinion, The Democrats lost this election as much as Trump won it. If I was an American citizen (and thank god I'm not after all this!) I would have wanted Bernie Sanders in the hot seat but that was never going to happen because of the (also undemocratic) delegate voting system within the Democrat nomination process. And Sanders would have appealed to those disenfranchised rust-belt voters far more than Clinton and possibly Trump too. I saw an interview with a young woman who was asked who she was going to vote for. Her response was "I don't like Trump's comments about women but I love guns, so................" that just about says it all about Clinton's popularity! She is part of the problem, not only in the USA but all over Europe and the world: a rich, political elite who couldn't care less about the ordinary folks.
So it may seem as though I've turned into a cynical dooms-merchant in my time away from blogging. No sir, far from it! Quite the opposite. What I've come to realise is that this whole planet needs to take a step back and a deep breathe. We need to come together rather than divide ourselves over what are mostly superficial constructs, such as race, religion, nationality and political affiliation. At the end of the day, the vast majority of us, if not all of us, want the same thing - to be happy. And at its core essence than requires one thing: to love and be loved. Those who realise this, know that the changes required for this to manifest cannot come from a political party, or the economy, or even from the mass protesting we are now seeing from disgruntled Democrat voters. It can only come from within.
Every individual needs to look inside and seriously dissect themselves to find out what the hell they are thinking and doing and why! Real global change will only happen when enough people start to wake up to this fact and wake up to the reality of the world. Me? I've already done that. I used to be one of those angry political types, obsessed with the latest news to the point where it became entertainment to row over the latest disaster. Politics tends to bring out the worst in people in my opinion and those who let it dictate their mood, actions and ability to empathise with anyone of a different viewpoint, are as bad as the most myopic, tribal football fan.
So I refuse to feel downhearted about Trump's presidency. He's in: deal with it. Brexit has been voted for: deal with it. How do I do that? I control the only thing I know that I can definitely control in my favour - my own reaction. My own thoughts. My own actions. So even though I don't particularly like what's happened politically this year, it doesn't bother or affect me because I choose not to let it. It's that simple! Getting angry and fearful or hateful isn't going to change anything and it certainly isn't going to do me any good personally. The only thing to fear, is fear itself. It's a powerful force and once it takes hold, well, you get pretty much all the problems we now face globally.
Ultimately, I have the power to create the life I want, regardless of who makes the political decisions. That's why I chose to work my socks off until I became successful at trading. I made the choice to never give up and to keep trying no matter what obstacles were thrown in my path. Because I had the power within me to make it happen. Just as everyone else who has a broadband connection can do. No excuses. And you can make that same choice when you are actually trading. It's your choice to get angry when the trade turns against you. It's your choice to react negatively when a player doesn't do what you want them to. It's your choice to give up and say it's rigged or impossible to win long term or blame others for your failure.There's only one surefire way to be successful in life as well as trading - to take responsibility for your thoughts and actions, search deep within and react positively. Works every time.
So I wish Trump good luck. I hope he does make America great. Not great again, just great. That means for everyone, not just those of a certain race or background. But it won't happen through pedaling more fear, scapegoating sections of society and stirring up hatred. He's already showing signs of being conciliatory. But it'll take a lot more than that to heal the wounds of division which he is in part responsible for.