A brief history of the two-headed snake called American Government

in #politics7 years ago

"There is nothing which I dread so much as a division of the republic into two great parties, each arranged under its leader, and concerting measures in opposition to each other. This, in my humble apprehension, is to be dreaded as the greatest political evil under our Constitution." -John Adams 1780


This post is focusing on a handful of related subjects, but is in no way an exhaustive list covering everything. If you take anything away from this rant, let it be that corruption, no matter the political affiliation, cannot be tolerated. Corruption breeds violence. Violence creates chaos, and chaos is the fertilizer making douchebaggery possible.

I'm writing about this topic because recently my father commented that I was fairly conservative and that notion made the record scratch in my brain, because I consider myself more liberal than most lefties; a progressive swimming upstream in a liberal river of corporate masters, deceitful "reporters," and general socially-approved douchebaggery. I'm pro-responsible gun ownership, pro-abortion (when discussed between pregnant woman and her doctor), pro-education, and pro-religious tolerance. I identify more as an atheist with pagan leanings (gods as archetypes, not literal figures) with a smidge of Jesuist because the Sermon on the Mount is good shit (too bad people focus on the afterlife instead of applying the lessons Jesus taught in this life)... I recognize humanity is a rainbow of cultures, perspectives, beliefs, and myths. Guess I'm so liberal I come off as a conservative to certain folks. That's fine and all, but it glosses over the notion that it's not a Republican vs Democrat issue, but an Us vs Those Pulling Puppet Strings issue. By framing the situation as a party issue, it keeps Americans bitching at each other instead of focusing our mass of energy/anger/determination in directions that would actually accomplish things. If it's not political parties dividing the populace, it's sports teams, religion, TV shows, and flavors of ice cream.

But it wasn't always like this. There used to be a wider selection of candidates available to choose from.

Back in the 1988, the League of Women Voters stated they would no longer sponsor the presidential debates; that the Democrats and Republicans made a deal to share power and wanted the LWV to be cool with excluding other parties from the primaries. The League of Women Voters wasn't okay with that at all.

This is important because it sets the stage for how America has evolved into the ping-pong of political play between the two heads of the same snake. By agreeing to share power, it's clear that they have a shared agenda they wanted to push. What agenda could that be?

Perhaps it's the agenda that's been pushed on Americans, of subjugation and financial slavery, of crafting a prison system based on the Convict Leasing Laws of 1868, which benefits corporations while keeping the masses in line.


a still from the documentary, Slavery By Another Name

This is a long-term plan coming to fruition; break apart the middle class, reduce the populace to slave-drones while the elites benefit from the diversion of funds to their bank accounts, leaving the masses to scrape by, paycheck to paycheck.

Here's a question to anyone who feels a livable minimum wage is stupid:

Let's use the burger flipping example. "That's a job for kids. Adults have real jobs."
Okay, so when you want fast food on your lunch break, you're okay with high school students not getting an education (thus helping to create an ignorant mass of peasants) so they can tend to your midday meal? No, you're not okay with kids missing out on education? Cool. But that still begs the question of who tends the grill and fry-o-later and fetches your drink. It's going to be an adult, spending hours on their feet, trying to make every customer happy with a flawless order. Don't they deserve adequate remuneration for doing their job? Haven't they earned a decent wage? Corporatists say no because that means less money in their bank accounts. Actions leading to financial independence spits in the face of the system.

In the 50's, people could afford a home, car, refrigerator, and color TV on a single salary. As we all know, that is far from the case today for the majority of Americans without incurring debt. It's supported by both parties; hell, let's not forget that Bill Clinton gutted welfare and helped make the prison system the shining example of failure on the world stage.

America loves distractions. As a whole, we're pretty ignorant of what's going on in the world stage, but can tell you the ins and outs of our favorite TV shows, video games, and professional athletes. Our brains have been filled with shit so that important things like corruption, warmongering, and being part of the global community have little meaning to most, like they are foreign concepts.

Our country has been damaged; whether it's irreparable is yet to be known. But we cannot forget that the Democrats and Republicans tag-teaming up against Americans has cost us the core principals of the Constitution. No longer do we have a right to privacy and due process. What we have now are the stirrings of a police state tinged with dictatorship shared by a caste of elites.

This next video is 15 minutes long. It's incredibly informative about the current state of American affairs that most Americans are oblivious to; but at least there's hope in the end. I can't recommend this video enough, no matter one's political affiliation. It's important knowledge.

As I see it, there's one viable solution: we get in the streets like they did in Iceland when Icelanders finally had enough bullshit from the banks. It was like the Pussy March*, but for actual change to the system.

Americans need to come together and DEMAND those corrupting the system to be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law. The longer they are permitted to go unchallenged, the more America loses face as a nation of hypocrites, eager to intervene in the affairs of other nations (ahem, thanks CIA.) while ignoring the decay rotting our own country from the inside out. We have to make it loud and public that we will not tolerate such shit, and those sucking the teat of America dry have a day of reckoning coming.

And maybe I'm just a huge asshole (I'm okay with that, actually) but maybe figuratively burning the system down will be the only way to remove the canker killing the country.


[ * Okay, what all did the Pussy March accomplish besides getting people riled up enough to storm the streets? Have things actually changed since the march? No? So again, aside from bringing attention to douchebaggery, did it change behaviors or get apologies? Did it prompt any investigations? While it's great that people came together around a central idea, it's a shame that it didn't change the system (not yet, anyhow) and people have returned to their usual daily grind.)
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As a rational anarchist I find the whole idea of a group being allowed to do what an individual cannot do repulsive. Equally repulsive is the idea of sharing blame or shifting blame from individuals to groups. Because your premise stands on the assumption that a group of people can do what individuals cannot do, I have to ask how and why do you justify that? Equally when you built on that premise you then shift the blame from individuals and their actions to a group which can never be accountable. The remaining issue is that if I have no choice then I cannot consent, if I don't have the choice to say no to government and it's premise, then there is no consent. What is government but force, intimidation and theft if there is no consent?
Before you justify your premise, please consider this: how can an individual delegate powers which he doesn't have onto others, and how can a group ever be responsible or blamed for the acts of the individuals?

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