was a great president who brought us peace and prosperity during almost a decade. He connected with Americans of all socioeconomic backgrounds and had the smartest woman in American political history by his side, who should have been our current president.

A flawed character? Sure. A ladies man who made very wrong choices, but a human being after all. There are no perfect icons out there, but we should be able to recognize that Bill's consensual, extramarital activities weigh less than all the good he did for the country.

Republicans have done more to fuck up the so called family values they claim to defend.

At age 18 you are considered a minor if you buy booze or if you try to sneak into some dance clubs, but you can buy cigarettes, get your brains blown away in war, go into adult stores and even some strip clubs and vote. Trayvon Martin at 17 was deemed a thug by a much older piece of shit who shot him fatally, and half of America thought he deserved it.

By the same token, a 22 yr old young woman sleeps with her boss consensually, and some people question her ability to consent. By the same token, there are people in their 20s having intimate relationships with much older people and nobody cares. Also, had the same 22 yr old commited some sort of crime back then, she would have arrested and charged without anybody doubting her ability to make decisions at age 22.

Why are we prone to infantilize young adults at times and to treat them like total grown ups at other times?

My personal story goes like this:

It was at my grandma's house. She lived with my two aunts and I would visit them quite frequently. One time, when I was 9, I was there when grandma's sister came to visit with her husband, whom I will call Carl, and her grandson. This kid was about 11 or 12, and I was always happy to see him because we would play while adults talked about boring things with each other.

That one time, this kid, who I will call Joey, decided that we should play outside, as he wanted to play cops and robbers. Cool, I though. He took me to the backyard, out of family's sight, and he told me I needed to play the cop, and he would be the robber. In fact, I was gonna shoot himand capture him. Odd game, I thought, but I went along. I "shot" him as he requested, and he "fell" next to a wall. He started whispering "Come here, I am wounded, can't you see it?"

I sat next to him and he asked me to touch the "wound" and help him heal. I touched his belly, thinking it would be there, but he asked me to "go lower". He kept asking me to do this, and my hand were already under his pants and very close to his genitals... when one of my aunts asked us what we were doing. She looked at me stunned... and although I found the game to be odd, I sensed something very wrong had just happened by the look on her face. After Joey and his family left, grandma and my aunts asked me about what had happened. After I told them, they talked to my mom, and told me to stay away from him if he ever visted again, and that they would make their best to keep me away from him. I felt angry at Joey, and scared, although I didn't know why.

I saw him a couple of months later, as my grandma's sister came to visit my mom, along with Carl and Joey. When I saw them coming, I hid in my room. I guessed it was what I needed to do to stay away from Joey. Curiously enough, after 30 minutes, I hear a knock my door, and it was Joey and my mom. She said to me, "he just wants to say hi to you". She stayed behind him, as he said hi to me as if nothing had happened. Neither of us said much, though, and after a minute or so, they all left, and I have not seen him since.

For many years, I ignored the event. However, I recently started asking questions. Primarily, what did my family do about the situation? Mom recently told me that the day Joey came to my house, he immedately asked to see me. She told him she would let him greet me, but that she would be close, and that if he attempted to do anything to me, she would cut of his genitals with a butcher knife. She said this in front of her aunt and her husband Carl, and they both remained silent. In fact, my mom saw a nervous smile in Carl's face.Nothing else was said that day about what had happened.

I asked my aunts not too long about their take on the incident, and one of them said she always found Carl's relationship with Joey to be odd. She said Carl always hung out with that kid, spending more time with him than normal. It seemed like he always made excuses to go out alone with Joey, and that "Carl is an oddball, so only God knows..."

To finish, I have become more and more sorry for Joey as years go by, because it is now obvious to me he was abused himself and needed help... and none of the adults in my family saw him as a child in need. Someone has taught him this behavior...

Luckily, the incident was cut short by my aunt, and I moved on with my life, but what about him? How much more abuse did he endure, and how much more abuse has he committed since? I guess I will never know.

Coming from Latin America, I always thought we had the real issues with sexism, and that the US was miles ahead in terms of gender and domestic relationships. Although my father himself has verbally and emotionally abused my mother for decades, I never saw the things that seem to be so common in teenage culture over here. For example, we never had bullying issues to the point of driving people to commit suicide. We never had this ridiculous praise for the athletic, all mighty jocks like people do here. We did not have kids bringing guns to school wanting to shoot anyone. Don't get me wrong, we did have issues of all sorts, but there seems to be an element of abuse and violence here that was truly missing from most interactions with other people, including girls.

When I moved here, I asked people about their views about gender relations, and I heard all sorts of BS about American men being so responsible, family loving and respectful of women in comparison to Latinos, and I assumed it was true. I felt like I came from a flawed culture that abused women (my father) to a culture in which violence against women was, luckily, a rarity. When I started teaching, I would have (and still do) conversations wirh students about their perceptions of gender relations in America, and even now, most, both men and women, seem unable to recognize the deep issues existing in this country about the topic until we start analyzing what happens in different Latin American nations in regards to that... It is then they start recognizing "that happens here too" and seem to wake up to the obvious fact that it is as prevalent here, or even worse.

I guess the point I want to make is that the issues with American masculinity are so deep and engrained in the minds of people here that they are part of the coming of age culture of people. High school and college culture seem to celebrate and normalize all of this to the point that people don't realize they are participating, either as perpetrators or as victims, of abuse.

I used to think they did. In fact, I would like to think there is an argument to be made that some Never Trumpers can be brought into the Democratic Party, as their beliefs probably align more with us than with Trumpism. I want to believe that certain Libertarian types might also realize that the Democratic Party believes both in social justice and individual freedom apart of fiscal responsibility. I would like to believe there are millions of Americans that understand the grave circumstances that we are facing, and that the GOP is a neofascist organization that is killing America.

I mean, I believe there is our blue America, and a purple America still worth working with and fighting for. Red America is a fringe element we can't reach.

Am I just plain wrong and stupid for thinking this way? Do I need a break from politics? Am I on the right track?

I just know I am afraid.

If so, why? Because of not having a terminal degree and social standing as Dr. Ford? I am still at a loss as of why they seemed not to matter to anyone while Dr. Ford became the face of the whole thing.

What message does that send?

The GOP as it stands today is a far-right, quasi fascist organization. Why can't the moderate conservative voices form a viable political organization? It would serve our democracy well to have a counterweight to far-right lunacy!