First, kudos to Chris Walsh for his time, effort and expense of Sunday’s part one of three papers on Donald Trump and America., I can’t wait for parts 2 and 3.

My point will not be the usual Republican bashing the Democrat scenario, or vice versa, which seems to be everyone’s answer to the problems we face as a country. I will instead make the argument that both parties work in unison with a willing media to give us the illusion that we have a choice.

The last time I think my vote actually counted for anything was back in 1992 for Ross Perot. The similarities between Perot and Trump are what makes this coming election not only exciting, but maybe one of the last in my lifetime that will actually mean something. I believe that the GOP “establishment” is more afraid of a Trump victory than the Democrats are.

The Republicans and Democrats did all they could to keep Perot from debating Bush and Clinton, and as a third party candidate Perot still got somewhere around 20 percent of the popular vote. Those same 2 parties are deathly afraid of Trump. Why?

Perot, like Trump would have been very difficult to control for the corporate powers that control this country. If you are interested in whom some of these controllers are, maybe start with President Eisenhower’s “farewell speech” where he coined the term Military-Industrial Complex. You can see it on youtube.com.

I believe that Trump wants to flush out some of the refuse that we call Washington, D.C. When our elected “leaders” finally get booted out of office, which very seldom happens, look at who they get cushy “advisor” jobs with after taking what they can while in office. If you are on the Senate armed services committee, you get a well paid “advisory job” in aerospace, Senate Finance committee, you go to work for Goldman Sachs or some other bank, Health and Human services? You guessed it! You get a job at big pharmaceutical companies. The list goes on. The point is WHO were our representatives really working for while in office? It wasn’t us!

Where we are really deceived is thinking our vote counts. We have 2 main parties from which to choose an identical outcome. That is why the Republican and Democrat establishments are so concerned about Trump. He doesn’t stand for status quo politics as usual. And I’m glad he doesn’t sound like a politician!

That is what Hillary stands for, just more politically slick sickness bundled up in a warm, cozy narrative that the obliging liberal media spews daily. If you want more of that, then by all means vote Hillary. If you want to upset D.C. then vote Trump.

If you want to balance out your already made up mind, or if you rely solely on TV and Associated Press pieces with their agenda driven “news” you should for the sake of balance look up a few web sites that carry news and polls that would reveal that Trump has gained a lot of ground against Clinton. You won’t find the regular media reporting that even die hard Democrats are having a hard time voting for Clinton. My problem with Clinton is that even with all of her and Slick Willy’s past scandals, her supporters don’t care. That’s the scary part.

I read MSNBC and other opposing viewpoints to mine, in an attempt to avoid tunnel vision and one-sidedness.

But please, at least look at Breitbart news.com, Drudgenews.com or zerohedge.com for geo-political and economic news. USC Dornsife/L.A. Times poll Trump 47 percent to Clinton 41 percent Nationally. This is a popular vote poll and not an Electoral College poll.

You can also view other polling results on these websites that you aren’t supposed to see. The regular media would have you believe that all is well within the Clinton machine, and Trump doesn’t stand a chance, but delve deeper and you will find that is not true. Trump was basically at zero 3 months ago with the black vote, and is now hovering around 20 percent.

Even Latinos who cherish the correct path to citizenship are now showing up at his rallies. Go figure.

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Joel Caradies is a Coeur d’Alene resident.