Postgame thoughts about the primary

Well, thankfully, it is all over ... for a while. Until September, no more mindlessly repetitive negative ads that try to tell us what a candidate will do ("end the wars," said one local) and, even worse and even more so, who they are not (the other guy and, most importantly, Trump). What are these folks going to do when Donald Trump is out of office and, eventually, dead like all of us will be? Who will be the next bogeyman? You have to admit there will never be another like him. And what does Trump have to do with local elections? That's a rhetorical question. Here's what I think he has to do with local elections – nothing. A candidate requires a foil, a bad guy, and he serves the role well ("Hey, vote for me, I'm not Trump"). A word about Tom Steyer. He obviously flooded the airways with commercials, probably more so than any of the others. But you have to admit to his credit – unlike any of the others, he paid for his own ads. Whose pocket was he in? Again, rhetorical. Online, it says he "heavily financed his own primarily self-funded campaign." That's the conundrum about campaigns. They require more and more money, and for everyone else the only place to get it is from corporations and the wealthy. Then, if you are elected, guess who you owe? Guess who you have to listen to and obey? Guess whose bidding you must now do? A word about Matt Mahan. He seemed to be a nice-enough guy, kind of green for the larger stage. His presentation was impressive; not sure about his policies. We will likely see him again. Will we see Katie Porter, and Steyer, again? I think I know the answer to the next question. How do these national politicians – "public servants" (Senate, Congress, etc. – end up being so filthy rich? People like Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi apparently finagled their position and spouse in order to achieve it. What about the many other lesser-known names? How did they come about their millions? Do we really want to know? These are my current thoughts. I may be mistaken here or there. Or I may not. At this point in the game, it doesn't matter. You may agree. You may disagree. Go ahead. This is America. And I for one am glad to live here. Tom Rupp is a Folsom resident and weekly Telegraph columnist. You can reach him at truppfolsom@yahoo.com.